MUSICAL PITCHFORKS IN SOUTH AFRICA.
A tale comes out of England which illustrates admirably the sort of unexpected demand which may have to be met in building up a foreign trade. A British manufacturer of edge tools made up his mind to secure a share of the trade in Kaffir picks, and obtained a sample of the native-made pick, which he reproduced so exactly that it seemed to be impossible to detect the difference between it and the native article. His tools, however, did not sell, and a representative was sent out to investigate. He found there was one thing for which the Kaffir used the pick that had not been taken into consideration. The native took it out of its haft and used it as a cattle call, and every Kaffir had found that the British-made pick had not quite the right note. It speaks well for the enterprise of the maker that, having discovered this, he produced a Kaffir pick with the right note and established a trade which, the story goes, he has retained ever since.