Chap, II. THE ELAND — THE SCAVENGEE BEETLE. 
43 
prospect of getting water for our cattle for a day or two, I was 
surprised to hear in the fine still evening the croaking of frogs. 
Walking out until I was certain that the musicians were between 
me and our fixe, I found that they could he merry on nothing 
else but a prospect of rain. From the Bushmen I afterwards 
learned that the matlametlo makes a hole at the root of certain 
bushes, and there ensconces himself dm^ing the months of drought. 
As he seldom emerges, a large variety of spider takes advantage 
of the hole, and makes its web across the orifice. He is thus 
furnished with a window and screen gratis; and no one but a 
Bushman would think of searching beneath a spider’s web for a 
frog. They completely eluded my search on the occasion re¬ 
ferred to; and as they rush forth into the hollows filled by the 
thunder-shower when the rain is actually falling, and the 
Bechuanas are cowering under their skin garments, the sudden 
chorus struck up simultaneously from all sides seems to indicate a 
descent from the clouds. 
The presence of these matlametlo in the desert in a time of 
drought was rather a disappointment, for I had been accustomed 
to suppose that the note was always emitted by them when they 
were chin-deep in water. Their music was always regarded in 
other spots as the most pleasant sound that met the ear after 
crossing portions of the thirsty desert; and I could fully appre¬ 
ciate the sympathy for these animals shown by ^Esop, himself an 
African, in his fable of the ‘ Boys and the Frogs.’ 
It is remarkable that attempts have not been made to any 
extent to domesticate some of the noble and useful creatures of 
Africa in England. The eland, which is the most magnificent of 
all antelopes, would grace the parks of our nobility more than 
deer. This animal, from the excellence of its flesh, would be 
appropriate to our own country ; and as there is also a splendid 
esculent frog nearly as large as a chicken, it would no doubt 
tend to perpetuate the present alliance, if we made a gift of that 
to France. 
The scavenger beetle is one of the most useful of all insects, as 
it effectually answers the object indicated by the name. Where 
they abound, as at Kuruman, the villages are sweet and clean, 
for no sooner are animal excretions dropped than, attracted by 
the scent, the scavengers are heard coming booming up the wind. 
