Hunting and Trapping Stories; a Book for Boys/Hippopotamus Hunting

by J. P. Hyde Price

THE DEATH OF A THIEF.

The hippopotamus or hippo as it is generally called, is another mighty animal that is rapidly being exterminated by man. At one time it was a common sight to see many hippos feeding together on the banks of the Nile as far north as Cairo but now they are never found beyond Khartoum, which if you will look at the atlas you will find is many miles to the south of the Mediterranean Sea.

The strongholds of the hippos are the great Lakes of Central Africa, and the Zambesi River which forms the northern boundary line of the Transvaal. Dr Livingstone tells in his book how he once saw hundreds of hippos along the banks of Senegal and Niger Rivers.

The hippo is a huge creature weighing many tons. It is stupid and vicious and more or less lazy. Its body is oily, fat and very dense. Its brain, eyes and ears are small but its mouth is enormous. It feeds chiefly on the grasses and weeds growing in the water. The hippo's legs are short but it can run quite fast. Its toe nails are shaped like a chisel which enables it to climb up the slippery river banks.

A certain hunter tells a story of surprising a hippo asleep in the shade of some bushes. The creature was so alarmed that it rushed away as quickly as it could and plunged off a bank twenty feet high into the river making a tremendous splash. In any country where hippos are not constantly hunted they will come out into the meadows to feed and wander far afield. They are not often attacked by other creatures for they are big and powerful and owing to their thick skins very difficult to wound. Besides they stay where the ground is marshy and that makes an unsafe battle field.

The native hunters are wonderfully expert in killing the hippos. The usual method is for two men to go together armed with lances which have a

line and bladder float attached. They swim up close to their victim and plunge the lances in. The hippo dives at once and remains under water some minutes. The hunters then get a second pair of lances and if they have luck plunge them in too. The lances have very sharp blades and are weighted at the end so that every movement of the hippo makes the wound deeper. The bladders attached to the lines float on the surface and show where the hippo is lying. At last, weakened by its struggles and loss of blood the creature dies. Ropes are attached to the lance lines and the body is hauled ashore by many willing hands.

Sometimes when a hippo is attacked at short range it will climb out of the water and charge its enemies on land. It is a very unwise movement for the poor creature is then much easier to kill for it is clumsy and cannot turn quickly. The natives plaster its eyes with clay or sand and then they have it at their mercy.

Hippos are wonderfully good swimmers and moreover they are able to walk along the river beds in search of food. When they sleep they float in the water with nothing but their nostrils sticking out. If anything alarms them they dive at once and when they come to the surface they show nothing

HIPPOPOTAMI ON THE RIVER NILE

but their snout, eyes and ears and as the head of the hippo is very flat it can get these sense organs out of the water without showing more than two or tree inches of flesh.

Shooting hippos is a very difficult and unsatisfactory sport, for a rifle bullet will hardly do any harm if fired into the body. The only place that they can be shot is the brain which being exceedingly small and well protected between the ears renders the task doubly difficult. Again when a hippo dies its body sinks to the bottom at once.

A hunter who was travelling alone on a tributary of the Zambesi River tried to capture a small hippo but the mother was close at hand and soon

got the youngster into the water. The current was very swift and the little hippo, winded by its rapid flight, could not swim against it. About a quarter of a mile away were some rapids towards which the little hippo was borne with its mother trying to overtake it. The hunter ran down the bank and climbed out on to some rocks hoping to head the pair off. The baby hippo after vainly struggling was swept over the falls. The hunter was armed only with a heavy revolver consequently the did not get either of the pair.

The hippo is very vicious and will sometimes charge canoes and upset them, killing the rowers. It is never safe to navigate any river where hippos live. Crocodiles and hippo's live in peace together as one is a flesh eater and the other feeds on vegitables, but sometimes the hippos for some reason or other drive the crocodiles away. The upper and lower front teeth of the hippos are very long and contain magnificent ivory which is distinguished from the elephant's by the fact that it never turns yellow. The flesh is good to eat but it is tough and oily, nevertheless many native tribes consider it a great delicacy. The whole hide weighs about six hundred pounds and often more. The african natives make whips out of a single piece of skin, and they are said to last forever.

Sometimes a prowling leopard is foolish enough to risk its life trying to steal a baby hippo. When the thief is successful the distress and fury of the old mother are fearful to behold. She rushes from place to place in a path of destruction looking for her lost one. A hunter once saw a leopard creeping upon a baby hippo and he watched to see what would happen. Waiting for a good chance the leopard sprang upon its prey. The baby hippo screamed ad struggled and the leopard lost its foot hold. Before it could recover itself however the old mother hippo was upon it and crushed the thief between her powerful jaws.

Bull hippos are very quarrelsome among themselves and frequently great battles take place, especially at night. A hunter tells a story of meeting some hippos in a very narrow stream. He fired at a bull and wounded it. There was not enough water for it to dive so it reared its head in the air and bellowed. Blood was soon pouring from its nostrils and at the sight another bull attacked its wounded comrade.

The brute seized the wounded hippo by the throat just as a bull dog does when fighting, and the two swayed back and in a frantic struggle. The bullet had passed close to the brain of the wounded hippo and it soon weakened and finally died. The hunter had climbed out on to the bank for safety and not a moment too soon for his frail canoe was swamped by the waves caused by the struggles of the two giants.

Sometimes when hippos find themselves cornered they get in a panic and all rush in one direction. Nothing stands in the way of such an onslaught, and before now huge crocodiles have been overwhelmed and trampled to death in an instant. Trees and bushes are crushed as if they were so many weeds and the ground round about looks as though a cyclone had swept over it.