vi CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER V. 



CLIMATE OF THE KARROO. PAGB 



Cape Colony much abused —Healthy climate— Wonderful cures of 

 consumption— Karroo a good place for sanatorium — Rarity of 

 illness and accidents— The young colonist — An independent 

 infant— Long droughts— Hot winds— Dust storms— Dams- 

 Advantage of possessing good wells— Partiality of thunder- 

 storms—Delights of a brack roof -Washed out of bed— After 

 the rain — Our horses — Effects of rain indoors — Opslaag — The 

 Cape winter — What to wear on Karroo farms 72 



CHAPTER VI. 

 OSTRICHES. 



An unwilling ride — First sight of an ostrich farm — Ridiculous 

 mistakes about ostriches — Decreased value of birds and feathers 

 — Chicks — Plumage of ostriches — A frightened ostrich — The 

 plucking-box — Sorting feathers — Voice of the ostrich — Savage 

 birds—" Not afraid of a dicky-bird !" — Quelling an ostrich^ 

 Birds killed by men in self-defence — Nesis — An undutiful hen 

 — Darby and Joan — A disconsolate widower — A hen-pecked 

 husband — Too much zeal — Jackie — Cooling the eggs — The 

 white-necked crow — Poisoning jackals — Ostrich eggs in the 

 kitchen — A quaint old writer on ostriches — A suppliant bird 

 — Nest destroyed by enraged ostrich — An old bachelor ... g8 



CHAPTER VII. 



OSTRICHES (continued). 



Vagaries of an incubator — Hatching the chicks — A bad egg — 

 Human foster mothers — ^Chicks difficult to rear— "Yellow- 

 liver" — Cruel boys — Chicks herded by hen ostrich — Visit to 

 Boer's house — A carriage full of ostriches— " The melancholy 

 Jaques" — Ostriches at sea — A stampede — Runaway birds — 

 Branding — Stupidity of ostriches — Accidents — Waltzing and 

 fighting— Ostrich soup — An expensive quince — A feathered 

 Tantalus — Strange things swallowed by ostriches — A court- 

 martial — The ostrich, or the diamond ? — A visit to the Zoo ... 130 



