Wherever A Plot Of Tangled And Succulent
Herbage Grew Among The Shady Nabbuks, There Were The Marks Of The
Harrow-Like Teeth, That Had Torn And Rooted Up The Rank Grass
Like An Agricultural Implement.
After walking about two miles, we noticed a herd of hippopotami
in a pool below a rapid:
This was surrounded by rocks, except
upon one side, where the rush of water had thrown up a bank of
pebbles and sand. Our old Neptune did not condescend to bestow
the slightest attention when I pointed out these animals; they
were too wide awake; but he immediately quitted the river's bed,
and we followed him quietly behind the fringe of bushes upon the
border, from which we carefully examined the water. About half a
mile below this spot, as we clambered over the intervening rocks
through a gorge which formed a powerful rapid, I observed, in a
small pool just below the rapid, an immense head of a
hippopotamus close to a perpendicular rock that formed a wall to
the river, about six feet above the surface. I pointed out the
hippo to old Abou Do, who had not seen it. At once the gravity of
the old Arab disappeared, and the energy of the hunter was
exhibited as he motioned us to remain, while he ran nimbly behind
the thick screen of bushes for about a hundred and fifty yards
below the spot where the hippo was unconsciously basking, with
his ugly head above the surface.
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