224 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



the surface of the sea with their dead bodies. — By what 

 instinct do these creatures undertake this dangerous 

 flight ? Is it not the wise institution of the Creator to 

 destroy a dreadful plague to the country"?" Locusts 

 however, as we have seen, take much longer flights than 

 this author supposes them able to do. It is probable that 

 their ability in this respect ma}' depend a good deal upon 

 their species, their age, and the state and direction of the 

 wind ; for, as was the case with the Egyptian plague, 



" a pitchy cloud 



Of locusts warping on the eastern wind" 



may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river, or 

 even the sea, from one country to another. This idea is 

 strongly confirmed by an account, exhibiting internal 

 marks of authenticity, which appeared in the Alexandria 

 Herald^ an American newspaper ; in which it is stated, 

 that at the distance of 200 miles from the Canary Islands, 

 the nearest land, the ship Georgia, Capt. Stokes, from 

 Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing with a fine breeze from 

 the south-east, was, on the 21st of Nov. 1811, all at once 

 becalmed. " A light air afterwards sprang up from the 

 north-east, at which time there fell from the cloud an in- 

 numerable quantity of large grasshoppers, so as to cover 

 the deck, the tops and every part of the ship they could 

 alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted ; 

 on the contrary, when an attempt was made to take hold 

 of them, they instantly jumped, and endeavoured to 

 elude being taken. The calm, or a very light air, lasted 

 fully an hour, and during the whole of the time these 

 insects continued to fall upon the ship and surround her : 

 such as were within reach of the vessel alighted upon 



* Voyage to the I.evant, 444. 



