Wild beasts and their ways : reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America . ned by anattack from beneath, where the enemy was unseen. I have some-times been benighted when in an open boat, having been exploringthroughout the day; in returning across a lake, guided by thewell-known signal (a red light hoisted at the masthead of mydiahbeeah), I have heard the snorts and the threatening splashingof hippopotami around our dinghy, momentarily expecting a blowfrom below that would send us flying, and capsize us helplesslyin the dark. All of my boats were more or less damaged byhippopotami in th
Wild beasts and their ways : reminiscences of Europe, Asia, Africa and America . ned by anattack from beneath, where the enemy was unseen. I have some-times been benighted when in an open boat, having been exploringthroughout the day; in returning across a lake, guided by thewell-known signal (a red light hoisted at the masthead of mydiahbeeah), I have heard the snorts and the threatening splashingof hippopotami around our dinghy, momentarily expecting a blowfrom below that would send us flying, and capsize us helplesslyin the dark. All of my boats were more or less damaged byhippopotami in the course of three years work upon the upperNile. On one occasion there was a boat full ot sheep being towedastern of the diahbeeah, which was going 6 or 7 knots before afavourable wind, when a hippopotamus suddenly charged frombeneath, threw the boat completely out of the water, knocked abig hole in her bottom, and capsized her with all the sheep, everyone of which was drowned. On another occasion we were in avery large flat-bottomed canoe, cut out of a single tree. The floor. xn THE HIPPOPOTAMUS 247 of this was at the least 3 or 4 inches thick, and happily it was atough quality of wood. This heavy canoe was 27 feet in length,but when approaching a bank of high reeds, a hippopotamuscharged from beneath, and struck the bottom with such force thatthe canoe was actually lifted partially from the water; had it beenan ordinary boat, the bottom would have been knocked out, andwe should have been capsized. Dr. Livingstone describes an accident which befell him, whenhis large canoe full of natives was thrown into the air, and capsizedwith the entire crew, by a savage hippopotamus when descendingsome channel of the Zambesi. Accidents were frequent with these animals. In broad daylighta hippo charged the steamer that was towing my diahbeeah. Notcontent with breaking several floats off the paddle-wheel, itreappeared astern, and, striking the bottom of our iron vessel, itperforated the pla
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