94 UGANDA AND THE EGYPTIAN SOUDAN.

twelve brass rings were found in its belly, which told a sad tale of its recent meals.

The evening before we left, we saw a curious sight. After we were in bed, we heard several shots, a most unusual thing in these orderly stations, and soon after a soldier came with the Bey's salaams, and should we like to see a hippopotamus killed. We soon dressed, and followed our guide ; the night was very dark, but lanterns and torches showed us that the people were hurrying down to one of the gardens outside the walls, near the river. On arriving at the spot we saw a crowd of natives and soldiers, and in the midst of them an immense bull hippopotamus, which had been disabled by the shots, but was still alive and bellowing with all his might. A few more shots gave him his quietus, and then began the ghastly work of cutting up the carcass ; the natives swarmed all over the beast, cutting and hacking with knives and hatchets, the hideousness of the scene being enhanced by the lurid glare of the torches. Great lumps of flesh were torn off and fought for by the people ; and fat was eaten raw or rubbed over their bodies, and in almost less time than it has taken to write of it, nothing remained of the hippopotamus but pools of blood and a few of the large bones.

The layer of fat between the skin and ribs makes excellent soup, and is not to be despised even by those who have enjoyed real turtle. Some of the