The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 52

Bathing

Bathing.

In hot weather these people are very fond of bathing. They are all, even the little children, able to swim. Although at times they plunge into the water, they often walk in quietly and sink below the surface so gently as to hardly leave a ripple. They can remain under water for a length of time.

On one occasion a young man with whom I was out shooting vanished quietly below the surface of a deep waterhole. In reply to my question as to his reason for so doing, he informed me that he "went below to obtain a drink of cold water, as it was too hot on the surface." This man also showed me how, by lying down under water, with one end of a hollow reed in his mouth, the other end above the surface, he was enabled to remain under for a length of time, and so possibly evade any pursuers.

The fresh water creeks and ponds abound in mussels and crayfish, these also form an important item of food. Many of the former are obtained by the blacks by standing in the water and with their toes extracting the mussels from the mud. The crayfish are easily caught by means of a piece of meat tied to a string; as soon as their long antennæ appear above the surface of the water they are cautiously seized and thrown on shore.