62 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



and building, and the deepening of the well near the 

 house, there was, as must always be the case on starting 

 a new farm, much to be done, and everything required 



to be done at once. T spent most of his time at 



" Swaylands," as we named our farm ; and very enjoy- 

 able for me were the days when I could spare a few 

 hours from household duties to ride over with him, to 

 watch the progress of the new rooms, or to be initiated 

 into some of the mysteries of ostrich-farming, all delight- 

 fully new and strange to me. 



The first sight of a plucking interested me espe- 

 cially ; and it was not without a proud feeling of 

 ownership that I sat on the ground in one corner of 

 the kraal, or small temporary enclosure, helping to tie 

 up in neat bundles our own first crop of soft, white, 

 black, or grey feathers while watching the busy scene. 

 It all comes back to me now with the clearness of a 

 photograph — the bright, cloudless, metallic-looking 

 South African sky above us ; and for a background the 

 long range of rocky mountains, each stain on their 

 rugged sides, each aloe or spekboom plant growing on 

 them, sharply defined in that clear atmosphere as if 

 seen through the large end of an opera-glass. In the 

 foreground a forest of long necks, and a crowd of 

 foolish, frightened faces, gaping beaks, and throats all 

 puflfed out with air — the latter ludicrous grimace, 

 accompanied sometimes by a short, hollow sound, half 

 grunt, half cough, being the ostrich's mode of express- 

 ing deepest disgust and dejection. There is a constant 

 heavy stamping of powerful two-toed feet; an occa- 



