95. Feathers, leather and steak!
One of the more unusual industries that in its day made huge fortunes but was eventually, bizarrely deflated by the advent of the motor car and in particular the open-topped sports cars.
Curious?
OK, so the industry in question sold feathers!
In a quiet corner of the Klein Karoo (little Karoo, a semi-desert area of South Africa) is the town of Oudtshoorn, once the world center of the ostrich feather industry. [Approximate English pronunciation: oudts-hoorn — ed.] Ostrich feathers were regarded as high-fashion items as early as the time of Queen Elizabeth I and, later, Marie-Antoinette.The town slowly developed from the 1750s as the center of a farming community that produced wheat, barley, wine and brandy. It is located between two magnificent mountain passes, the Swartberg (Black Mountain) in the north and Outeniqua in the south, named after the Khoikhoi (Bushman) tribe, translated as “They who bring honey.”
Farming proved to be difficult because of lack of water. In 1865, some enterprising farmers realized that the local ostrich population, the biggest concentration of these remarkable birds in the world, carried a priceless commodity on their wings – their feathers!
In the middle- to late-1800s, European nobility developed a fashion craze for feather boas and women’s hats adorned with ostrich feathers. The Oudtshoorn district quickly established itself as the center of the feather industry, with the nearby coastal port of Mossel Bay establishing feather auctions in 1870. Farmers around Oudtshorm ripped out their barely viable crops and planted lucerne (called alfalfa in North America) which became the staple food for the biggest birds in the world.
The value of a pound of ostrich feathers at the time was almost equal to the value of diamonds; so, in addition to the diamond and gold rushes of the late 1800s and early 1900s, there was a definite feather rush. Amongst the influx of fortune seekers was a group of about 100 Lithuanian Jews, who had fled from the Tzarist pogroms of 1881 in Russia and settled in the area.
By 1877, Oudtshoorn had its own feather auctions and the industry continued to boom until 1885, when over-production of feathers led to a slump. However, a number of ostrich farmers refused to give up and the industry recovered slowly. It might have recovered faster but the Anglo-Boer war disrupted the entire country for some years. After the end of the second Anglo-Boer war in 1902, there was a second boom and the farmers continued to feather their nests, so to speak. Around this time, a number of the wealthiest ostrich farmers (known as “Feather Barons”) built extravagant “Feather Palaces” at the height of the Art Nouveau period in Europe (which influenced their decor and design). This was a design movement started in Britain in the late 1800s, with my ancestor, Dr. Christopher Dresser, in the forefront. Ironically, the most successful of all the ostrich farmers, Max Rose (one of the Lithuanians who arrived in South Africa at the age of seventeen), never built a “palace,” preferring instead to live frugally at the Central Hotel in the town.
The second slump, which heralded the death knell of the feather industry, occurred in 1913, just before World War I. This time, it was blamed on the motor car, particularly the open-top sports cars. The wind simply destroyed the ladies’ feather-decorated hats and boas. The excitement over the newfangled horseless carriage far outweighed the previous fashion statement of wearing feathers. Henry Ford’s Model Ts simply blew the feathers away! Incidentally, my mother owned the very first Model T Ford in South Africa, shortly after leaving school.
In the 1940s, the ostrich industry was reinvented, but this time not for their feathers. Ostrich-leather handbags and other leather items such as wallets became popular. In time, ostrich steaks became an increasingly popular food item. Another way in which the enterprising farmers made money again was by creating their farms as tourist attractions. Today, Safari Show Farm and Highgate Ostrich Show Farm are major tourist attractions.
When our four children were growing up, regardless of whether I had a good or a bad year in the movie industry, I insisted that we spend two weeks over the Christmas holidays (mid-summer down south) visiting different parts of South Africa. One year, it was a trip to the coastal resorts of Knysna and Plettenberg Bay, with a side trip to nearby Oudtshoorn to visit the ostrich farms. Apart from being shown that ostrich eggshells are incredibly strong, I was invited to stand on one. At over 200 pounds, I was really anxious about the unborn ostrich chick on the inside of the shell. But apart from wobbling as I tried to balance on the egg, no harm was done. Incredible! I was thankful that we eat chickens’ eggs. I might well have gotten a hernia trying to crack the giant ostrich version. Some people do eat them, however.
