Part 19 (1/2)

Rhinoceroses are still very numerous-too numerous I have seen as many as fourteen in two hours, and probably could have found asfor them There is no doubt, however, that this species er African anireat size combined with his 'orrid 'abits erous lunatic can be allowed at large in a settled country, nor in a country whereconstantly

The species will probably be preserved in appropriate restricted areas It would be a great pity to have so perfect an example of the Prehistoric Pinhead wiped out completely Elsewhere he will di, and for one thing only, is the traveller indebted to the rhinoceros The beast is lazy, large, and has an excellent eye for easy ways through For this reason, as regards the question of good roads, he combines the excellent qualities of Public Sentih thorn thickets iht like himself he clears excellent paths Down and out of eroded ravines with perpendicular sides he rades, often with zigzags to ease the slant In soh country where the torrential rains wash hundreds of such gullies across the line of eration to say that travel would be practically impossible without the rhino trails ith to cross Sometimes the perpendicular banks will extend forany natural break down to the stream-bed Since this is so I respectfully sub proposal:

(a) That a limited number of these beasts shall be licensed as Trail Rhinos; and that all the rest shall be killed froularly travelled districts

(b) That these Trail Rhinos shall be suitably hobbled by short steel chains

(c) That each Trail Rhino shall carry painted conspicuously on his side his serial number

(d) That as a further precaution for public safety each Trail Rhino shall carry fir

Thus the well-known habit of the rhinoceros of elevating his tail rigidly when about to charge, or when in the act of charging, will fly the flag as a warning to travellers

(e) That an official shall be appointed to be known as the Inspector of Rhinos whose duty it shall be to exas of all Trail Rhinos, and to keep the sa order and repair

And I do submit to all and sundry that the above resolutions have as much sense to them as have most of the petitions submitted to Government by settlers in a new country

XXIII THE HIPPO POOL

For a nule and not fifty paces from the bank of a deep and wide river We could at various points push through light low undergrowth, or stoop beneath clear lie on tiny open banks and promontories to look out over the width of the stream The river here was soh various large boulders and sluiceways to fall bubbling and boiling into deep water; it then flowed still and sluggish for nearly a half mile and finally divided into channels around a nu still stretch dwelt about sixty hippopota our stay these hippos led a life of alarry care

When we first arrived they were distributed picturesquely on banks or sandbars, or were lying in midstream At once they disappeared under water By the end of four or five an to cousted look, snorted, and sank again

So hasty was his action that he did not even take tiet a full breath; consequently up he had to come in not more than two minutes, this time The third submersion lasted less than awe had the hippos alternating between the bottom of the river and the surface of the water about as fast as they couldlike porpoises It was a coht

And as so the show, those hippos had no respite during the daylight hours Fro as they caular exhaust of a steaine

We cath of ti the daytime, did those hippopotamuses take any recreation and rest To be sure after a little they calmed down sufficiently to reasping abelow at once; but belohere they considered they belonged nize certain individuals They would stare at us fixedly for a while; and then would gluht like sub with only the very top of the head and snout out of water, I for the first time appreciated why the Greeks had named them hippopotamuses-the river horses With the heavy jowl hidden; and the pro reverse-curved nose, the wide eyes, and the little pointed ears alone visible, they resembled more than a little that sort of conventionalized and noble charger seen on the frieze of the Parthenon, or in the prancy paintings of the Renaissance

There were hippopotamuses of all sizes and of all colours The little ones, not bigger than a grand piano, were of flesh pink Those half-groere mottled with pink and black in blotches The adults were alh a few of them retained still a small pink spot or so-a sort of persistence in mature years of the eternal boy-, I suppose All were very sleek and shi+ny with the wet; and they had a fashi+on of suddenly and violently wiggling one or the other or both of their little ears in ridiculous contrast to the fixed stare of their bung eyes Generally they had nothing to say as to the situation, though occasionally so bellow

The ground vegetation for a good quarter mile from the river bank was entirely destroyed, and the earth beaten and packed hard by these ani out frorades These trails were about two feet wide and worn a foot or so deep They differed frouished, in that they showed distinctly two parallel tracks separated froe In other words, the hippo waddles These trails we found as far as four and five ht; and led invariably to lush and heavy feed While ere encamped there, the country on our side the river was not used by our particular herd of hippos One night, however, ere awakened by a tre bushes, followed by an instant's silence and then the outbreak of a babel of voices Then we heard a prolonged sw-i-sh-sh-sh, exactly like the launching of a big boat A hippo had blundered out the wrong side the river, and fairly into our careat beasts are most extraordinarily abundant Directly in front of our camp, for example, were three separate herds which contained respectively about sixty, forty, and twenty-five head Within twopools each with its population; while a walk of aobtained for practically the whole length of the river-hundreds of miles Furthermore, every little tributary stream, no matter how sh to sube an animal, has its faithful band I have known of a hippo quite happily occupying a ditch pool ten feet wide and fifteen feet long There was literally not rooo in at one end and out at the other! Each lake, too, is alive with them; and both lakes and rivers are many

nobody disturbs hippos, save for trophies and an occasional supply offat for the kitchen Therefore they wax fat and sassy, and will long continue to flourish in the land

It takes time to kill a hippo, provided one is wanted The enerally it is impossible to tell whether or not the bullet has reached the brain Harmed or whole the beast sinks anyway Some hours later the distention of the stomach will float the body Therefore the only decent way to do is to take the shot, and then wait a half day to see whether or not you have missed There are always plenty of volunteers in caantly fond of hippo meat Then it is necessary to reat difficulty, for the other hippos bellow and snort and try to live up to the circus posters of the Blood-sweating Behemoth of Holy Writ, and the crocodiles like dark meat very much

Usually one offers especial reward to volunteers, and shoots into the water to frighten the beasts The volunteer dashes rapidly across the shallows,body as onto a raft

Then he makes fast the rope, and everybody tails on and tows the whole outfit ashore On one occasion the volunteer produced a fish line and actually caught a sood one; but I saith my oo eyes

It was at the hippo pool camp that we first became acquainted with Funny Face

Funny Face was the smallest, furriest little monkey you ever saw I never cared forHe had thick soft fur almost like that on a Persian cat, and a tiny hued fro as old-fashi+oned dolls used to be before they began to try to i e said farewell to him When we first knew him, had he stood in a half pint ht him in a little thorn ravine all by himself, a fact that perhaps indicates that his ood little Funny Face, waswhere he was told while she ay At any rate he fought savagely, according to his snominiously by the scruff of the neck, haled him to camp, and dumped him down on Billy Billy constructed hi part of a kodak strap (rass Thenceforth this became Funny Face's castle, at home and on the march