234 



GIRAFFE HUNTING, 



a vley of about forty or fifty acres in extent, and en- 

 compassed by an abundant growth of most verdant 

 grass. This sequestered spot was fairly swarming 

 with springbok veldebeest and Burcliell's zebras, 

 among which moved, with slow, measured stride, a 

 family party of ostriches, in deportment and shape 

 looking not unlike exaggerated barn-door fowls. 

 A Wimbledon marksman would experience no 

 difficulty in hitting so large an object as one of these 

 birds at six or seven hundred yards, so I had a try, 

 but found that I had undercalculated the dist-^nce — 

 a very common error with Europeans in South 

 Africa — so made a very glaring miss. A second 

 shot I fired, but they were then in motion ; the 

 range was correct enough this time, still I went 

 wide of the mark. As a cock ostrich in full feather 

 is worth quite 70/. sterling, the experiment was 

 worth trying. Within a day's treck of Mahalapsi, a 

 friend of mine, at the time returning from an 

 unsuccessful hunt, and, as a natural consequence, 

 fearfully hard up — viewed some of these birds in the 

 open, and quite eleven hundred yards from the trail. 

 This gentleman was a notoriously bad shot, but that 

 did not deter him from firing. To his infinite sur- 

 prise he knocked over a splendid cock, and, more 

 remarkable still, it was not the one he fired at. The 

 little cherub that sits up aloft is usually accredited 

 with taking care of poor Jack. I feel convinced that 

 he does so of Scotsmen, for to no other nationality 

 would such luck have fallen. Sandy is an enor- 

 mously rich man now, and well does he deserve the 

 good things that Providence has showered upon him, 

 for he is unrivalled in his locality for hospitaMty and 

 generosity. He has often laughingly remarked to 

 me, " That shot was the making of me." 



I may as well remark here that there are two 

 species of ostrich in South Africa, and that both are 

 quite distinct from the North African bird. They are 



