54 



" The experiments here recorded have given rise to many sensational newspaper par- 

 agraphs, and I consider the matter of sufficient importance to record the actual facts, 

 which are here given for the first time. 



" Like or dislike of many kinds of food are very much matters of individual t;iste, 

 or national custom. Every nation has some special and fiivorite dish, which the people 

 of other nations will scarcely touch, while the very animal that is highl}' esteemed in one 

 part of a country is not unfrequently rejected as poisonous in another section. We use 

 many things to-day that were considered worthless or even jioisonous by our forefathers. 

 Prejudice wields a most powerful influence in all our actions. It is said that the 

 Irish, during the famine of 1857, would rather starve than eat o\ir corn bread; and if 

 what I have written shall in the future induce some of our western people to profit 

 by the hint, and avoid suffering from hunger or actual starvation, I shall not have 

 written in vain." 



Like the mysterious individual who first tasted oysters, and introduced them to the 

 favourable consideration of the world, we certainl}' think that Prof Riley deserves the 

 thanks of the community for his courage in making the experiment of eating locusts, 

 and the zeal with which he carried it out. No doubt our north-western friends, in the 

 Province of Manitoba, especially those of Fren^ .^jOiscent, who are usually more skilled 

 in the arts of cookery than their Anglo-Saxi ^ ,jr Irish neighbours, will ere long look 

 u]>on Prof. Rile}- as a public benefactor — oiu who has introduced a new and estimable 

 addition to the luxuries of the table. 



I'* 



aatv 

 V. 



