| | PAGE |
| CHAPTER I. |
| PORT ELIZABETH AND WALMER. |
| Early ambitions realized — Voyage to SouthAfrica — Cape Town andWynberg — Profusion offlowers — Port Elizabeth — Christmasdecorations — Publiclibrary — Malays — Walmer — Hottentot huts — Our littlehouse — Prettygardens — Honey-suckers — Flowers ofWalmerCommon — 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 — Oursecretary bird — Ungainly appearance ofJacob — His queer ways — Tragic fateof a kitten — A persecutedfowl — Our Dikkops — A babybuffalo — Wounded buffalo more dangerous thanlion — A lucky stumble — Hunterattacked by "rogue" buffalo — A midnightride — Followed by alion — Toto — A pugnaciousgoose — South African climate dangerous to importeddogs — Toto and the crows — Animalsoffered by Moors in exchange for Toto | [25] |
| CHAPTER III. |
| PLANTS OF THE KARROO. |
| We move up-country — Situation offarm — Strange vegetation of Karroodistrict — Karrooplant — Fei-bosch — Brack-bosch& — Ourflowers — Spekboom — Bitteraloes — Thornyplants — Wacht-een-Beetje — Ostriches killed by pricklypear — Finger-poll — Wild tobaccofatal to ostriches — Carelessness ofcolonists — Euphorbias — Candle-bush | [46] |
| CHAPTER IV. |
| OUR LITTLE HOME. |
| Building operations — Aplucking — Ugliness of Capehouses — Our rooms — Fountain insitting-room a failure — Drownedpets — Decoration ofrooms — Colonist must beJack-of-all-trades — Capewaggons — Shootingexpeditions — Strange tale told by Boer | [61] |
| CHAPTER V. |
| CLIMATE OF THE KARROO. |
| Cape Colony much abused — Healthyclimate — Wonderful cures ofconsumption — Karroo a good place forsanatorium — Rarity of illness andaccidents — The young colonist — Anindependent infant — Longdroughts — Hot winds — Duststorms — Dams — Advantage ofpossessing good wells — Partiality ofthunderstorms — Delights of a brackroof — Washed out of bed — After therain — Our horses — Effects of rainindoors — Opslaag — The Capewinter — What to wear on Karroo farms | [72] |
| CHAPTER VI. |
| OSTRICHES. |
| An unwilling ride — First sight of an ostrichfarm — Ridiculous mistakes aboutostriches — Decreased value of birds andfeathers — Chicks — Plumage ofostriches — A frightenedostrich — The plucking-box — Sortingfeathers — Voice of theostrich — Savage birds — "Not afraidof a dicky-bird!" — Quelling anostrich — Birds killed by men inself-defence — Nests — An undutifulhen — Darby and Joan — Adisconsolate widower — A hen-peckedhusband — Too muchzeal — Jackie — Cooling theeggs — The white-neckedcrow — Poisoning jackals — Ostricheggs in the kitchen — A quaint old writer onostriches — A suppliant bird — Nestdestroyed by enraged ostrich — An old bachelor | [98] |
| CHAPTER VII. |
| OSTRICHES (continued). |
| Vagaries of an incubator — Hatching thechicks — A bad egg — Human fostermothers — Chicks difficult torear — "Yellow-liver" — Cruelboys — Chicks herded by henostrich — Visit to Boer's house — Acarriage full of ostriches — "The melancholyJaques" — Ostriches at sea — Astampede — Runawaybirds — Branding — Stupidity ofostriches — Accidents — Waltzingand fighting — Ostrich soup — Anexpensive quince — A featheredTantalus — Strange things swallowed by ostriches — A court-martial — The ostrich, orthe diamond? — A visit to the Zoo | [130] |
| CHAPTER VIII. |
| MEERKATS. |
