Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 39, Number 102, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 August 1907 — HIPPO’S BATHING PLACES. [ARTICLE]

HIPPO’S BATHING PLACES.

South African Lake for Which Big Beauts Have a Liking. A few miles from Muliokya we came to Klkarongo, a circular lake, once a crater, about half a mile wide, writes a correspondent of the Westminster Gazette from Uganda. The water Is slightly salt, and Is greatly appreciated by the hippos, who come here in large parties from Lake Rulsamba to bathe. The lake is shallow for a few yards only and then deepens rapidly, so the hippos, who do not like deep water, never go very far from the shore. On a still day it Is an amusing pastime to Bit by the lake and watch the great brutes enjoying themselves. For tt moment nothing is to be seen, then suddenly a score or more of huge heads burst through the water with loud snorts and squirting Jets of water through their nostrils; they stare around with their ugly little pigltke eyes, yawn prodigiously, showing a fearful array of tusks and a cavernous throat, then sink with a satisfied gurgle below the surface, to repeat the performance a minute or two afterward. Sometimes one stands almost upright in tha water; {hen he rolls ever with a sounding splash, showing a broad expanse of back like a huge porpoise. Or a too venturesome young bachelor approaches a select circle of veterans, who resent his intrusion and drive him away with roars and grunts. There Is something Irresistibly suggestive of humanity about their ungainly gambol. Only bathing machines are wanted to complete the picture.