e very
long before the iron horse goes pretty nearly everywhere over the length
and breadth of South Africa.

"We have driven along the principal streets of the city, and admired the
public buildings, which are both numerous and handsome. We took a
magnificent drive around the mountain to the rear of the city, where
there are some very picturesque views. In some places the edge of the
road is cut directly into the mountain side, and we looked almost
perpendicularly down for five or six hundred feet, to where the waters
of the Atlantic were washing the base of the rocks. From the mountain
back of Cape Town, there is a fine picture of the city harbor and lying
almost at one's feet; the city, with its rows and clusters of buildings
glistening in the sunlight, and the bright harbor, with its docks,
breakwaters, and forest of masts in full view of the spectator. From
this point we could see better than while in the harbor itself, the
advantages of the new breakwater. It seems that the harbor is exposed to
southeast winds, which are the prevailing ones here. When the wind
freshens into a gale, the position of the ships at anchor in the harbor
is a dangerous one, and the breakwaters have been constructed so as to
obviate this danger. When they are completed, the harbor will be fairly
well landlocked, and ships may anchor in Table Bay, and their masters
feel a sense of security against being driven on shore."

CHAPTER II.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE--THE SOUTHERN OCEAN--AUSTRALIA.

"Would you like to visit an ostrich farm?" said Dr. Whitney, while our
friends were at breakfast, on the second morning after their arrival at
Cape Town.

"I would, for one," said Harry; to which Ned replied, "and so would I."

"Very well," continued the doctor. "I have an invitation to visit an
ostrich establishment, and we will start immediately after breakfast.
The railway will take us within about three miles of the farm, and the
gentleman who has given me the invitation, and included you in it, will
accompany us on the train, and his carriage will meet us at the
station."

"That is capital!" exclaimed Harry. "He will be sure to give us a great
deal of information on the subject while we are on the train, so that we
can see the farm more intelligently than would otherwise be the case."

"Yes, that is so," echoed Ned, "and as he is the proprietor of the
establishment, he will certainly know all about the business."

At the appointed