| PAGE |
| CHAPTER I. |
| PORT ELIZABETH AND WALMER. |
| Early ambitions realized?—?Voyage to South Africa?—?Cape Town and Wynberg?—?Profusion of flowers?—?Port Elizabeth?—?Christmas decorations?—?Public library?—?Malays?—?Walmer?&# 8212;?Hottentot huts?—?Our little house?—?Pretty gardens?—?Honey-suckers?—?Flowers of Walmer Common?—?Wax-creeper?—?Ixias?—?Scarlet heath?—?Natal lilies?—?"Upholstery flower"?—?Ticks?—? Commence ostrich-farming?—?Counting the birds?—?A ride after an ostrich. | 9 |
| CHAPTER II. |
| SOME OF OUR PETS. |
| Friendliness of South African birds and beasts?—?Our secretary bird?—?Ungainly appearance of Jacob?—?His queer ways?—?Tragic fate of a kitten?—?A persecuted fowl?—?Our Dikkops?—?A baby buffalo?—?Wounded buffalo more dangerous than lion?—?A lucky stumble?—?Hunter attacked by "rogue" buffalo?—?A midnight ride?—?Followed by a lion?—?Toto?—?A pugnacious goose?—?South African climate dangerous to imported dogs?—?Toto and the crows?—?Animals offered by Moors in exchange for Toto | 25 |
| CHAPTER III. |
| PLANTS OF THE KARROO. |
| We move up-country?—?Situation of farm?—?Strange vegetation of Karroo district?—?Karroo plant?—?Fei-bosch?—?Brack-bosch&?—?Our flowers?—?Spekboom?—?Bitter aloes?—?Thorny plants?—?Wacht-een-Beetje ?—?Ostriches killed by prickly pear?—?Finger-poll?—?Wild tobacco fatal to ostriches?—?Carelessness of colonists?—?Euphorbias?—? Candle-bush | 46 |
| CHAPTER IV. |
| OUR LITTLE HOME. |
| Building operations?—?A plucking?—?Ugliness of Cape houses?—?Our rooms?—?Fountain in sitting-room a failure?—?Drowned pets?—?Decoration of rooms?—?Colonist must be Jack-of-all-trades?—?Cape waggons?—?Shooting expeditions?—?Strange tale told by Boer | 61 |
| CHAPTER V. |
| CLIMATE OF THE KARROO. |
| Cape Colony much abused?—?Healthy climate?—?Wonderful cures of consumption?—?Karroo a good place for sanatorium?—?Rarity of illness and accidents?—?The young colonist?—?An independent infant?—?Long droughts?—?Hot winds?—?Dust storms?—?Dams?—?Advantage of possessing good wells?—?Partiality of thunderstorms?—?Delights of a brack roof?—?Washed out of bed?—?After the rain?—?Our horses?—?Effects of rain indoors?—?Opslaag?—?The Cape winter?—?What to wear on Karroo farms | 72 |
| CHAPTER VI. |
| OSTRICHES. |
| An unwilling ride?—?First sight of an ostrich farm?—?Ridiculous mistakes about ostriches?—?Decreased value of birds and feathers?—?Chicks?—?Plumage of ostriches?—?A frightened ostrich?—?The plucking-box?—?Sorting feathers?—?Voice of the ostrich?—?Savage birds?—?"Not afraid of a dicky-bird!"?—?Quelling an ostrich?—?Birds killed by men in self-defence?—?Nests?—?An undutiful hen?—?Darby and Joan?—?A disconsolate widower?—?A hen-pecked husband?—?Too much zeal?—?Jackie?—?Cooling the eggs?—?The white-necked crow?—?Poisoning jackals?—?Ostrich eggs in the kitchen?—?A quaint old writer on ostriches?—?A suppliant bird?—?Nest destroyed by enraged ostrich?—?An old bachelor | 98 |
| CHAPTER VII. |
| OSTRICHES (continued). |
| Vagaries of an incubator?—?Hatching the chicks?—?A bad egg?—?Human foster mothers?—?Chicks difficult to rear?—?"Yellow-liver"?—?Cruel boys?—?Chicks herded by hen ostrich?—?Visit to Boer's house?—?A carriage full of ostriches?—?"The melancholy Jaques"?—?Ostriches at sea?—?A stampede?—?Runaway birds?—?Branding?—?Stupidity of ostriches?—?Accidents?—?Waltzing and fighting?—?Ostrich soup?—?An expensive quince?—?A feathered Tantalus?—?Strange things swallowed by ostriches ?—?A court-martial?—?The ostrich, or the diamond??—?A visit to the Zoo | 130 |
| CHAPTER VIII. |
| MEERKATS. |
| Meerkats plentiful in the Karroo?—?Their appearance?—?Intelligence?—? Fearlessness?—?Friendship for dogs?—?A meerkat in England?—?Meerkat an inveterate thief?—?An owl in Tangier?—?Taming full-grown meerkat?—?Tiny twins?—?A sad accident?—?Different characters of meerkats?—?The turkey-herd?—?Bob and the meerkat?—?"The Mouse" | 157 |
| CHAPTER IX. |
| BOBBY. |
| Bobby's babyhood?—?Insatiable appetite?—?Variety of noises made by Bobby?—?His tameness?—?Narrow escape from drowning?—?A warlike head-gear?—?Bobby the worse for drink?—?His love of mischief?—?He disarms his master?—?Meerkat persecuted by Bobby?—?Bobby takes to dishonest ways?—?He becomes a prisoner?—?His clever tricks?—?Death of Bobby | 170 |
| CHAPTER X. |
| OUR SERVANTS. |
| A retrospective vision?—?Phillis in her domain?—?Her destructiveness?—?Her ideas on personal adornment?—?The woes of a mistress?—?Eye-service?—?Abrupt departure of Phillis?—?Left in the lurch?—?Nancy and her successors?—?Cure of sham sickness?—?The thief's dose?—?Our ostrich-herd?—?A bride purchased with cows?—?English and natives at the Cape?—?Character of Zulus and Kaffirs | 182 |
| CHAPTER XI. |
| HOW WE FARED. |
| Angora goats?—?Difficulty of keeping meat?—?The plague of flies?—? Rations?—?Our store?—?Barter?—?Fowls?— ?Chasing a dinner?—?Fowls difficult to rear?—?Secretary birds as guardians of the poultry-yard?—?Jacob in the Karroo?—?He comes down in the world?—?He dies?—? Antelopes?—?A springbok hunt?—?The Queen's birthday in the Karroo?—?Colonial dances?—?Our klipspringer?—?Superstition about hares?—?Game birds?—?Paauw?—?Knorhaan ?—?Namaqua partridges?—?Porcupines?—?A short-liv
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