Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 February 1914 — Hunting the Hippopotamus. [ARTICLE]

Hunting the Hippopotamus.

As hippopotamus hunters the Shullas of the Sobat region, North Africa, ,stand alone. A native hippo hunt is an exciting and dangerous sport. The hunters are in dugout canoes; two or three paddle while one manages the harpoon or barbed spear, to which is attached a stout rope and a float of amWatch. When the hippo comes to the surface to breath, an attempt is made to steal upon him with the harppon; when this is accomplished the hunters make a hasty retreat from the enraged beast, and in turn engage his attention while'attempts are made to spear him by those in the other canoes. When severely wounded a hippopotamus goes ashore to rest or to die, and not to attack his assailants, as has been so often reported. The native hunters wait for this and when the animal goes up out of the water a volley of spears is thrown into It, and slowly the huge beast bleeds to death. The hunters do not always escape. Sometimes 'the life or a limb of one of them is sacrificed to their daring. The hide of the hippopotamus is cut into strips and dried to be sold to Arab traders who, in turn, sell it to the whlpmakers of Omdurman and Egypt. Certain portions of the hide are much prized as shields. The flesh is cut into long, narrow strips and dried in the sun; its taste resembles that of coarse beef—Southern Workman.