250 HABITS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. light and skinned the prize, and brought in the meat and hide. The latter I stuffed, and it is now in my collection. The meat does not taste unlike beef. It is rather coarse-grained, and not fat, and makes a welcome and wholesome dish. The blacks are very fond of it. The hippopotamus is found in most of the rivers of Africa which empty into the Atlantic or Indian Ocean; but in none but the Nile of those which empty into the Mediterranean. And in the Nile it is only met far up. It is found in greatest abundance south of the equator and in the interior. Frequent as they were in the Fernand Vaz, I found them more numerous in the Ogobay and other of the interior streams, and have reason to believe that, in the far and as yet unexplored centre, they are more numerous still. It is a very clumsily-built, unwieldy animal; but remarkable chiefly for its enormous head, whose upper mandible seemed to me mov able like the crocodile's, and for its disproportionately short legs. The male is much larger than the female; indeed, a full-grown male sometimes attains the bulk, though not the height, of the elephant. In the larger specimens the belly almost sweeps the ground as they walk. The feet are curiously constructed, to facilitate his walking among the reeds and mud of the river-bottoms, and swimming with ease. The hoof is divided into four short, apparently clumsy, and unconnected toes; and they are able, by this spread of foot, to walk rapidly even through mud. I have seen them make quick progress, when alarmed, in water so deep that their backs were just on the river-level. The skin of an adult hippopotamus is from one and a half to two inches thick, and extremely solid and tough-quite bulletproof, in fact, except in a few thinner spots, as behind the ear and near the eyes. It is devoid of hair, with the exception of a. few short bristly hairs in the tail, and a few scattered tufts, of four or five hairs each, near, the muzzle. The color of the skin is a clayey yellow, assuming a roseate hue under the belly. In the grown animal the color is a little darker. The teeth are: 4 1-1 Incisors,; canines, ; molars, 6-6 = 36 in all. After watching for a great many times the movements of the hippopotamus, I became assured that the huge crooked tusks. which give their mouths so savage an appearance, are used and FOOD OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. 251 designed chiefly to hook up the long river-grasses on which these animals feed in great part. Often I have seen one descend to the bottom, remain a few minutes, and reappear with these tusks strung with grass, which was then leisurely chewed up. They make the whitest of all ivory; and in the Camma country the beasts are much hunted on their account, as the dentists of Europe make a demand for this white ivory. The animals consort together in flocks of from three to thirty. They choose shallows in the rivers, where the depth of the water allows them to keep their footing, and yet have their whole bodies submerged. Here they remain all day, swimming off into the deeps and diving for their grassy food, gamboling in the waves, and from time to time throwing up a stream of water two or three feet high. This is done with a noise like "blowing," and is ⚫ doubtless an effort for breath. It is pleasant to watch a flock peacefully enjoying themselves, particularly when they have two or three young among them. The little fellows, who are comically awkward, play about. their dams, and I have often seen them seated on the back of the mother, and chasing each other about the shoals. They prefer parts of the rivers where the current is not very swift, and are therefore to be found in all lakes in the interior. Also, they prefer to be near their grass-fields. They are very fond of a particular coarse grass which grows on these prairies, and will travel considerable distances to hunt this up, always returning, however, before daylight. Their path overland is very direct. Neither rocks, nor swamps, nor bushes can prove formidable obstacles to a water-beast of such bulk; and one of their peculiarities is that they will always return to the water by the same road they came. Unless much pursued and harassed, they are not very much afraid of man. Some of their favorite grass was growing on a little plain back of my house, and several times I found hippopotamus-tracks not more than fifty yards from the house. They had not feared to come as near as this, though, probably, if the wind had been from me to them they would have avoided the place. They always choose a convenient landing-place, one where the bank has a long and easy incline, and this they use till they have eaten up all the provender which lies in that vicinity. Before going ashore they watch for an hour, and sometimes for two 252 COMBATIVENESS OF THE HIPPOPOTAMUS. hours, near the landing, remaining quiet themselves and listening for danger. The slightest token of the hunter's presence on such occasions sends them away for that night. If no danger appears, they begin to wander ashore in twos and threes. I never saw more than three of a flock grazing together; and during their stay ashore they place more dependence on their ears than on their eyes. I have watched closely in many hunts, and am convinced that the beast walks along with his eyes nearly shut. This makes the approach easier, though their hearing is very quick; and it is common to get within three or four yards before firing. I generally tried to get at least as near as four yards, and found my most successful aim to be at a spot near the shoulder, and one just behind the ear. When