Evening star., 1926-08-22
BY wYNANT DAVIS HUBBARD.

~ my career as a collector or WHO
animals have occasionally
been forced into combats with
hippopotamuses,- and at times
have found 1t necessary to kill
them. Seven hippos have thus met
their death. In these encounters,
mortal and otherwise, they have
given me some thrilling-and chilling
moments, and many hours of quiet
enjoyment.
MY first contact with these seem
ingly inoffensive, numbering animals
in their native haunts came while
was on long safari Journey into
and beyond ties Mashakulumbwe
country The Mashakul lmbwe ma
tives inhabit the country bordering
the upper mildle kafue River in
Northern Rhodesia. 1t is a fiat,
erass-covered land without trees, and
swarming with gnme.
hunted and studied beyond this
district. The Mashakulumbwe have
too great a passion for hunting to
allow animals such as hlppos to re-
main undisturbed for long. I wanted
TO see hippopotamuSeS in as undis
turbed a condition as possible. so
camped some 80 miles beyond the
"Mashaks.'
kayingu, near whose village !
stayed, is an old man who formerly
had been a very influential chief with
many slaves and much power. Now
he ia a broken old man. Most of his
slaves are gone and his power has
fallen from him. a great part of his
formerly large village is deserted.
The day af,er my arrival he came
down to @ee me. Mangineera. one
Of my port ers. was cleaning the rifles
under my supervision wien Charlie.
the head porter. rushed UP to me.
"Inkos." he said excitedly, ayingu
Is coming"
Yes, Charlie. What shall do
"Sit still, Inkos, and don't speak"
Down the path from the village was
coming a long line of women and
young men: The first, to reach me
was a beautifully built young native
carrying a lion skin. This he laid
down about % yards from me. On it
the next native put a carved ebony
stool. When these were ready the old
man stepned forward and sat down
facing Inc. Another native handed
him a sCepter made from the polished
horn of a rhinoceros.
There Was Gead silence for two min
utes. Then all the women and men
kneeline behind kayingu clapped their
hands soft'., together. Silence. and
then my boys" clapped theirs. An
other silence and then kayingu spoke.
"Mabuka, Nabuka chiwoto, Mabuka
mwaming. Inkos is welcome. Ia
yingu is happy that the white chief is
in his village. The white man is
great hunter. kayingu mas heard the
stories. All that he has h" gives the
chief, kayineu has spoken"
Charlie replied for me.
TT is good The white chief has
come to xiii the hippos. The hirpos
belong to kayingu. When the white
chief Shoots hippo he wilN give it 10
Kayingu fcr his people. inkos wishes
kayinCu for his friend. He has
spoken
Then kaNinGu'S women brought Tor
ward ba asile!s of meal as presents for
my boys" For me there We're eggs.
O pumpkin. s.lveet vans ana i few to-
matoes. In return ! presented each
woman Ni:A = Cunfu; o. salt. and to
Kayingu l gave Il large piece "f red
cloth and - l'ounti$ Of #;l,.
The ceremony wa Over. In dead
ilence the women - hered themselves
ogether, an,l. p.chinc ~ their bas-
ets. led the way !dCh =" :he village.
lkayingu ilowed, "a!jinr hcSl;&t-
ingly, as h., is q Ne:y ., !i"a.
THE mex; muini1s Il o. H. { O'clock
we started hurrir1. "'he sun was
our three duGnut. .Ntu t'l' water.
They were fanta t. ::t.A."~ ','ro.ieG.
narrow, e nd uruN:n.' ,.'.,G waite.
had experi BarCt:" Ho:Hiipa, :" We
pushed quickly and silently ZIP ihe
dimly ligHted rive.
This pat Of the I[afUe : r2CiV, fll
Of short rapids and long SirejC hes q
backed.up water. The banks are E!E3
and covered with lonc gr:t"> and rd ~
\ Il
time Of wear MidsuIhn1e. -- ne trees
bear a long. narrow, delicious rod
fruit.
Back from the bank anG cNten0inc
60 meet the hills which sEut IN the
valley are open stretches - grass IN
terspersed with lagoous @Hd DaHt t.
water. Here the hippos come o1t i
feed. Contrary to genera W,iS..
hippos ca. nothing hut gras%, me"
eat nothing in the wat +. AZ ieaSt ON
this part of the kafue. Neither DO
they eat any leaves or tWiSs. as 90
the rhinoceros and elephant.
We had gone up the river ABOUT a
mile or so. seeing nothing but few
crocodiles and innumerable birds OF
both brilliant and dull plumage. Ihe
common ibis was continually nElns
ahead of us. screaming raucouslH'
Occa sionalIy spurwinged geese o"
fiocks of billed ducks few over
an their Wav 70 their broods in the
grass back Of Ge.
was beginning to wonder how tar
away the hippos might he when l
noticed a line of rocks stretching out
into the river Just beyond this. L
was told by my boys was large
pool in which the hippos commonly
stayed.
NV paddlers squatted on their heels
and pushed the dugout carefully
along the line of rocks. Ahead and
ON the upper side ! could hear grunts
and splashing and a noise like escap-
ing air. Once there was deep gut
tural honk honk and I knew that |
was listening To the sounds and
noises of hippos when at rest un-
disturbed.
The dugout stopped behind rock
which projected higher than its fell
lows and / softly raised myself and
raered over. There, not 20 yards
AWAY. gere the head and shoulders Of
a hippo He was looking right at me.
His little pink ears were wiggline and
his nostrils dilating and closing as he
breathed.
He blinked at me for couple Of
seconds and then disappeared below
the surface with scarcely ripple.
He seemed TO go down as If pulled by
the tail. and not straight, as I had
expected he would.
There were SIX or seven h'ppos al
together, and ! watched fas"ina.ed
for over an hour. The ho}''od M
and down, blew and snortc'!. and
swan back and forth like some kind
OF hig. headed grampuses.
xhon nay boys" drew my attention
% o nrt Of island in the upper end Of