228 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



as the Kaffirs call the porcupine, is the worst of 

 gardeners ; and provoking indeed is the devastation 

 wrought by his omnivorous appetite among potatoes, 

 carrots, parsley, pumpkins, water-melons, and indeed 

 all other plants which, in our most thankless of kitchen 

 gardens, are grown and irrigated with such infinite 

 toil and difficulty. 



The crop which best repays cultivation in that arid 

 soil is Indian corn. This most wholesome and nourish- 

 inor food is much more suitable for hot climates than 

 oatmeal, as it possesses none of the heating properties 

 of the latter ; and, although in one form or another it 

 is a standing dish at nearly every meal in a Karroo 

 house, one never tires of it. The nicest way of pre- 

 paring it is in the form called "stamped mealies." The 

 ripe yellow grains of the Indian corn are moistened 

 and placed in a large and massive wooden mortar, 

 generally consisting of the stump of a tree hollowed 

 out. (The centre of an old waggon-wheel did duty 

 very effect ually^as our mealie-stamper.) Then, with a 

 heavy wooden pestle, they are bruised just sufficiently 

 to remove the yellow husks, though not enough to 

 break up the corn itself, as in the case of the American 

 hominy. After a long and gentle boiling the mealies 

 are as tender as young peas, and it is difficult for a 

 stranger to believe that they have not been cooked in 

 milk. 



It would be a sfood thing: if those who make it their 

 study to provide cheap and nourishing food for the 

 starving poor of London and other over-populated 



