PORT ELIZABETH AND WALMER. 23 



mentors ; the tiny, almost invisible ones being by far 

 the worst and most numerous, and their bites, or 

 rather their presence beneath one's skin, causing in- 

 tense irritation. The large ticks, though they do not 

 confine their attentions wholly to animals, are much 

 more troublesome to them than to the human race, 

 and our poor horses, dog, and other creatures suffered 

 terribly from their attacks. One day, soon after our 

 arrival, I was much amused by the clumsy antics of a 

 number of fowls, which were continually jumping up 

 and pecking at some cattle grazing near. On investi- 

 gation, I found that they were regaling on the fat ticks 

 with which the poor animals were covered ; and our 

 appetite for the Walmer poultry was considerably 

 lessened by the discovery. Ticks abound everywhere 

 along the coast, but as soon as you move inland you 

 are free from the torment. 



We had not been very long in Walmer before T 



commenced his ostrich-farming with the purchase of 

 forty-nine young birds, most of them only a few 

 months old, and all wearing the rough, black and grey 

 plumage which, under the name of " chicken-feathers," 

 forms the ostrich's clothing during the first three or 

 four years of his life. We kept them at night in a 

 small enclosure near the house, and during the day- 

 time they grazed on the common, herded by a trouble- 

 some little Kaffir boy, who required more looking after 

 than all his charges. The business of counting the 

 latter when they were brought home in the evening 

 was by no means so easy as one would imagine, for the 



