The wool is packed into large bales and is sold by the pound. Dealers send the bales by rail to the seaports, where they are shipped to England, and come back to us in the shape of clothes. It is just as well to keep to windward of the shearing-house. Not being addicted to water, the Kafirs have an odor peculiarly their own. As I once heard it remarked, "it is enough to knock a fellow down," if you go too near.
We sell a great deal of fruit in the summer. Our fruit ripens then, not in autumn. Early in the morning the men begin to pick and pack the fruit. In 1893 we sold 9100 apricots, 10,718 plums—which includes New Orleans, Golden Drop, Magnum Bosum, Damsons, Greengages, and the common blue plum—and 16,243 peaches and nectarines, besides hundreds of apples, pears, and figs. In the winter we have oranges, lemons, shaddocks, and citrons. Our winter fruit was a failure this year on account of the drought.
We send most of our fruit to East London, where it has a ready sale. In their season we have loquats, granadillas, and walnuts. We almost live on fruit in the summer. The weather is unbearably hot. Last Christmas day was very hot, and all we felt inclined to do was to lie about in the shade and drink cooling drinks. As evening approaches we get merry again. It is cool almost as soon as the sun sets. We have no twilight to speak of. It is lovely out-of-doors in the evening. We promenade up and down and watch the stars.
My friend, Douglas Ritchie, who is thirteen years of age, has started a stamp collection. He would like to exchange South African stamps for those of other countries. He is also very anxious to join the Round Table. Will you send him a Patent, please? His address is The Manse, Queenstown, Cape Colony, South Africa. My letter is getting so long that I must conclude. Will you please give my love to dear Mrs. Sangster, and tell her I do enjoy the "Pudding Stick" so much.
Isma Fincham, R.T.L.
Roydon, Queenstown, Cape Colony, South Africa.
Of course we'll send the Patent. Mrs. Sangster thanks you warmly, and is much gratified to learn that you so greatly enjoy her Pudding Stick. She gives you, her distant but not less dear reader, her most cordial greeting. Won't you write another just as good morsel as this one?
Directions for Playing "Newcomb."
I have had so much fun from the following game that I am induced to give it to the Table. We boys of Trinity School, N. Y., were the first to play it in this vicinity. I think it was originated by a lady gymnastic teacher in New Orleans, who wished to devise some good healthful game requiring not too much exertion.
Two lines are drawn, one on each side of the gymnasium, about ten or twelve feet from the wall. Two sides are chosen. Each takes its place inside the line. A referee and score-keeper are appointed. The referee tosses a football (a Rugby is the best) to one of the teams. The man on the team receiving the ball throws it to the opposing team, his object being to throw the ball so that it will fall behind the other team's line. If he scores a touch-down—that is, if it goes inside the line, it counts three points to the side throwing the ball. If the ball does not fall inside, but outside the line, it counts a foul, and scores a point against the side throwing it.