236 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



that of the acrid chicory with which it has been 

 bountifully doctored it might be taken for weak tea. 

 And yet there is no better "pick-me-up" after a long walk 

 or tiring day's work, nothing more warming and com- 

 forting on a cold day, than a cup of really good coffee. 

 Such, for instance, as you get in any of the numerous 

 Arab cafis in Algiers ; a tiny cup of which, hardly 

 larger than an egg-cup, does you more good than a 

 glass of port wine. Indeed, wherever coffee is really 

 well made as in France and Spain it does exten- 

 sively take the place of intoxicating drinks; and it 

 would be a good thing if in England, and especially 

 among our poorer classes, this splendidly nutritious 

 substance food no less than drink were as much 

 used as it is abroad. The coffee-house where well-made, 

 unadulterated coffee might be obtained would be a 

 formidable rival to the gin-palace. As it is, however, 

 the art of making coffee if ever possessed at all in 

 England has been so completely lost that the increas- 

 ing disuse of the beverage is no matter of surprise. 



Angora milk is excellent with coffee, but, though abun- 

 dant at times, it is hardly to be obtained at all during 

 droughts; and for months you have to be contented 

 with Swiss milk. The Boers and Kaffirs think fresh, 

 sweet milk very unwholesome ; a Dutchwoman never 

 gives her child anything but sour milk to drink, and 

 the Kaffirs always keep their milk in large gourds 

 which have the property of rapidly turning it sour. 



