10G EFFECTS OF MISSIONARY EFFORTS. Chap. Vlll. 



dodge, has reached the waggons with blistered legs, and, 

 after great toil, found all the eggs uneatable from having 

 been some time sat upon. Our countrymen invariably do best 

 when they speak and act in their own character. 



The food of the ostrich consists of pods and seeds of differ- 

 ent kinds of leguminous plants, with leaves of various shrubs ; 

 and, as these are often hard and dry, he picks up a great 

 quantity of pebbles, many of which are as large as marbles. 

 He eats small bulbs, and occasionally a wild melon for the 

 sake of the moisture. One was found choked by a melon 

 which had stuck in his throat. It requires the utmost ad- 

 dress of the Bushmen, crawling for miles on their stomachs, 

 to stalk them successfully ; yet the quantity of feathers 

 collected annually shows that the slaughter must be consider- 

 able, as each bird has only a few in the wings and tail. The 

 full-grown male is of a jet-black glossy colour, with the single 

 exception of the white feathers, which are objects of trade. 

 Nothing can be finer than the adaptation of these flossy 

 feathers for the climate of the Kalahari, where these birds 

 abound ; for they afford a perfect shade to the body, with free 

 ventilation beneath them. The half-grown cocks are of a 

 dark brownish-grey colour. 



CHAPTEE VIII. 



Missionary labours. — Trees. — Bushmen. — The Sanshureh and 



Chobe. 



The Bakalahari, who live at Motlatsa wells, have always been 

 very friendly to us, and listen attentively to instruction in 

 their own tongue. It is, however, difficult to give an idea 

 to an European of the little effect the instruction produces, 

 oecause no one can realize the degradation to which the 

 people have been sunk by centuries of barbarism and the hard 

 struggle for the necessaries of life. When we kneel and address 

 an unseen Being, the act often appears to them so ridiculous 

 that the} T burst into laughter. After a few services they get 

 over this tendency I was once present when a missionary 



