In the early settlement of Cape Colony, ostriches were found in great numbers. No later than fifty years ago flocks could be seen in almost any section of it. The salty nature of the soil, the sweet grass, and the dry atmosphere of the karroo plains are very favorable to the health of these birds.
As the hunters became more and more eager to secure the feathers, which were the real plunder of the chase, they wantonly hunted and killed great numbers of ostriches. In consequence the birds became very scarce, and the hunters had to seek their sport farther and farther to the north.
The settlers soon turned their attention to the rearing of ostriches as they would turkeys or hens, and ostrich farms became a common feature of Cape Colony. Ostrich farming is not only an interesting industry for the Boers, but it is a most lucrative business. The feathers, too, from these farms surpass in quality and value those brought from the wilds of the interior.
As a pound of ostrich plumes is worth about three hundred dollars, the owner of an ostrich farm finds it a profitable business to own as many full-grown birds as possible; for each will yield a quarter of a pound of feathers yearly. A tiny chick a week old is valued at the sum of fifty dollars, while a full-grown bird will command as high a price as two hundred and fifty.
The ugly scenery of Cape Colony, its eccentric plants, queer beasts, and general look of incompleteness, according to one writer, have called forth the remark from some jocular American that "South Africa was finished off in a hurry late on Saturday night, with a few diamonds thrown in to compensate."
The owner of an ostrich farm, however, finds much in compensation. The author of "Home Life on an Ostrich Farm" thus describes a farm of some twelve hundred acres: "We are in that part of the Karroo which is called the Zwart Ruggens, or 'black rugged country,' so named from the appearance it presents when, during the frequent long droughts, the bush loses all its verdure, and becomes outwardly so black and dry-looking that no one unacquainted with this most curious kind of vegetation would suppose it capable of containing the smallest amount of nutriment for ostriches, sheep, or goats.
"But if you break one of these apparently dried-up sticks, you find it all green and succulent inside, full of a very nourishing saline juice; and thus, even in long droughts, which sometimes last more than a year, this country is able to support stock in a most marvelous manner, of which, judging by outward appearance, it certainly does not seem capable. It seems strange that in this land of dryness the plants are so full of moisture; one wonders whence it can possibly have come.
"The little karroo plant, from which the district takes its name, is one of the best kinds of bush for ostriches, as well as for sheep and goats. It grows in little compact round tufts not more than seven or eight inches from the ground, and though so valuable to farmers it is but unpretending in appearance, with tiny narrow leaves, and a little, round, bright yellow flower, exactly resembling the center of an English daisy after its last petal has been pulled.
"The fei-bosch is another of our commonest and useful plants. Its pinkish lilac flower is very like that of the portulacca, and its little flat succulent leaves look like miniature prickly pear leaves without the prickles; hence its name, from Turk-fei, Turkish fig. When flowering in large masses, and seen at a little distance, the fei-bosch might almost be taken for heather.
"The brack-bosch, which completes our trio of very best kinds of ostrich bush, is a taller and more graceful plant than either of the preceding, with bluish green leaves, and blossoms consisting of a spike of little greenish tufts; but there are an endless variety of other plants, among which there is hardly one that is not good nourishing food for the birds.