LOCUSTS THEIR DEVASTATIONS. 283 



caused by a gale of wind whistling through the shrouds of a 

 ship at anchor. It was interesting to witness at a distance 

 the various shapes and forms that these columns assumed, 

 more especially when crossing mountain ranges. At one 

 time they would rise abruptly in a compact body, as if pro- 

 pelled by a strong gust of wind ; then, suddenly sinking, they 

 would disperse into smaller battalions, not unlike vapors 

 floating about a hill side at early morn, and when slightly 

 agitated by the breeze ; or they would resemble huge col- 

 umns of sand or smoke, changing every minute their shape 

 and evolutions. 



During their flight numbers were constantly alighting, an 

 action which has not inaptly been compared to the falling of 

 large snow-flakes. It is, however, not until the approach of 

 night that they encamp. Woe to the spot they select as a 

 resting-place ! When the rising sun again speeds their de- 

 parture, localities which, on the preceding evening, were rich 

 in vegetation, are bare and naked as the Sahara. " When 

 a swarm alights on a garden," says Mr. Mofiat, "or even 

 fields, the crop for one season is destroyed. I have observed 

 a field of young maize devoured in the space of two hours. 

 They eat not only tobacco and every other vegetable, but also 

 flannel and linen." 



From what has been said, it is evident that the husband- 

 man has just reason to be appalled at the approach of this de- 

 structive insect. To the poor Bushmen, " the children of the 

 desert," on the other hand, who have neither herds to lose 

 by famine nor corn-fields to be destroyed by their devasta- 

 tions, their arrival is a cause of rejoicing. Pringle, in his 

 song of the wild Bushman, has the following lines : 



"Yea, even the wasting locust-swarm, 

 Which mighty nations dread, 

 To me noi" terror brings nor harm ; 

 I make of them my bread." 



On the present occasion we found a great number of Hot- 



