OSTRICHES. 143 

 " there was mounting in hot haste ; " and poor T 



had to ride about the country after the runaways, which 

 were so dispersed that they could only be collected by 

 twos and threes. He had two days of very hard work 

 before he succeeded in getting them all together again. 



When T first started ostrich-farming, a good 



many yeai's ago, he and his partners — little knowing 

 the " kittle cattle " with which they had to deal — 

 thought they would do without fencing. They soon 

 found all their birds gone ; and had to scour the 

 country for hundreds of miles in pursuit of their 

 erratic stock, riding all their horses to death. 



Profiting by this sad experience, T has carefully 



fenced Swaylands in all directions except where the 

 steepness of the mountain forms a natural barrier. 

 Yet in spite of all the trouble and money spent — and 

 enclosing is one of the heaviest of all expenses in- 

 curred in starting a new farm — our birds were con- 

 tinually getting away. We have unfortunately the 

 great disadvantage of a high-road running straight 

 through the farm ; and often a lazy Boer, thinking it 

 too much trouble to kick away the stone with which 

 he had propped the gate open while his waggons 



passed through — though T had carefully adjusted 



that gate to fall to and close itself — would cause the 

 loss of several of our birds ; which of course might or 

 might not be heard of again. On one occasion over 

 twenty birds seem to have gone out in a body, owing 

 to the gate being left open ; and only a few were 

 eventually recovered. 



