570 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. 



On the 18th of July, while 

 riding in that direction, I dis- 

 covered a tremendous swarm of 

 very small dark coloured insects 

 in the vicinity of a large pool of 

 stagnate water ; they were col- 

 lected in heaps, and covered the 

 ground to a considerable dis- 

 tance. These, on minute inspec- 

 tion, proved to be locusts in 

 miniature, but without wings. In 

 this place they remained, hourly 

 increasing in numbers, for some 

 days, when the great body moved 

 of]^ taking a direction towards 

 the town of Etawah : they 

 creeped and hopped along at a 

 slow rate, until they reached the 

 town, where they divided into 

 different bodies, still however 

 keeping nearly the same direc- 

 tion, covering and destroying 

 ever}' thing green in their pro- 

 gress, and distributing themselves 

 all over the neighbourhood. The 

 devastation daily committed by 

 tliem being almost incalculable, 

 the farmers were under the neces- 

 sity of collecting as many people 

 as they could, in the vain hope 

 that they might preserve the 

 crop by sweeping the swarm 

 backwards, but as often as they 

 succeeded in repelling them in 

 one quarter, they approached in 

 another ; fires were then lighted 

 all round the fields with the same 

 view — this had the effect of keep- 

 ing them off for a short time, but 

 sufficient fuel could not be sup- 

 plied, and the moment the fires 

 became extinguished, the insects 

 rushed in like a torrent. Multi- 

 tudes were destroyed by the 

 birds, and many more by bran- 

 ches of trees, used by the farmers 

 for that purpose, as well as by 

 their being swept into large 



heaps, and consumed by fire, yet 

 their numbers seemed nothing 

 diminished. They so completely 

 covered some mangoe trees, and 

 the hedges surrounding the gar- 

 dens, that the colour of the leaves 

 could not be distinguished. They 

 had no wings and were about 

 the size of small bees. They 

 continued to creep along the 

 ground, or hopped when their 

 progress was interrupted. 



July 27. — They were increas- 

 ing in size, and had overspread 

 that part of the country in every 

 direction. From the want of 

 rain, and the overwhelming inroad 

 of these insects, the farmers were 

 nearly ruined. Nothing impeded 

 their progress, they climbed up 

 the highest trees and scrambled 

 over walls, and notwithstanding 

 the exertions of several people 

 with brooms, the verandah and 

 outer walls of the hospital were 

 completely covered with them. 

 They no longer continued to 

 move in one particular direction, 

 but paraded backwards and 

 forwards, wherever they could 

 find food. 



On the 28th of July, the rains 

 set in with considerable violence; 

 the locusts took shelter on trees 

 and bushes, devouring every leaf 

 within their reach, none seemed 

 to suffer from the rain. 



On the 29th it did not rain, 

 and the young swarm again were 

 on the move, continuing their 

 depredations ; they were fast 

 increasing in size, and equally 

 lively as before the rain. 



It again rained on the 30th, 

 and again the locusts took shelter 

 on the trees and fences ; several 

 large flights of locusts passed 

 over the cantonments, and I ob- 

 § served 



