HER LONG TREK

Evening Star, Issue 20943, 6 November 1931, Page 14

HER LONG TREK

¥ . HUBERTA THE HIPPO

NOW IN A MUSEUM ' In the Kaffrarian Museum at King William’s Town there stands a hippopotamus that gave South Africa thrill after thrill for more than two years. For this enormous stuffed hide was once Huberta tae Hippo—the famous roving animal that was looked npoij by white South Africans as a friend and by natives as the reincarnation of a groat chief (says the New York ‘Times’). Flags wore flown at half-mast in Durban on the tragic day when the “assassination ” of Huberta became known. Four farmers convicted of the deed were each sentenced to a fine of £25 or three months’ hard labour. A wave of protest swept through the country, and a museum director wrote: “Ihave entirely despaired of human nature. ■There are some people who cannot see an interesting specimen without itching to take a pot shot at it.” How did Huberta tlio Hippo capture the affection of the whole of South Africa? It is a diverting story. To realise the sensation caused everywhere by the appearance of Huberta, it must be understood that South Africa—apart from a few game reserves—is no longer a wonderland of big game. Thousands of people living in the cities have never seen gamp animals except in captivity. So wheiij in November, 1928, _ a fullgrown hippopotamus strolled into the village of New Guelderland, fifty miles from Durban, the event received large headlines in all the newspapers. HUBERTA’S DEBUT. Indians and natives working in the fields of sugar-cane were the first to raise the alarm. They heard a sporting and a bellowing, and ran for safety. The hippo remained until hundreds of people weie staring wide-eyed with astonishment; then retreated into the thicket. Undoubtedly this adventurous beast had wandered, from the Umfolosi sanctuary, near Lake St. Locia. Zululancl —tlio last known breeding place of the hippo within tho borders of the Union. At first she was named Billy by correspondents who rushed to the spot, but it was as Hubert the Hippo that she became a national character. It was not until after her death that the mistake about her sex was discovered, and she was renamed Huberta. From the day of her first appearance until her death Huberta was a marked hippo. After she had startled tho plantation workers at Guelderland she quickly achieved notoriety. An enterprising Press photographer went out among the sugar-cane, but when he levelled his camera Huberta charged him. Curious crowds flocked to see her. As they grew larger they annoyed Huberta more and more, and finally she moved off. _ From , that moment began her journeyings, which were to last two years and make her tlio most famous hippo that ever lived. She moved first in tho direction of Durban. As she approached the city phe passed\ through areas which grew more and more thickly populated with every mile. Naturally, the sensation she caused was enormous. , ON THE WAY. As she approached Durban, which is one of tho largest cities in South Africa, the excitement grew. ‘Hubert on His Way,’ said the headlines (they thought she was a bull then), and people waited eagerly to see whore the animal would make its next appearance. Of course, had it been necessary, an organised hunt could have put an cud to' her career then and there. But by this time Huberta was a public character. She bad roused the' annlsement, oven the affection, of tlio entire population. It had been proved that she was quite harmless. Occasionally she charged people who were too inquisitive. Her greatest escapade followed. She called at a hotel just outside Durban one night, appeared suddenly, and gave some of the habitues a severe nervous shock. After this, however,' she decided that she was coming too closely into contact with civilisation. She made a wide detour, and was not heard of again until she reached the coast twenty miles south of Durban. Journeying oil, she came to the month of the Urnzimvubu River, near Port St John There she settled down for a time and lived happily in the river. But again her fatal curiosity got the better of her, and one night she visited the village of Port St. John. A J *wn councillor, so it is said, was crossing the square to a meeting. Ho flashed his electric torch in front of him and saw the yawning mouth of a hippo. He did not attend the meeting! Huberta sat down in the square, and soon the entire population of the village turned out to see her. It was the most exciting thing that ever happened in Port St. John, or is ever likely to happen there. Huberta bore the shouting of men and women and tlio barking of dogs for Imlf an hour Then she left Port St. John never to return. Her wanderings had begun again. * CAPTURE SOUGHT. Huberta’s odyssey now became a less pleasant one. Tho Bloemfontein Zoo had sent a party out to capture her alive. They were hard upon her trail. But Huberta by this timo had lived upon tho fringes of civilisation for nearly two years. She had developed amazing cunning. She passed through areas inhabited by natives, and they saw not the least sign of her. Then one day a farmer reported to the magistrate at Peddie, near King William’s Town, that ho had seen a dead hippo in the river. Mon went to tho spot, and, with eighteen oxen and chains, hauled out the body. It was Huberta, with bullet holes above her eyes. She was a full-grown cow hippo, 9ft 2in in length and with a girth of Bft lin. She must have weighed nearly four tons. Every paper in South Africa published an obituary. Museums quarrelled lor the right to preserve her hide. There was a popular outcry against the unknown marksmen who had shot her. Eventually, four men made voluntary confessions. They were charged under the game laws and fined £25 each. Huberta will always be remembered with affection in South Africa. To the natives the stuffed carcass will rem.ain an object of awe for generations. While she lived they quickly surrounded her with legends. To many of them she was the reincarnation of one ,of the great chiefs of the past who had come back to earth to lead the Bantu Nation to the greatness that onco was theirs.