Hilda's diary of a Cape housekeeper

I forgot to say that ostriches roam about in small numbers in their natural state in the Flats towards the seaside, and I remember one summer’s evening, near Christmas time, our faithful old Hottentot ox-herd came in, gravely saluting “the master,” and scratching his head, as they are wont to do, said, “ Master, I have found a nest with seventeen ostrich eggs a little way inside your boundary ” (in those days the farm was not small). Of course there was great excitement, for just then ostriches were at a premium, and in due course of time these eggs were hatched and the young ones caught and brought home. The heart-broken parents were left, I am sorry to ^ The blight that ravages the vineyards and spoils the grapes unless sulphured constantly. say, to mourn their loss, for indeed ostriches are most affectionate parents. My eldest brother, who had a great many on his cattle-farm, has often told me it was heartrending to see them when robbed of their young. The young birds throve splendidly under our care — fed on cut-up lucerne, bran, and chopped hard-boiled eggs just at first — and were sold at ;^’i5 apiece when a year old. Ostriches are such voracious creatures that many practical farmers have found it does not pay to keep them in camps in large numbers, if they have to be entirely fed. If kept in large enclosures, they find their own food from a succulent saline shrub which grows in the eastern provincial parts, and also at Berg river, where the Messrs. Melck still have large numbers of birds.^ Living so far away from town or village, everything possible was made on the farm ; for instance, the hard fat from the sheep and goats that were killed was converted into excellent candles, for kitchen and stable use. Though they gave a bright light, they constantly required snuffing, which was very awkward. Perhaps we could have escaped this difficulty by plaiting the wicks. Candle-making, I fear, is a thing of the past everywhere. In the most out-of-the-way place the trader goes to, shops spring up and paraffin and candles are sold. Soap was also made. Now that also is easily got everywhere. Fat or tallow is used by the Boer people for soap-making a lady who lived at Potchefstroom told us how every household made their own soap — and we are often supplied with a piece of Boer soap from Berg river for rubbing on any ^ An interesting practical book on Ostrich Farming in South Africa, by Mr. Arthur Douglas, of Fleatherton Towers, Grahamstown, is published by S. W. Silver, 67, Cornhill, London. hard material we want to stitch with our machine, without blunting our needles