112 SOUTH AFRICA. 



and at the risk of his life reached localities where 

 ostriches luxuriated in some natron-covered " pans " 

 in vast numbers, and by shooting from cover he 

 managed to get feathers which he sold for, I 

 believe, ^"3,000 during his hunt, although only 

 equipped with an old waggon, draught oxen, and 

 an old Snider rifle. His adventures were mar- 

 vellous, as were his escapes from death and thirst ; 

 but the wild bushmen gave him able assistance, 

 and supplied him with various watery bulbs, which 

 they dug in sufficient numbers to keep him and 

 some of his oxen alive, and he at last emerged 

 safely with his spoils, which he sold well. Even- 

 tually he invested the proceeds of his hunt in 

 breeding cattle, and settling down at a spring on 

 the outskirts of the desert, his herd increased so 

 rapidly that when I last saw him he was a rich man 

 in the prime of life, but quite determined to forego 

 ostrich hunting for the future. He was a shrewd, 

 uneducated man, who had travelled a good deal 

 in South Africa, and had made a little fortune by 

 diamond digging, of which fortune he was robbed. 

 He gave it as his opinion that the Kalliharri 

 country was the only part of the country where 

 really successful stock ranching could be carried 



