45 
piercing the coats and membranes of the stomach; and copper, far from being converted into nutriment, acting upon it like 
poison, Nearly a pound weight of stone, metals, and coins, half worn down, were discovered by M. Cuvier in the body of an 
individual that died in the French menagerie, which during its captivity had preferred barley to any other aliment, disposing 
of four pounds daily, with a pound of bread, and sundry heads of lettuce. * 
Those of the Dutch Colonists who resided on the borders of the Karroo and other remote districts of the Cape, for- 
merly made the chase of the Volstriiys one of their principal and most profitable occupations. As they destroyed them at all 
times of the year however, without any regard to the breeding seasons, their numbers are now greatly brought down, and in 
a few years the race will probable be altogether extirpated within the boundaries. 
From the earliest times this noble bird has been held up to derision as the emblem of stupidity, and amongst many other 
ill-natured jokes cut at his expense, it has been malicionsly asserted of him, that when he has hidden his own head in the 
sand, he foolishly believes himself to be screened from the gaze of his ruthless pursuers, Although, to withdraw itself from 
danger, the Ostrich has uniformly recourse to flight, yet when reluctantly forced to defend itself, it will break a man’s arm or 
leg with a single kick, striking violently also with its bill and the spinous appendages of the wings. The sound produced by a 
blow of the scaly foot against a board, is not less than would be produced by a horse's hoof, or by a hammer; and Pliny even 
went so far as to declare that the bird possessed the faculty of casting large stones behind it at its pursuers! 
In Southern Africa the voice of this bird, which by the sacred writers has been compared to the bellowing of a bull, 
is seldom heard, except during the season of incubation, when the brommel—as the grumbling sound emitted by the cock is 
termed by the Hottentots—although less prolonged, might almost be mistaken for the roar of the Lion; when brought to bay, 
however, the bird does little more than hiss like a gander. Notwithstanding the decided predilection of the Ostrich for liberty, 
adults taken alive are easily tamed, and will suffer themselves to be parked up in flocks. If captured young, they become ex- 
tremely docile, and may even be left at liberty to go out of the farm-yard at pleasure, in search of food; but their voracity is 
greatly complained of, as they frequently evince an ogre-like inclination for swallowing young chickens alive, after having de- 
molished the hens by trampling them underfoot. Many will suffer themselves to be ridden, and might doubtless be brought to 
carry burthens, and rendered otherwise serviceable to mankind; but although its vigour is said by authors to be so surprising 
that when mounted by two negroes it will run faster than the best English horse, no attempt has yet been made to apply such 
wonderful speed and strength to any purpose of practical utility. The exercise of bestriding the Ostrich at speed is represented 
by the same authorities to be so distressing that the rider must be habituated to it by degrees in order to prevent its produc- 
ing suffocation. 
If cloudless skies and continual sunshine be favourable to human happiness, the wretched people of Southern Africa 
might be supposed to enjoy it in a high degree of perfection. For days together, rarely does it happen that the azure field 
above is blotted or blemished by even the smallest speck; or that a single cloud is visible in the spacious vault of heaven. 
Certain tracts, of which these strange birds are the undisputed lords—unlike the sandy deserts of Arabia, consist of a hard 
gravelly soil of indurated clay, much impregnated with saltpetre, and sprinkled over with heath, and with black sickly-looking 
shrubs. Extensive sterile plains of a brownish yellow hue, displaying neither eminence nor hollow, are on all sides expanded 
to the view, so that without any great effort of imagination, the spectator might fancy himself standing in the very centre of 
the universe. No object meets the straining eye but a solitary vulture soaring with motionless pinions in the blue firmament, 
or an Ostrich standing out in bold relief against the distant horizon—either mounted on its stilts and pecking the tops of 
stunted and sun-scorched shrubs, or striding at a racing pace over boundless flats, variegated in parts with tufts of grass, 
whiter than mown hay. Occasionally the sameness of the scene may be varied by a wide-stretching, surge-like undulation — 
hill following hill, and hollow sueceeding hollow with the same regularity as the billows of the ocean, for whole miles together ; 
and at last, peradventure, a range of blue mountains, hazy and indistinct, starts up to bound the prospect; but still, over the 
wide desolation of the stony waste, not a tree can be deseried, and the only impression left upon the mind is, that of utter and 
hopeless sterility. "Tis 
A region of emptiness, howling and drear, 
Which man hath abandoned from famine and fear ; 
Which the ostrich and lizard inhabit alone, 
With the twilight bat from the old hollow stone; 
Where grass, nor herb, nor shrub take root, 
Save poisonous thorns that pierce the foot; 
And the bitter-melon for food and drink, 
Is the pilgrim's fare by the salt-lake’s brink { 
A region of drought where no river glides, 
Nor rippling brook with osier'd sideo— 
With no reedy poo! nor mossy fountain, 
Nor shady tree, nor cloud capp'd mountain, 
In my own imagination, the idea of sterility is quite inseparable from the abode of the Ostrich; yet no African land- 
scape can be considered complete without a group of these birds, and they are frequently to be seen in the greenest parts of 
the country. Observing them for the first time, pasturing after the fashion of a flock of geese, the stranger might easily be- 
lieve that he beheld a herd of white or black cattle, according as the tails or heads were turned towards him. Many a 
time haye I seen a solitary coal-black cock, looming as large as an ox, standing phlegmatically by himself, in the most exposed 
* Griffiths’ Transl, 
