Sunday dispatch. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1845-1854, 1852-03-14


divided with small knife, and then taken
in the fingers and dipped in the pimento
sauce, before it was carried to the mouth,
and an orchestra of drums, trumpets and
cymblas played at intervals during the re
past.
Sable Sallassi, however had not forgotten
the miraculous remedy for the Rheumatism
which had been pointed out to him.
Let us here adopt M d'Haricourts own
words
The king thought had rested sufficiently
after my fatigues to join in the hippopotamus
hunt. Accordingly, l made my prepara-
tions for the work. l procured sufficient
quantity of hydromel to supply me while
away, and such other provisions as | tho't
necessary. The king, on his part, sent from
Angolola to the Governor of the province in
which was, to seek for hippopotamuses, and
gave him orders to accompany me to the
hunting ground, and to place at my disposal
such men as l considered necessary for my
purposes
set out from Angolola, followed by nu-
merous escort. We travelled in a North
westerly direction, and it was about eigh-
teen leagues from Angolela to the place where
it was expected we should discover the hip
potamuses. It was in the river Tchia Tehia
that we searched for them, and we followed
all the time along its banks.
Thus traversed over great portion of
the kingdom of Choa, which had hitherto
been unknown to me. The country was ex-
tremely picturesque, and found every where
the same luxuriance of vegetation and vari-
ETY. of verdure which had previously struck
me in this country. The plains, also, abound
ed with huts, which proved that one of the
sources of wealth to this delightful country
was numerous and prosperous population.
Our order Of march was very amusing;
my attendants sung the whole way song Of
which the following was the refrain (and to
/ the credit of the Abysinians l must say, it
was the least poetical part of i9 Ayto
| Nord) Rochet leads us to the hippopotamus
| chase With his aid We shall take'a great
number of the monsters" The songs, the
| shouts, the GIIegresse of the band, seemed
to be redoubled by the echo from the noun
| tains
| We went on in O narrow path, in single
file. followed in the rear, and saw before
the long line of my companions, their ban
ners floating in the wind, and their bright
lances glistening in the sun. We coasted
along the river with the same gaity of spirit
every now and then we saw the muzzle of a
hippopotamus and the jet of water he threw
inte the air when breathing at length
saw the entire head of one of the monsters
above water At first took it for the head
of Crocodile; leaving my mule in the hands
| of my steward, I,cautiously approached the
bank and fired the animal was sleeping
soundly, and as 1 had taken steady aim hi
was mortally wounded A Jet of blooC
| sprung from his head-he swan rapidly Il
the bank, emerged from the river, and ad
vanced to within three PAGES of me; fixing
his furious but stupid eyes upon me, ne stood
motionless, as if hesitating whether or no
he should revenge himself confess tina
thus confronted by this terrible enemy
felt rather uneasy, and hastened to reloat
my carbine, but whether the movement o
my arm frightened him, or whether he wa
alarmed at the shouts which were uttered b,
the band of Abyssinians in the rear 1 knoI
not, but he turned and ran with all speed t.
the river, into which he plunged; for tel
minutes he remained at the bottom of tn
river. He then rose to the surface, strug
! | Cling furiously in the death agony and dash
/. ing the water around him in all directions
then he sunk again to the bottom and at tn
end of half an hour his huge carcase foate
again on the surface motionless-the monste
| was dead We drew him to the shore an
, | on the following day we started fresh game
. | in two more of these tremendous animals
These, however, gave us greater trouble
: | We could not manage to kill them for 81
hours, although each had received more tina
fifty balls in his huge carcase The nigh
q came on; still we were unwilling to relinquis
such tempting prey, 80 we encamped by tn
side of the river, lit numerous torches, and I
prevent accidents, ordered the men not I
= fire unless they saw the animals endeavorin
- to escape. The night was fine; the moo
= shone resplendeHtly; and nothing broke til
solemn, poetic silence, but the croaking ros
of hippotamuses, and, from time to time, tt
= noise of the jets of water that were ejecte
from the nostrils of the animals when the
rose to breathe. At length, the largest
. the hippopotamuses was seen plunging alor
>, on the opposite bank. My men rose in bod
to follow him; but, although covered wit
~ wounds and weak from loss of blood, he e
:. capped us and while we had been in chase a
y ter him, the other also escaped on the opp
!. site bank. We had nothing left US but
:. hunt up fresh game, and we soon fell in vii
" two more which were leisurely swimmiI
- down the river When they saw US, the
j." elevated their heads, uttered their peculi
4 growl, and then plunged to the bottom of II
~ river We followed their track on the waite
and prepared to throw the lances at the
as soon as they should rise to the surface
~ breathe. This soon happened, and the lane
81 were simultaneously launched into the touy
- - hide of the nearest one. The animal plu
~ = ged, and the hunters shouted for Joy, but
- afew moments the beast that we thought '
, had mortally wounded, arose to the surfaC
- L, apparently unhurt We followed still t
~ ~ course of both the animals, and l watched
- - opportunity to shoot them both in the head
'' the only part vulnerable to musket ball
,, and at length chance arrived. l fred
I, the largest, and the blood sprang in torrer
S' from the wound, and again the shout of ]
u' was raised by my men; but the animal
l. thought was mortally wounded, plunged
- meath the surface, rose again, and swan aw
"' as unconsciously as ifhe had been untoucht
= l still followed him; another opportunity
o a shot occurred l fired, and this time
az monster ierked his immense head rapidly
and fro, while the water around was dy
- with blood, and in few minutes he breath
-e his last"
- For several days the hunt was pursued
'ao ao this manner with more or less success.
sS length the fatigue becameso great that th
NJ determined upon returning bril-
ing with them the heads Of three hippopo
=, muses. which they had slain. Theking CO
- plimented NJ d'Haricourt highly on his 8
cess, for it is extremely difficult to kill tn
L;4 animals at all.
w With the description of this hunt ends
-, - manuscript of M. d'Haricourt's, which
Ou ou Siecele has published The book will sho
~, ~ ly appear, and, we understand, will cont
W an immense amount of botanical inforr
81, tion, M. d'Haricourt having brought no
| oh l,,o hoe