Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-28

along the shore to the reed-bed Here
several of the natives went into the
reeds to try to frighten the beast into
the water, but the only effect their
shouting had was to cause the hippo
to open his enormous mouth and
grunt l then asked the boys to ap-
proach more closely in a body and
throw assegais at the beast This they
did, and finally the hippo plunged into
the water.
We then went back and launched
the canoes. padding as fast as we
could towards the spot where the hip
po had emerged. We soon got hold Of
the reed buoy and commenced pulling
In some of the line, but as soon as the
animal felt us pulling he started up the
lake in a northerly direction, keeping
under the water the whole time. Af-
ter about ten minutes, however, he
put his head above the surface to
breathe, and was Immediately saluted
with a shower of spears, although the
only effect these seemed to have was to
arouse his anger. He at once went
down and swan towards the. canoes,
but We saw him coming in the clear
water and gave him a wide berth. He
would not leave us, however, and con-
tinually made attempts to charge the
boats. Every time he showed his head
above water the natives greeted him
with showers Of spears, and as result
he soon became perfectly furious.
After three or four further futile
charges he remained quiet for few
minutes, and some Of the natives be-
came careless, thinking that he was
becoming. exhausted. They quickly
realized their mistake, however, for
without any warning, he suddenly
charged the nearest canoe at full
speed, and succeeded in getting his
tusks through the bottom of the boat,
ripping 1t completely open. Luckily,
they did not come into contact with
any of the crew. The canoe Immediate
ly sank, leaving some Of the natives
struggling in the water. The unex-
pected rush Of the huge beast had evil
IDENTIFY scared them badly, for they
quite lost their presence Of mind. In
stead of swimming to the other canoes
as l shouted out for them to do, they
all made for the nearest boat, and, OF
course, swamped it in trying to get In.
They were now in terribly fright
ened state, as the angry hippo several
times came up quite close to them,
swapping his huge jaws In his efforts
to reach his attackers. There Is no
more dangerous creature In the water
than a wounded hippo, and every mo-
ment l expected to see one Oh the hd-
tives cut in half. However. to my re-
lief and surprise he did not succeed
in reaching any Of them.
The boys in the water were abso-
lutely panic c-stricken, and those In the
boats nearly as bad. 1t was as much
as l could do to keep the latter from
padding to the shore, leaving their
comrades to their fate. Luckily, how
ever, the beast now became much
more quiet, and I could see that this
time his energy was nearly exhausted.
Taking advantage Of this opportunity,
we managed to get all the natives into
the remaining canoes, and then made
a fresh assault on the hippo. He seem
ed quite spent by this time, and soon
expired. Quickly securing some extra
assistance, we dragged the BODY
ashore. where the tusks, which were
exceptionally large were taken out.
The hippo had given US terrible pat
tie, lasting nearly a day and hall,
and I did not take long to arrive at the
conclusion that, after ALL rifie.shoot.
ing was the most desirable method or
hunting such beasts, and certainly the
most expeditions and humane.