playing in the water this animal makes a noise very much resembling the grunt of a pig. This grunt it also utters when alarmed at the near approach of man. The stuffed skin loses its original color, so that our stuffed specimens do not give a true idea of the clay-color of the live beast. Its excrement is like the horse's, but smaller and dryer. When enraged, or suddenly disturbed, it utters a kind of groan, a hoarse sound, which can be heard at a considerable distance. They are quite combative among themselves, and I often saw marks on their bodies of desperate conflicts. One, a male which I killed, had its thick hide lacerated in a frightful manner in numerous stripes, from a fight. The young males suffer particularly in these encounters, as they are much imposed upon by the grown males, who are jealous of them. Their principal weapons of offense are their huge tusks, with which they strike most savage blows. It was my good fortune to be witness once to a combat be tween two hippopotami. It occurred in broad daylight. I was concealed on the banks of the stream, and had been for some time watching the sports of a herd, when suddenly two huge beasts rose to the surface of the water and rushed together. Their vast and hideous mouths were opened to their widest possibility; their eyes were flaming with rage, and every power was put forth by each to annihilate the other. They seized each other with their jaws; they stabbed and punched with their strong tusks; they advanced and retreated; were now at the top of the water, and again sank down to the bottom. The blood discolored the river, THEIR HARMLESSNESS. 253 and their groans of rage were hideous to listen to. They showed little powers of strategy, but rather a piggish obstinacy in maintaining their ground, and a frightful savageness of demeanor. The combat lasted an hour. It was evident that their tusks could not give very dangerous wounds to such thickly-protected bodies as theirs. At last one turned about and made off, leaving the other victorious and master of the field. My observations lead me to believe that in general the hippopotamus will not wantonly attack a canoe passing on the river. They either do not seem to notice it at all, or else avoid it by div ing under water. They are troublesome beasts, however, to the traveler paddling along in a frail canoe, for they are very apt to rise suddenly under a boat and throw it over, to their own alarm, but to the inconvenience and danger of the passengers. In some such cases the huge beast becomes desperate from fright, thinks · himself attacked, and with great rage demolishes the canoe. But even in such cases I have not heard of their ever touching the swimming passengers, who have only to keep away from the canoe to make sure their escape. One of my men related an adventure of this kind which happened to him and others a few years ago. They were capsized by a hippopotamus which rose suddenly under their canoe. In an instant, and with the greatest fury, the animal turned upon the canoe, which he did not leave till he had broken it into tolerably small pieces. But he did not even seem to see the men, who swam off, and reached the shore without hurt. The negroes hunt the hippopotamus only with guns. In those parts where they have not yet obtained guns they never attack it, but leave it undisputed master of the forest and river; for they can but very seldom indeed succeed in entrapping it into the pits which are dug for this and some other of the larger animals. To the Anengue.-Canoes.-River Scenery.-Nature of the Country.-The Lagoons.-Navigation.-India-rubber Vines.-Mercantile Products and Facilities. -Porcupine-hunts.-Quengueza, the great King.-Change of Season.-Variety in animal Life.-Birds of Passage.-Fish.-Bee-eater.-Curious Habits of this Bird.-Serpents.-The Rivers in the dry Season.-The Lagoons in the dry Season.-Immense Numbers of Crocodiles.-Damagondai.-Witchcraft.-A Candle Lecture. Shimbouvenegani.-An Olako.-Royal Costume.-Discover a new Ape.-The Nshiego Mbouve, or nest-building Ape (Troglodytes Calvus).—How they build.-Habits.-Food.-Description of the first Specimen.-A Crocodilehunt.-Anengue Canoes.-The Ogata.-Turtle.-How the Crocodile gets his Prey.-A Fight looms up ahead.-Oshoria backs down.-People of the Anengue.-Family Idols.-Worship.Sickness.-Bola Ivoga.-African Festivals.--A clear Case of Witchcraft.-A native Doctor.-Exorcising a Witch.-My Town is deserted. I am made a Chief.-We get a second young Gorilla.-I am poisoned with Arsenic.-Trial of the Poisoner.-Singular Effect of Arsenic. WHEN poor Joe Gorilla died I was ready to go ahead upon my explorations up river. The hope of taming him kept me at Biagano till then. We were to make a start on the evening of May 27th, and on that morning I called king and people together, and gave them charge of my property; declaring that if any thing was stolen during my absence I would surely shoot the thief. They all protested that I need not even lock the doors of my house. But I thought it not best to expose them to too much temptation. I next counted my ten goats in their presence, and told them I wanted no leopard stories told me when-I came back—at which they shouted and laughed, and declared neither they nor the leopard should touch them. Then I gave one of my men some goods to trade for ivory, another some with which to buy ebony, and left one of my Mpongwe fellows in charge of my entire premises, locking the doors. And then I was ready to go off. I had six stout paddlers in each canoe. These were laden pretty deeply with provisions for myself, and with trade-goods for the people I was to meet. My object was on this trip to ascend the |