4 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
iron seat should never be exposed to the sun for any length of 
time—that is, if one wants to avoid having a blistered posterior. 
In the way of livestock there were four hundred head of Afri- 
kander cattle which had to be rounded up frequently and dipped 
to rid them of ticks. These were numerous and were carriers of 
such tick-borne diseases as redwater and gall sickness, which were 
causing heavy mortality among stock. To locate and treat sick ant- 
mals on such an estate, a large proportion of which was a wilder- 
ness, was in itself a big undertaking. One of the worst troubles 
arose when the first rains came after a long dry season. By then 
there was hardly any grass left and even this was reduced to dried 
stumps. The cattle, ravenous for something green, devoured every- 
thing that sprang up after the first downpour, and unfortunately 
a poisonous weed used to come up quicker than the grass. We 
often found cattle blown out like balloons and frothing at the 
mouth. Some died, but we saved a lot by dosing and by puncturing 
to let out the wind. The long-horned native cattle are fairly hardy 
but are very slow-growing and give very little milk; the oxen 
(bullocks), however, are excellent for draft purposes. To improve 
the meat and milk yield, pedigree Hereford and Friesland bulls 
were imported for crossing. Other livestock were mules, donkeys, 
pigs, and ostriches. 
The last were very profitable in those days owing to the great 
demand for the feathers. One of my jobs was to catch the birds 
when they were due to be plucked. Anything more calculated to 
test the nerve of a tyro could hardly be imagined. The birds were 
kept in a large paddock and one by one were driven by natives— 
all armed with long branches of thorn trees—into a corner. When 
the ostrich saw that it was being hemmed in it invariably tried to 
double back and break through the ranks. As no native had the 
nerve to catch one of these birds this was the moment when I 
had to do my stuff and show that white men are without fear. It 
meant acting quickly if one wanted to avoid the long tedious busi- 
ness of rounding up the bird again, and so I had to step aside to 
induce the bird to dash through the gap between me and the 
fence. 
As the bird, with mighty strides, made its terrifying dash 
towards me at the speed of a train I had to leap through the air 
