A melon is
exactly adapted for the mouth of this animal, as he could crunch
the largest at one squeeze, and revel in the juice. Not contented
with the simple fruits of the garden, a large bull hippopotamus
had recently killed the proprietor. The Arab wished to drive it
from his plantation, but was immediately attacked by the hippo,
who caught him in its mouth and killed him by one crunch. This
little incident had rendered the hippo exceedingly daring, and it
had upon several occasions charged out of the water, when the
people had driven their goats to drink; therefore it would be the
more satisfactory to obtain a shot, and to supply the hungry
Arabs with meat at the expense of their enemy.
At this early hour, 6 A.M., no one had descended to the pool,
thus all the tracks upon the margin were fresh and undisturbed:
there were the huge marks of crocodiles that had recently
returned to the water, while many of great size were still lying
upon the sand in the distance: these slowly crept into the pool
as we approached. The Arabs had dug small holes in the sand
within a few yards of the water: these were the artificial
drinking-places for their goats and sheep, that would have been
snapped up by the crocodiles had they ventured to drink in the
pool of crowded monsters.
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