82 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



days of the diamond-fields, has often seen these dusty 

 whirlwinds going about the camp, passing between the 

 long rows of tents as if hesitating for a time which to 

 attack ; then suddenly " going for " one of them, causing 

 instantaneous collapse and confusion. 



Every Karroo house has a dam near it, and on a large 

 farm there are generally three or four more of these 

 reservoirs in different parts of the land. The selection 

 of a suitable site for a dam requires some experience. 

 An embankment is thrown up across a valley, where 

 from the rising ground on either side the water is 

 collected. The ground must be " brack," a peculiar 

 kind of soil which, though loose and friable, is not 

 porous. This brack is often used to cover the flat roofs 

 of the houses ; but unless it is well sifted and laid on 

 thickly, dependence cannot always be placed on it, as 

 we have several times found to our cost. Rows of 

 willows or mimosas are generally planted along the 

 banks of the dams ; and though the moisture which is 

 sucked up by their thirsty roots can ill be afforded, yet, 

 in that most treeless of lands, their bright, fresh green 

 is of immense value ; and the poor ugly houses, standing 

 so forlornly on the bare veldt, with but the narrowest 

 and scantiest of gardens — if any — between them and 

 the surrounding desert, seem redeemed from utter 

 dreariness and desolation, and some slight look of home 

 and of refinement is imparted by the dam's semicircle 

 of trees. A good-sized dam is sometimes half a mile 

 broad, and, when just filled after a good thunder- 

 shower, is quite an imposing sheet of water. Occasion- 



