2 Ml'. Austin Eoberts on 



and I am likely to foro-et the temporary inconvenience in 

 the subsequent })leasure ot" being present at the awakening 

 of life. 



On tlie way to Platriver all was dry and parched ; then 

 suJdenly dark clouds loomed up, thunder was heard, and in 

 a very short time such a downpour of rain surrounded us 

 that we marvelled that anything was left alive. Frogs 

 suddenly found their voices, and the air buzzed with their 

 various-ioned utterances. Looking out from our shelter 

 when the rain liad passed, it was as though frogs had come 

 down from the clouds. There was not a sign of them before, 

 and now we found them everywhere. Large yellow ones 

 were to be seen in all the larger pools, which a few houi'S 

 before were nothing but a hollow patch of dry veld ; 

 little ones, no bigger than the first joint of a man's finger, 

 hopped alarmedly out of our way or persistently puffed out 

 tlieir throats, causing the shrill vibration we heard on all 

 sides, and we had but to search to find numbers of different 

 kinds. It was not long before frog-eating birds, such as 

 Storks, Herons, and Wild Geese, put in an appearance, en- 

 hancing the change we saw on all sides. Birds soon found 

 their voices and at once showed their appreciation of the new 

 state of things, so that our own exhilaration of spirits seemed 

 to find an echo on all sides. It might well be said that there 

 is no life in the bushveld, except on sucli occasions as these 

 and in the early mornings, for during the greater part of the 

 year the heat seems to overpower all animation. 



Most of my collecting was done at Zout[)an, an interesting 

 extinct volcano situated twenty-five miles from Pretoria. 

 This extinct volcano is salt-beai-ing, there being a small 

 " pan" in the middle, which usually carries rain-water, and 

 at one time was the site of a refining station ; but since the 

 advent of railways the place has been almost deserted, and 

 all that now mark the station are a tall chimney-stack, some 

 large steel refining-pans, and the foundations of a few 

 buiidinos. The pan itself is circular in shape, about eight 

 hundred yards across, surrounded by a rocky rim which 

 stands out slightly above the surrounding bushveld and 



