210 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



before, when up the Nile on a dahabieh swarming with 

 flies ! And if, in that same Egypt, poor Menephtah 

 had only known of it three thousand years ago ! Mr. 

 Keating's fortune would have been a colossal one if he 

 had lived then. 



But to return to our Angora. As soon as the meat 

 has been cut up it is usually sprinkled very plentifully 

 with salt, and wrapped up for a few hours in the skin ; 

 after which the greater portion of it is put into pickle. 

 For in the hot weather only a very small quantity can 

 be eaten unsalted, as it becomes tainted almost at once. 

 Even in strong brine, and with the most careful rubbing 

 and turning, the meat is sometimes quite uneatable on 

 the second day, especially if the weather happens to be 

 thundery. And thunder-storms, when they do come, 

 almost invariably select the time when an animal has 

 just been killed. N.B. The " pope's eye " must always 

 be carefully taken out as soon as the meat is cut up, or 

 the joint will immediately become tainted. 



Where the family is a small one it is a good plan, 

 during the hot weather, to include meat among the 

 men's rations. The herds on the farms receive weekly, 

 as part of their pay, a certain quantity of meal, coffee, 

 sugar, salt, tobacco, etc. ; and the store where all these 

 supplies are kept and weighed out on large and 

 business-like scales, looks with its piles of sacks and 

 packing-cases, its numerous shelves, rows of bottles, 

 tins of preserved meats and other provisions not at 

 all unlike the general shop of an English village, with 

 a little in the chemist's and tobacconist's line as well. 



