158 HOME LIFE ON AN OSTRICH FARM. 



They are very numerous in the Karroo ; and as you ride 

 or drive along through the veldt you often come upon 

 little colonies of them, sitting up sunning themselves, 

 and looking, in their quaint and pretty favourite 

 attitude, like tiny dogs begging. As you approach, 

 they look at you fearlessly and impudently, allowing 

 you to come quite close ; then, when their confiding 

 manner has tempted you to get down in the wild 

 hope of catching one of them, suddenly all pop so 

 swiftly into their little holes, that they seem to have 

 disappeared by magic. 



There are two kinds of meerkats ; one red, with a 

 bushy tail like that of a squirrel, the other grey, with 

 a pointed tail, and it is this latter kind which makes 

 so charming a pet. The quaint, old-fashioned little 

 fellow is as neatly made as a small bird ; his coat, of 

 the softest fur, with markings not unlike those of a 

 tabby cat, is always well kept and spotlessly clean ; 

 his tiny feet, ears, and nose are all most daintily and 

 delicately finished oS"; and the broad circle of black 

 bordering his large dark eyes serves, like the anti- 

 mony of an Egyptian beauty, to enhance the size 

 and brilliancy of the orbs. A curious kind of seam, 

 starting from the middle of his chin and running 

 underneath him the whole length of his body, gives 

 him somewhat the appearance of a stufiFed animal 

 which has not been very carefully sewn up. His 

 bright, pretty little face is capable of assuming the 

 greatest variety of expressions, that which it most 

 frequently wears when in repose being a contented, 



