CHAP. VII.] IMPROVISED CHAUNTS. 201 



ever, John Allen, Andersson, and myself, dispelled that 

 illusion from the savage mind, by stripping and swimming 

 all about it, under the astonished gaze not only of the 

 whole caravan, but also of quantities of Bushmen who 

 lived about the place, and who came to greet the 

 Ovampo, with whom they are on the best of terms. 



Although the Ovampo live on the borders of a 

 gi'eat river, yet none had ever been seen swimming. It 

 appeared that alligators were so numerous in its waters 

 that the natives feared to venture in. Chik had 

 been extremely friendly up to the present time, but 

 he now began to look with some suspicion upon us ; 

 the fact of our having swum about Otchikoto alarmed 

 him — it looked like magic. Again my Damaras were 

 always teasing the others by saying that we were 

 cleverer than the Ovampo — a fact which these would 

 not admit ; but now it was proved bej^ond doubt, and 

 the whole eighty-six females sang songs about us ; 

 one matron improvised, and all the others joined in 

 a shrill chorus, like " tirri-tirri-tirri." The self-esteem 

 of the Ovampo had certainly been wounded. Chik at 

 first ridiculed guns. He had seen guns in Benguela, 

 but they must have been worthless affairs, and badly 

 handled, for he laughed at any comparison between 

 them and arrows ; however, by degrees he became 

 frightened at seeing what they really could do. There 

 was a duck swimming about the water, not more than 

 sixty yards off, but it looked very much fui-ther, as 

 things below one always do, and I shot him very 

 neatly with my little rifle : and again, the next day, 

 Andersson was shooting some birds on the wing for 



k:3 