The main attraction for tourists in more recent years has been ostrich racing. The local indigenous people, no doubt descended from a mix of the original Bushman and African tribes, tend to be very small. They make perfect jockeys. Before the races, we were all invited to have a ride on an ostrich. Once again, I was doubtful because of my weight and height at 6 feet 1 inch; but the organizers assured me that the birds are incredibly strong. They also warned that you never walk directly in front of an ostrich. The ostrich uses its feet and legs as a weapon and can kick forward ferociously if provoked. A blow from their powerful legs can easily kill a person. We were assured that the ostriches that we would ride were quite docile.
My two boys Jason and Gregori were determined to have a ride and (not being a person that can resist a challenge) I found myself mounting one of the birds as well, half expecting it to collapse under me. It was, actually, quite scary for another reason. When you sit on the bird, you have to lean back because there’s virtually nothing in front of you, except the long neck. You then think you’re going to slide off the back of the bird. In the event, I stayed on but was quite envious of my boys still in their teens riding their birds like champion jockeys.
Talking of the jockeys, we were then treated to a couple of ostrich races, with the birds going at amazing speeds and their tiny jockeys comfortably in control. Animal Rights people may be horrified but I honestly believe that the birds enjoyed racing. I can’t claim that they had smiles on their faces because in that department they’re all beak and big eyes, but the way they raced around the track displayed a true competitive spirit.
Oudtshoorn today has a population of about 60,000 and is well worth a visit. Furthermore, the world-famous Cango Caves are nearby. These are massive limestone caves discovered in the late 1700s by Jacobus van Zyl. It was only fully explored in 1894, with the first cavern extending for 2,543 feet. Evidence of stone-age paintings on the walls indicate that the caves have been known and probably inhabited on and off for thousands of years. The first tour guide Johnny van Wassenaar claimed to have walked nonstop for 29 hours to find the final end of the caves. The distance from the entrance to where he walked is estimated to be 15.5 miles, underground.
In 1972, a second major cavern was discovered extending the caves a further 890 feet. It is known as Cango 2. In order to get there one has to walk and crawl along a small passage between the two caverns. I took Hero and the kids to the caves but confess that on my way to Cango 2 my claustrophobia got the better of me. In a previous blog, I wrote about making a film on caving in the Transvaal province, getting stuck between two rocks on my descent of the first cave. Since then, I have been rather wary of small spaces. My kids were fearless and all four of them, two boys and two girls, visited Cango 2 and were suitably impressed.
On occasions, the first cavern has been used for classical concerts and choirs. It is a truly spectacular place and combines well with a visit to the ostriches in Oudtshoorn.
This world of ours is such a magical place. It’s a pity that so many of us humans choose to live in the cities. Africa has more to offer than most other places I know in terms of magnificent scenery, teeming wildlife, golden sands of beaches running for miles, mountains up to12,000 feet or more, forests, lakes and endless beauty. There are still a few places that have barely been explored. The rich and diverse cultures of many African tribes add a sense of wonder to those of us from western heritage.
As the extraordinary technology of ExoTech unfolds, I am filled with a similar kind of wonder that filled me as a ten-year-old boy travelling down Africa in 1947. There are so many incredible new facets of ExoTech that I continue to explore week in and week out, that my new sense of wonder is not so much a feeling of what has gone before, as in Africa, but more a sense of what is to come in the new, exciting world of the paradigm shift that ExoTech is about to create.
An ExoTech Ltd shareholder, Chris is currently authoring two of the four books to be published the day ExoBrain launches and has helped to create ExoBrain’s introductory video to the Confidential Technical Briefing. Chris has spent his working life in the film and television industry, starting with BBC Television in London, then ATV in Birmingham becoming, at the time, the youngest Studio Manager in Britain.
Later, in South Africa, he wrote and directed film and TV commercials, having four South African entries at the Cannes Advertising Festival. After a number of years of writing and directing or producing documentaries (eight international awards) and corporate videos, he concentrated on writing feature film screenplays (five screened) and television series (seven screened). He has a novel, ”Pursuit of Treachery,” with a literary agent and is currently obtaining finance for an action adventure feature film he has written and is co-producing. He is a published poet and has given many readings.