OSTRICH EGGS. 105 



to take leave of me and start for Colesberg, his leave 

 of absence having expired. One of his horses being 

 foot-sore, I purchased him, in the hope of his soon re- 

 covering, which after a few days' rest he did : I called 

 him " Paterson," after his old master. My stud now 

 consisted of eight horses ; but three of them were miss- 

 ing, and I dispatched Jacob in quest of them, who re- 

 turned on the third day bringing them with him, hav- 

 ing followed the spoor upward of fifty miles. 



In the evening two of the Hottentots walked in to 

 camp, bending under a burden of ostrich eggs, having 

 discovered a nest containing five-and-thirty. Their 

 manner of carrying them amused me. Having divest- 

 ed themselves of their leather "crackers," which in co- 

 lonial phrase means trowsers, they had secured the an- 

 kles with rheimpys, and, having thus converted them 

 into bags, they had crammed them with as many ostrich 

 eggs as they would contain. They left about half of the 

 number behind concealed in the sand, for which they 

 returned on the following morning. While encamped 

 at this vley we fell in with several nests of ostriches, 

 and here I first ascertained a singular propensity pe- 

 culiar to these birds. If a person discovers the nest 

 and does not at once remove the eggs, on returning he 

 will most probably find them all smashed. This the 

 old birds almost invariably do, even when the intruder 

 has not handled the eggs or so much as ridden within 

 five yards of them. The nest is merely a hollow scoop- 

 ed in the sandy soil, generally among heath or other low 

 bushes ; its diameter is about seven feet ; it is believed 

 that two hens often lay in one nest. The hatching of 

 the eggs is not left, as is generally believed, to the heat 

 of the sun, but, on the contrary, the cock relieves the 

 hen in the incubation. These eggs form a consider- 



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