SOUTHERN AFRICA. S59 



is to be found similarly represented on the sculptured monu- 

 ments of ancient Egypt and Nubia. The oryx is a powerful 

 and dang-erous antagonist, charg-ing- viciously, and defending 

 itself, when hard pressed, with wonderful intrepidity and 

 address. Its skeleton has not unfrequently been found 

 locked in that of a lion— the latter having- been transfixed 

 by its formidable horns, in a conflict which has proved fatal 

 to both the combatants. 



With the ostrich,* a bird famous from the most remote 

 antiquity, and which was usually common during- our jour- 

 ney, I conclude my notice of objects that especially interest 

 the sportsman. Miserably mounted as we were, any attempt 

 to overtake this most g-igantic of the feathered race would 

 have been vain, but a shot could always be obtained at arm's 

 length by galloping to a point in the course it had selected, 

 and from which it rarely swerved. The food of the ostrich 

 is exclusively of a vegetable nature ; it pastures in large 

 troops, and evidently constitutes the link between the birds 

 and the mammalia. The male bird often measures nine feet 

 at the crown of the head, and exceeds three hundred pounds 

 in weight— the thigh being equal in size to the largest leg 

 of mutton. Excepting the costly white plumes, so prized 

 by the fair sex, and which are chiefly obtained from the wing, 

 instead of from the tail, as generally imagined, the colour of 

 the body is the deepest black in the male bird, and in the 

 female a dingy brown. While running, the wings are raised 

 above the back, and the clatter of the feet, which are only 

 provided with two toes, resembles that made by a horse in 

 trotting, pebbles of considerable size being cast behind them. 

 The usual cry of the ostrich is a short roar, but when 

 brought to bay, it hisses like the gander. The Bechuana, 

 with what truth I know not, are said occasionally to domes- 



* Struthio Camclus. Delineated in the Portraits of Game and Wild Animals 

 of Southern Africa. 



s 2 



