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and her more candid friends had given her, for she took out to a howling wilderness, boxes of ball and dinner dresses made by the most fashionable West-End costumiers. I mention this little circumstance simply to show the misapprehensions which prevail in England concerning South Africa. These misapprehensions are responsible for so much home sickness and misery, that I think it only right to call attention to them as often as possible.

The exports of wool from South Africa, reached the aggregate value of £4,000,000 sterling, last year. The Merino is now the popular breed in the colonies. The old big-tailed sheep of the Dutch are rapidly giving way, under the dispensation of which Darwin was the exponent.

Although for the more lucrative uses of its fleece, the Merino excels its older rival, yet in the days of the long tailed sheep, meat was far cheaper than it is now. The Merino sheep is subjected to all the diseases to which it is incidental in other countries, and it falls a ready victim to the long continued droughts peculiar to this part of the world. The murrain did not prove so fatal an enemy to the long-tailed variety, in fact the very peculiarity from which it has received its distinctive appellation, served as its protection. It is confidently asserted that during the months when the power of the sun had dried up the springs and rivers, and withered and destroyed the pasturage and herbage, the sheep lived upon the reserve which these big tails constituted. At all events the sheep did survive the dry season and as their tails were shrivelled at the end of that period, it cannot be denied that strong presumptive evidence in favour of this theory exists. Why moreover should this not be feasible when we take the fact into consideration, that persons inclined to an undue development of adipose tissue, as a rule require less sustenance than individuals of sparer habit, and are able to survive, when from illness or from any other cause they cannot take food, far longer than your meagre and thin subject. We are taught to believe that the Dutch used to make little carts in which these terminal appendages were accommodated to keep them off the ground. We know that they came near rivalling the Laplanders and Esquimaux, in the estimation which they put upon that por

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tion of ovine anatomy so dear to little Bo-Peep. Like the Savages of the North it is said they sucked the fatty sugar stick. I cannot say whether this is a fiction (scarcely an amiable one) or not, but the old Dutch were such a strange race, one is surprised at nothing. Be this scrap of news false or true, this I do know to be an undoubted fact, namely, that at some of the old farm houses of the agrestic Boers, the visitor is expected to wash his feet before going to bed, in a pan, common to all, which a native brings round from person to person, the ladies of course having the precedence. This is a trying ordeal, for the Dutch women have ugly splaw feet, and rarely the sight of a pretty ankle compensates the unfortunate victim of this cleanly, albeit nasty custom, for the suffering which he is called upon to endure. Added to this, the poor guest has to greet the whole of the female portion of the family with a brotherly kiss, in the morning, and on retiring at night, toothless old fraus and buxom young girls included. He has no alternative, but must take the rough with the smooth, the bitter with the sweet.

As to ostrich farming, though it is a baby enterprise, it has proved itself to be a very healthy bantling. The farms have only been in existence for a quarter of a century, but many agriculturists have deserted their more legitimate pursuits, in order to devote their energies to this novel enterprise. The industry is principally in the hands of the English, though many Dutchmen have taken kindly to it, and not altogether without success.

Being a very precarious pursuit, few will grudge those who make it pay, their good fortune. The ostrich possesses a ravenous and indiscriminate appetite, which the merest tyro among natural history students knows full well. The visitor to the Zoo might be inclined to fancy, from the avidity with which the giant birds devour any unconsidered morsel which may be thrown to them, from a copper coin to a daily newspaper, the question of diet to be a matter of indifference as in any way affecting their wellbeing. For all that, they require very careful dieting when they are kept in confinement, with a view to a profitable result. If this precaution be neglected they lose their health and in consequence their plumage, and they are, moreover, unproductive at the breeding

season. The processes of artificial incubation and rearing are generally known in this country. As to the market value of the ostrich, a Cape farmer assured me that his mature birds were worth about £40 each. Until recently the feathers were saleable at from £30 to £60 per lb. Nevertheless, with all its attractions, ostrich farming is an uncertain venture. Thousands have failed where hundreds have succeeded, and even now but comparatively few understand the industry sufficiently, or are willing to give it the exacting attention it demands, to ensure a successful issue. At this moment there is a great depression in the feather market, the super-abundant supply has produced the inevitable result of decreased value. The prosperous farmers, however, will be little concerned at an eventuality which they have long anticipated, and I have heard them say that having triumphed over the initial difficulties attending their occupation, they could well afford to receive a much lower price for their feathers, and yet make a handsome profit. This statement stands as clear evidence, that much money has been made out of ostrich farming. There is yet another danger however which menaces the future of the South African farms. The Australians who acclimate everything from sparrows and rabbits (to their cost) to salmon and horses, have recently been turning their attention to the field of enterprise with which we are just now concerned. They are preparing farms on an enormous scale, and purpose, moreover, sending the feathers into the market in a finished condition. African breeders both in the south and in the north (Algeria) must look to their laurels, for Australians like Americans have an awkward knack of being terribly in earnest. However, in the future, there may be room enough for all. Notwithstanding the fluctuations of fashion, the capricious jade cannot long turn her back upon one of her most useful servants, and there is no chance whatsoever of the demand for ostrich feathers permanently falling off; there is, on the contrary, every reason to believe it will steadily increase. It is difficult to imagine what could be substituted for the graceful plumes which Douglas Jerrold described as "the natural panoply of kings". The supply is becoming so plentiful that the value is certain to fall steadily, if gradually.

THE SHADOW OF COMING TROUBLE.

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All these things considered, the Cape ostrich farmer needs to call to his aid-to a marked extent-the qualities of patience, careful attention, courage, and endurance. The birds are, moreover, subjected to many diseases, and at plucking timcs they become very wild and furious. Several cases came under my immediate notice of severe and even fatal injuries, resulting from the kick of the male ostrich. They kick out behind; it can be readily understood what that means.

I am informed that the Cape feathers are inferior to those which come from Barbary and Algeria. It is a well-known fact that the very best feathers of the tame bird are inferior to those of wild species. The ostrich farms have not yet been visited by any epidemical disease, but as these diseases sooner or later show themselves in all animals which man has robbed of freedom for his profit, we cannot doubt that in time the owners of ostrich farms will have to reckon with this foe also.

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CHAPTER XI.

WINE GROWING.

EL VINO BUENO NO HA MEUESTER PREGONERO."
(GOOD WINE NEEDS NO CRIER).

"Bacchus, ever fair and young,

Drinking joys did first ordain."

-John Dryden.

At the very time we are experiencing our Christmas festivities, the inhabitants of a considerable portion of the Western province, and especially those of Cape Town and its vicinity, are in the full enjoyment of the grape season. The grapes are truly splendid, and rival in excellence those of Italy or France, while in appearance they more nearly assimilate to the berries of the Jersey vine. Of course they do not come up to English hot-house grapes, but our London costers would be only too glad to be able to put such fruit on their barrows, and still more so, to be in a position to sell it, at the very modest price it commands in South Africa. Possessing such excellent raw material, it is not surprising that one of the sorest points in the colonial mind, should be the contempt, nay the infamy-with which the very name of "Cape Wine" is greeted in England. Why should we, Africanders ask, be unable to produce as good a wine as Europe? The answer is, or rather the answers are, not far to seek. That the grape itself leaves nothing to be desired, we have already seen. The varieties are mainly Muscat of Alexandria (colloquially called the Honepoot grape) the Frontignac and Pontac, excellent types, it will be allowed. The earthy flavour common to so many Cape wines has been attributed to the fact, that the grape is grown near the ground and

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