Page:Seven Years in South Africa v2.djvu/167

 our guns, and had not long to wait before the heads of two young hippopotamuses emerged from beneath the water, followed first by the head of a male and then by that of a female. We fired eight shots, of which there was no doubt that two struck the old male behind the ear. The men all maintained that it was mortally wounded, and probably such was the case; but although we waited about for nearly



an hour, we never saw more than the heads of the three others again. It was only with reluctance that the men were induced to be stationary so long; except they are in very small boats and properly armed with assegais they are always anxious to give the hippopotamus as wide a berth as they can.

Of all the larger mammalia of South Africa I am Rh