clumsy attempt to vault the wall, which his companions had already
leaped. Leaving his thorn-pierced victim, Gouws made at Squib, applied
his huge foot to his person, with a slap that must have forcibly
recalled the days of childhood, and sent him over the wall with
undignified haste. It is generally believed that Squib has not gone
guinea-fowl shooting among ostriches since that day!

The profits on ostrich feathers are very considerable. I do not profess
to give statistical information in these pages, but merely touch lightly
on what came under my observation. At one farm which I visited near
Capetown I was told that the owner had cleared 2500 pounds in one year.
Timid men are sometimes alarmed by depressions in the trade in feathers,
and some of them have sold off their birds at heavy loss; but bold and
hopeful men continue to persevere and prosper, as such men always will
in every trade all the world over. That ostrich-farming has been found
worthy of zealous attention is proved by the fact that, while in 1865
there were only between eighty and ninety birds in the colony, in 1875
there were upwards of 22,000. [In 1925 there were 239,000.]

Some days afterwards, I pretty well completed my circle of knowledge on
this subject by witnessing the birth of an ostrich!

Hobson and I rode that day over to a lovely place named Glenbonny, on
the edge of that part of the Karroo where the mountainous lands begin.
It was a charming ride of forty miles--there and back--with a pleasant
visit, and a rest between. Here dwelt relatives of my friend--a family
named Berrington--one daughter of which, (with wealth of golden hair),
had been a shipmate on the voyage out. The principal neighbours of this
family were tigers and baboons. There was a minor population of deer,
hyenas, hares, coneys, monkeys, and moles, but no human beings of any
kind. Their dwelling was low and flat-roofed, the walls being coated
with mud, so that its aspect outside was not imposing, but inside we
found substantial comfort if not luxury, refinement, and hospitality.
This is not an infrequent combination in the outlying districts of the
Cape, where the nature of life and things is such that wealth,
education, and refinement are often found robed in a modest homespun
garb, and housed in a mere hut.

Among other objects of interest inside we found ostriches--very little
ones--in divers stages of progression. There was one, the size of an
ordinary f