OSTRICHES. 115 



T once bought an ostrich which had killed two 



men ; and which, although an unusually fine bird, was, 

 on account of its evil reputation, sold to him for a very 

 low price. Ostriches ap[)ear to have a strong aversion 

 to all the negro race. They attack Kaffirs and Hotten- 

 tots much more readily than they do their white 

 masters ; and although — as has just been seen — they 

 are very far from showing that amount of respect for 

 the latter which is desirable, they seem — except during 

 the breeding season — to stand in some sort of awe of a 

 white man as compared with the " niggers," for whom 

 they have the deepest contempt. 



They are uncertain, too, and take sudden and un- 

 accountable dislikes. One poor Kaffir woman, coming 

 up to work at the house, was attacked, inside the gate, 

 by one of the tame old ostriches, which — looking out 

 for scraps thrown from the kitchen, stealing the fowls' 

 food, or now and then picking up and swallowing a 

 delicious piece of soap left for an unguarded moment on 

 the washing-machine — prowled about round the house, 

 and of which no one had ever dreamed of being afraid. 

 Her solitary and scanty skirt, torn from the top to the 

 bottom, showed how narrow had been her escape ; and 

 she looked livid under her dark skin, as she came in to 

 ask me for needle and thread to repair the rent. 



It has several times happened that one of our herds, 

 in danger of his life, has been obliged, in self-defence, 

 to kill a vicious ostrich ; and, the finest and most 

 promising birds — naturally the most savage — being 

 invariably the victims, the loss is always a serious one. 



