OSTRICH PLUMES. 381 



Ostrich feathers continue the object of an important commerce. The 

 most esteemed are those of Alep. Those of Barbary, Alexandria, Morocco, 

 the Cape of Good Hope, and Senegal, are also much sought after. 

 The feather dealers set a high value on the feathers of the female ostrich ; 

 but those of the male are most prized, being larger, better barbed, and 

 finer than the female ones. They readily take any colours that are given 

 to them in dyeing. 



The white feathers are much appreciated. In France they are sold 

 by number, in England by weight. The black feathers sell by weight. 



France derives every year, from the above named producing coun- 

 tries, enormous quantities of ostrich feathers, bought in a rough state, 

 which she employs in her industries, or re-exports dressed to other 

 countries, after having given them a very considerable additional value 

 by hand-work, as the following statement will show. 



During the space of seven years France has purchased nearly 

 235,000 kil. of rough ostrich feathers, of all sorts, of a value approxi- 

 mating to 2,800,000fr. ; and during the same period she has re-exported 

 to other countries 77,276 kilos of dressed feathers, of a total value of 

 15^ million francs. 



This branch of industry is then considerable, and looking at the 

 enormous benefits which it secures, it is, says a French writer, much to 

 be desired that Algeria, which hardly enters for much more than a hun- 

 dredth part in the importations of the seven years, should in future 

 take a larger share in this commerce. At present the price of ostrich 

 feathers is high, in consequence of the large consumption of them for 

 articles de mode and ornament, also on account of the continually increas- 

 ing scarcity of the product in all the markets which were formerly 

 abundantly supplied. Thus, that which was worth 25 to 30 fr. in Paris 

 twenty years ago, now costs 400 to 500 francs. 



This dearth prejudices Parisian industry which has long held 

 so to speak the monopoly of the fabrication of ornamental feathers, and 

 now also menaces the English industry. It is principally occa- 

 sioned by the pursuit of the chase in the Sahara beyond all reason, 

 both of the ostrich itself and of the eggs, which the female deposits in 

 the sand, where the heat of the sun incubates them. 



Thanks to the absolute security which now reigns in these vast regions, 

 and gives free access to the numerous caravans traversing them in 

 all directions, the places which were formerly solitary and formed the 

 peaceable domain of the ostrich, are now battues in all the sense of the 

 word, and especially during winter, at the time of laying. The Arabs 

 who know the value of the eggs, seek them with eagerness, and 

 the birds from which the feathers are stripped have become the object 

 of a lucrative speculation, and are pursued with ardour. 



Thus the ostrich, enclosed on all sides, either dies by the hand of 

 the hunters, or emigrates towards more desert regions. To remedy this 

 state of things, and to prevent the complete disappearanceof the ostrich 



