I Left The Savage Crowd In
Their Ferocious Enjoyment Of Flesh And Blood, And I Returned To
Camp For Breakfast, My Turk, Hadji Achmet, Carrying Some
Hippopotamus Steaks.
That morning my wife and I breakfasted upon our first hippo, an
animal that was destined to be our general food throughout our
journey among the Abyssinian tributaries of the Nile.
After
breakfast we strolled down to the pool to search for the
hippopotamus No. 1. This we at once found, dead, as it had risen
to the surface, and was floating like the back of a turtle a few
inches above the water. The Arabs had been so intent upon the
division of their spoil that they had not observed their new
prize; accordingly, upon the signal being given, a general rush
took place, and in half an hour a similar scene was enacted to
that of hippo No. 2.
The entire Arab camp was in commotion and full of joy at this
unlooked-for arrival of flesh. Camels laden with meat and hide
toiled along the sandy bed of the river; the women raised their
long and shrill cry of delight; and we were looked upon as
general benefactors for having brought them a supply of good food
in this season of distress. In the afternoon I arranged my
tackle, and strolled down to the pool to fish. There was a
difficulty in procuring bait; a worm was never heard of in the
burning deserts of Nubia, neither had I a net to catch small
fish; I was therefore obliged to bait with pieces of
hippopotamnus.
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