386 CURSORES. 



much prized by travelers as well as by natives. They weigh 

 about three pounds, and contain as much as two dozen of the 

 eggs of our common barn-door fowls. One might be considered 

 a sufficient meal for any man, but the Damaras sometimes eat 

 two at a meal. " The shells are valued as ornaments, as well as 

 drinking vessels, or to hold liquids, for which purpose they are 

 covered with a sort of net-work, and slung across the saddle; 

 grass, wood, etc., serving as substitutes for corks. The Copts 

 suspend them in their churches, passing the cords of their lamps 

 through the shells to prevent the rats from coming down to drink 

 the oil ; they look upon the shells as emblems of watchfulness. 

 Dissolved in vinegar, or reduced to powder, they are used me- 

 dicinally." 



Stones as large as a bean or pea, are said to be sometimes 

 found in the eggs. Barrows speaks of nine found in one egg and 

 twelve in another, of a pale yellow color, about as large as a 

 marrowfat pea, and exceedingly hard. A full grown Ostrich is 

 seven or eight, sometimes nine or even eleven feet high, and 

 weighs two or three hundred pounds, some soy thirty stone, (420 

 Ibs.) This bird is supposed to live between twenty and thirty 

 years. 



The general color of the female is a grayish or ashy brown, 

 slightly fringed with white. The lower part of the neck and 

 body of a mature male is of a deep glossy black, mixed with 

 whitish feathers. In both sexes, the large plumes of the wings 

 and tail are perfectly white ; the thinner the quill, the longer and 

 more wavy the plume, the more highly it is prized. Seventy to 

 ninety feathers go to the pound ; but though half this number 

 may be obtained from a single bird, only a small portion are of 

 any value. The best plumes are obtained soon after the moult- 

 ing season. The price varies, as the market is fluctuating at the 

 Cape of Good Hope. From five to fifty dollars are paid for a 

 pound of the finest feathers. Those obtained from living birds 

 are less liable to be attacked and injured by insects or worms 

 than such as are taken from dead ones. The Damaras and Be- 

 chuanas manufacture handsome parasols from the black feathers, 

 which serve as a sign of mourning, and to protect the complex- 

 ion ! These Ostrich parasols are used in hunting wild animals, 

 as a Spanish bull-fighter uses a red cloth; just as a wounded 

 beast charges a man, "he thrusts the support of the nodding 

 plumes into the ground, and slips off, while the infuriated ani- 

 mal vents his wrath upon the feathers." The skin is also held 

 in great request for manufacturing defensive armor. Ostriches 

 usually dwell far from the haunts of men, but occasionally ap- 



