OSTRICH HUNTING. 261 



after a short but spirited chase, have brought the ostrich to 

 a dead stand-still. A blow on the head with a stick or a 

 "shambok" is then sufficient to dispatch it. On similar 

 occasions, however, horses have been known to drop down 

 dead from over-exertion. 



When an ostrich finds himself observed, he will often make 

 for some given point, more especially if he be hemmed in 

 near a plain. He is so fully aware that safety is only to be 

 found in the open country, that he always endeavors to gain 

 it. Should the sportsman understand his business, he may 

 easily cut him off; but it requires a keen eye and a practiced 

 hand to bring the bird down ; for on emergencies like these, 

 its speed, as before said, is truly wonderful. 



The Arabs of North Africa are also accustomed to pursue 

 the ostrich on horseback ; but, instead of trying to overtake 

 the bird at once, it is steadily followed, even for days, with- 

 out putting it to its speed, until it becomes gradually exhaust- 

 ed, when it falls an easy prey to the persevering hunter.* 



In parts of Southern Africa the ostrich is run down even 

 on foot. I myself have seen the Bushmen accomplish this 

 exploit on the shores of Lake Ngami. They usually sur- 

 round a whole troop, and with shouts and yells chase the 

 terrified birds into the water, where they are, of course, 

 speedily killed. "We more than once," says Harris, "fell 

 in with a large party of Corannas engaged in an attempt to 

 tire out an ostrich on foot, a feat which they are said some- 

 times to achieve, knocking him off his legs by squaling with a 

 club of rhinoceros horn fashioned like a hockey stick." 



The Bushman, however, frequently has recourse to a much 



* "When slain, the throat is opened, and a ligature being passed 

 below the incision, several of the hunters raise the bird by the head 

 and feet, and shake and drag him about until they obtain from the 

 aperture nearly twenty poiinds of a substance of mingled blood and 

 fat, of the consistence of coagulated oil, which, under the denomina- 

 tion of manteque, is employed in the preparation of dishes and the cure 

 of various maladies." — Harris's Wild Sports. 



