An ostrich egg is usually as large as two dozen hen's eggs. One might suppose a slice of one of these eggs would make a breakfast for a person of ordinary appetite, while a whole one would seem more than sufficient for a person of the most voracious appetite; yet Andersson saw two natives dispose of five of these eggs during an afternoon, together with a large portion of flour and fat.
Dr. Livingstone did not agree with Andersson, who considered that ostrich eggs made an excellent repast; to the great explorer they had a rank, disagreeable flavor, which only the keen appetite of the desert made acceptable to the palate.
The shells of ostrich eggs are highly prized, for they are used for holding various kinds of liquids. Among the Bushmen there are scarcely any household utensils other than the ostrich eggshells. The shells are often covered with a light network, so that they may be slung across the saddle. Grass and wood are employed as substitutes for corks to these crude bottles.
In the Kalahari Desert it is no uncommon sight to see the women resorting to some hidden supply of water, with twenty or thirty of their water vessels in a bag or net slung over their backs. These vessels consist of ostrich eggshells, with a hole in the end of each large enough to admit one's finger. The process of filling them we have already learned in the description of the Kalahari Desert.
The Bushmen never touch the eggs, nor leave marks of human feet near them, when they find a nest. They go against the wind to the spot, and with a long stick remove some of them occasionally, and by preventing any suspicion keep the hen laying for months, as we do with fowls.
When the Hottentots discover a quantity of eggs, they remove their lower garment, the legs of which they tie up like bags, to serve as receptacles in which to carry home their bulky and queer-looking load. One can imagine the grotesque appearance a Hottentot would present with a pair of these inflated bags astride his shoulders, while he wends his way homeward to the kraal.