Page 19 - Adventures in Africa

w Those Bosjeemen ! n cried Jan.
W e at length saw that the latter were human

beings, their legs covered with white pigment and
carrying the head and feathers of an ostrich 011 their
backs, while each had in his hand a bow and a number

of arrows. Presently they cautiously approached the
ostriches to leeward, stopping every now and then
and pretending to be feeding* The ostriches would

look at the strange birds, but, not suspecting1 danger,
allowed them to approach. One of the Bosjeemen

then shot an arrow, when the wounded bird and his
companions ran off; the former, however, quickly
dropped, when the other birds stopped to see what

was the matter, and thus allowed their enemy to draw
near enough to shoot another arrow*

In this way three little yellow-skinned fellows each
shot, in a short time, four magnificent ostriches.
They had seen us in the distance, but instead of run­

ning away, as we feared they would do, one of them,
guessing we were traders, came forward to bargain
for the sale of the feathers, and Jan acting as inter­

preter, my uncle expressed a willingness to trade.
The Bosjeemen then produced a number of reeds,
scarcely the thickness of my little finger. Having

plucked off the feathers, they pushed them into the
reeds; and, thus preserved, the feathers were fit to

travel any distance without being spoilt.
It was late by the time the whole operation was
performed, and we had given the articles they had

agreed to take in exchange. As the reeds weighed
but little, the loads were considerably lightened.

Jan now explained to our new friends that they