about noon
The sheep are divided into flocks of about three hundred each , and every flock is in charge of two herders or shepherds . Some of them come into the home stations at night , while others have separate out stations of their own . The herders are either Hottentots or Kaffirs ; at any rate they are negroes . The two of them start out in the morning with the flock , and go slowly along , allowing the sheep to feed , and calculating time and distance so that they will reach a watering place about noon . There the sheep are watered and then they start back again towards the station , where they arrive an hour or so before sunset , and are shut up in a yard for the night . `` The shepherds do their own cooking , and once a week one of them comes to the head station to be supplied with provisions . Our host explained to us that one shepherd was sufficient for a flock , but the life was so lonely that a man would not stick to it , if left alone , and they had to have two men in order to keep each other company .