Among the other exports may be mentioned wool, Angora hair, hides, skins, horns, and ostrich feathers. These have been increased in value about tenfold since 1850.
Nearly everything in the way of agricultural products is required for home use. Some fruits and grains are, however, sent out of the country. Among the agricultural products that find a foreign market may be named aloes, bark for tanning purposes from Natal, and dried flowers from Cape Colony. The fisheries, too, not only supply enormous quantities of food for home consumption, but also export largely to Mauritius. Natal furnishes also great quantities of sugar.
It is interesting to learn that the supply of fish which the harbor of Cape Town affords is apparently inexhaustible. Not only is there a great variety of species, but there are several that are very wholesome and of a fine flavor.
The Cape salmon, in size and appearance somewhat resembling that of Britain, and the snook, a voracious marine pike, are both very abundant. After an excursion of a few hours, boats often return laden with these fish, which are sold very cheap, and form the principal food of the colored population. At the west end of Cape Town, fish may be seen suspended on long lines, as clothes are with us, that they may be dried; and vast quantities are salted for exportation, Mauritius being the principal market.
Fishing for snook is a source of amusement. They may be caught while the boat is in motion, by trailing a leaded hook astern, with some white streamers of rag attached, or when at anchor, by alternately throwing the bait to a distance and drawing it quickly back. Penguins, Cape pigeons, albatross, and some kinds of sea gull, surround the boat, while flocks of gannets and cormorants fly around the fishermen.
The Cape pigeons are an interesting feature about Cape Colony. They seem to welcome the arrival of each ship in the harbor, and to take delight in the sight of mankind about them. After a storm, and when the wind has subsided so that the surface of the ocean becomes calm, these Cape pigeons settle upon the water and swim gayly about, like ducks in a pond, and with as little fear, apparently, of any danger.
It is no uncommon thing for the sailors on board ship to bait their hooks and catch these pigeons as they would fish. It seems a cruel sport, yet the rest of the crew will line the side of the ship and find amusement in watching what they call "the fun" with the poor creatures.
If caught and placed in a hen coop till morning, they will, on being released, stagger awkwardly about over the slippery deck; for they are unable to take to the wing unless they can have some good starting point, as the edge of a ship's railing or the crest of a heaving wave.
In captivity, if kept alone, they are peaceable; but if not in solitary confinement they are very quarrelsome, and fight continually.
Their powers of flight are somewhat remarkable. When a ship is going at the rate of two hundred miles a day, the Cape pigeon will hover around it, sheer off or approach it, and soar aloft or descend, as if the vessel were absolutely stationary. They really fly without much effort.