146 
ORIGIN OF THE AMERICAN NEGRO, 
absolutely forbidden. It is also proposed to establish elephant 
farms in the Congo State, as has been done by the English with 
ostriches in South Africa. 
When the demands of fashion for plumes and the careless 
slaughter of the great birds began to threaten the extermination 
of the ostrich, clever men in South Africa decided to domesticate 
the valuable producers of the big feathers, and raise them more 
carefully, for profit. So it was that a new industry was created. 
Eggs were obtained and hatched, the young birds carefully reared, 
and though the first experiments were carried on at a loss, it was 
THE OSTRICH OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
not long before the milliners of the whole world were drawing their 
supply of plumes from the ostrich farms of Cape Colony and Natal. 
The trade now has reached such proportions that in a single year 
ostrich feathers to the value of more than $3,000,000 have been 
exported from South Africa. 