| Meerkats plentiful in the Karroo — Theirappearance — Intelligence — Fearlessness — Friendship fordogs — A meerkat inEngland — Meerkat an inveteratethief — An owl in Tangier — Tamingfull-grown meerkat — Tiny twins — Asad accident — Different characters ofmeerkats — The turkey-herd — Bob andthe meerkat — "The Mouse" | [157] |
| CHAPTER IX. |
| BOBBY. |
| Bobby's babyhood — Insatiableappetite — Variety of noises made byBobby — His tameness — Narrow escapefrom drowning — A warlikehead-gear — Bobby the worse fordrink — His love of mischief — Hedisarms his master — Meerkat persecuted byBobby — Bobby takes to dishonestways — He becomes a prisoner — Hisclever tricks — Death of Bobby | [170] |
| CHAPTER X. |
| OUR SERVANTS. |
| A retrospective vision — Phillis in herdomain — Her destructiveness — Herideas on personal adornment — The woes of amistress — Eye-service — Abruptdeparture of Phillis — Left in thelurch — Nancy and hersuccessors — Cure of shamsickness — The thief's dose — Ourostrich-herd — A bride purchased withcows — English and natives at theCape — Character of Zulus and Kaffirs | [182] |
| CHAPTER XI. |
| HOW WE FARED. |
| Angora goats — Difficulty of keepingmeat — The plague of flies — Rations — Ourstore — Barter — Fowls — Chasing a dinner — Fowls difficult torear — Secretary birds as guardians of thepoultry-yard — Jacob in theKarroo — He comes down in theworld — He dies — Antelopes — A springbok hunt — TheQueen's birthday in the Karroo — Colonialdances — Ourklipspringer — Superstition abouthares — Gamebirds — Paauw — Knorhaan — Namaquapartridges — Porcupines — Ashort-lived pet — Indiancorn — Stamped mealies — Whole-mealbread — Plant used for making breadrise — Substitutes forbutter — Priembesjes — Auseful tree — Wild honey — Thehoney-bird — Enemies of bees — Mothin bees' nests — Good coffee — Sourmilk | [203] |
| CHAPTER XII. |
| KARROO BEASTS, BIRDS AND REPTILES. |
| Leopard drowned inwell — Baboons — Egyptian sacredanimals on Cape farms — "Adonis" — Ahumiliating retreat — A babybaboon — Clever tricks performed bybaboons — Adonis as aVoorlooper — A four-handedpointsman — Sarah — A baboon at theDiamond Fields — Adonis'sshower-bath — His love ofstimulants — His revengefuldisposition — Pelops thedog-headed — Horus — Aasvogels — Goat-sucker — Thebutcher-bird's larder — Nest of the golden oriole — The kapok-bird — Snakes inhouses — A puff-adder under a pillow — Puff-adder most dangerous of Capesnakes — Cobras — Schaapsticker — Uglyhouse-lizards — Dassie-adder — Thedassie the coney of Scripture — Stung by ascorpion — Fight between tarantula andcentipede — Destructive ants — TheAardvaark, or ant-bear — Ignominious flight ofasentry — Ant-lion — Walking-leaves — The Hottentot god — A mantis at apicnic | [237] |
| CHAPTER XIII. |
| OUR NEIGHBOURS. |
| Hospitality of Cape colonists — Cheating and jealousyin business — Comfortlesshomes — Spoiltchildren — Education — The"Schoolmaster" — Conventschools — A priest-riddennation — The Nachtmaal — OldFrench names — A South African duke inParis — Fine-looking men — Fatwomen — Ignorance ofVrouws — Boers unfriendly toEnglish — A mean man | [266] |
| CHAPTER XIV. |
| GOOD-BYE. |
| Recalled to England — Regrets andfarewells — Cape horses lacking inintelligence — "Old Martin" — Achapter of accidents — A horse "afterVelasquez" — The Spy'srevenge — Virtues and faults of Capehorses —Horse-sickness — Good-byeto Swaylands — Kaffir crane — Thevoyage home — Dogs in durance — St.Helena — A visit to Longwood — Homeagain | [277] |