Thinking black; 22 years without a break in the long grass of Central ...

BLACK MAN = BLACK MANNERS 463
not find his body after dredging for four days. The
curious fact in connection with these Mweru hippos is
that they are grouped in austere ^' schools," called
Matangay the various schools all known intimately
and boasting of personal names like genus homo. Thus
the old grandpa hippo is " Mulonde senior," while grandma
is popularly known as " Mrs. Kafulo," the sons and
grandsons all boasting of a serious "postal address"
appellation. Great excitement prevails among the
children of the fishing hamlet when a bumpy-faced little
baby-hippo pops its head above water to proclaim its
advent into hippodom. A queer little caricature of a
hippopotamus, heated wrangles take place among the
youngsters over its christening name, and I found one
small boy at Mulonde offering to fight the whole crowd
(in the order of seniority), rather than yield his nomination
for the brand-new pink hippo-baby's name. Feeding as
they do at the rate of five bushels per night, the poor
fishers' fields are raided recklessly ; but a Shila man only
shrugs his shoulders and, pointing out to the waves of
the Lake, says, " Yonder is my well-furrowed field !
The same idea this as when, paddling his canoe, he claims
to be " a miller of water " instead of a miller of flour.
This serious fact as to a hippo's fixed domicile is only
proved by the occasional seeming exception when a
young bull-hippo "marries out" of the school. For
although he hives off and marries into another school
many miles distant, yet whenever he is badly w^ounded
you can see him putting out to sea, and blowing like