118 Becollections of Adventures 



size, much bigger than the present domesticated bird 

 in the Cape Colony, the want of knowledge on my 

 part made the attempt at farming wild ostriches at 

 that early date unsuccessful. Some of them became 

 very savage. One day a large cock ran at mother and 

 her sister, and would have killed them, had I not 

 happened to look out of my office window and seen 

 the danger they were in. I had no time to look for 

 any weapon, so took off my coat as I ran, threw it 

 over the bird's head, pushed the two ladies through 

 a pole gate, and just had time to vault over it myself, 

 when he rushed at me, and drove his toe into the 

 pole an inch or two behind me, this caused a strained 

 feeling, so I fetched a gun and shot him. He had 

 previously ripped open some working oxen, and 

 chased Kaffirs all over the place. The birds wandered 

 to some distance, and neighbours shot them for their 

 feathers, pretending to think they were ivild birds. 

 So ended my first ostrich farming venture. 



I used to send my cattle for winter grazing to 

 the bush-veld farm I owned near the Salt Pan, this 

 pan was Government property, and the Boers and 

 their families came long distances to collect and 

 clean the large salt crystals for preserving meat, 

 butter, etc. It is a most picturesque crater of an 

 extinct volcano, the cone rises from the bush -covered 

 plain to some height, and is noticeable for many 

 miles. The Salt Pan itself lies at the bottom of the 

 old crater, about 700 feet down and is covered by a 

 crust of block salt, some feet thick in parts, on this, 

 after rain, fresh crystals form and are collected. Of 

 late years the pan has been neglected and less and 

 inferior salts and soda obtained. I. W. Henshall, 

 representing Alexander McKorkindale (of New 

 Scotland fame), erected evaporating pans ; but owing 

 to wars, etc., they were abandoned. Some Johannes- 



