780 



THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



tentots' heads ; and the flowers of nearly all are of the portulaca 

 type, some large, some small, some growing singly, others in clus- 

 ters ; they are of different colors white, yellow, orange, red, pink, 

 lilac," etc. They are very delicate and fragile, and fade as soon 

 as they are gathered. The prickly pear is an introduced plant, 

 but has become a nuisance, and brings great trouble upon the 

 ostriches, which acquire a morbid taste for them, and ultimately 

 succumb to the effect of the prickles that lodge in their throats 

 and can not be got rid of. 



The feathered and four-footed creatures of the country were 

 all delightful, having the quaintest and most amusing ways, and 

 were easily tamed ; so that our settlers soon had a consider- 

 able menagerie around them. Their first acquisition was a sec- 

 retary bird Jacob which, on first coming to live with them, 

 reminded them "of a little old-fashioned man in a gray coat 

 and tight black knee - breeches, with pale flesh-colored stock- 

 ings clothing the thinnest and most angular of legs," the joints 

 of which worked rather stiffly. " Not by any means a nice old 

 man did Jacob resemble, but an old reprobate, with evil-look- 

 ing eye, yellow-parchment complexion, bald head, hooked nose, 



Jacob. 



and fiendish grin ; with his shoulders shrugged up, his hands 

 tucked away under his coat-tails, and several pens stuck behind 

 his ear." He was nevertheless very friendly and affectionate, 

 and soon grew too tame and noisy. He would intrude into the 

 house and persist in staying there, till, when all other efforts 

 to drive him away had failed, a dried puff-adder's skin, of which 

 he stood in mortal terror, was thrown at him, when he would run 

 off and be gone for the day. The Cape Government protects these 

 birds for their usefulness in destroying snakes. This one had a 



