174 
SPORT AND WAR. 
CIIAP. XX. 
CHAPTER XX. 
THE WATER SPIRIT I A LEGEND OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
The native tribes in South Africa are very supersti¬ 
tious—more so than most people—and some of their 
legends are worthy of note. The legend of the Water 
Spirit is one of these. The Hottentots still believe 
that many of the rivers at the Cape of Good Hope 
possess or are governed by one of these fairy spirits. 
I was once stationed at the Koonap post, on the river 
of that name, which is rather celebrated for its spirits. I 
remember one fine summer afternoon being awakened 
from my 4 siesta ’ by the whole post being in an uproar, 
which I found arose from one of the most beautiful of 
Hottentot Venuses having been taken by the Water 
Spirit while bathing in the river. The whole detach¬ 
ment consisted of native troops, and amongst the 
wives and daughters there was one called Elsie, a 
nymph of beautiful proportions—not 4 made up,’ like 
the fashionable ladies of the present day, but 4 a gal 
in which there was no ’fiction,’ as our American cousins 
would say. I only wish I could draw, in order that I 
