Chap. X.] SOUTHERN AFRICA. 81 



Prodigious swarms of locusts passed overhead to 

 the eastward during the greater part of the day, and 

 were followed by such dense flights of birds as almost 

 to darken the air. The springhaan-vogel,^ as the 

 latter is called by the colonists, is about the size of 

 a swallow, with numerous speckles like the starling, 

 and is said to subsist almost exchisively upon the 

 destructive insects with which it literally vies in point 

 of numbers. The ravages committed by the locust, 

 whose desolating visits have been the theme of natu- 

 ralists and historians in all ages, have too probably 

 been witnessed by the majority of my Indian readers; 

 but Africa, more especially the northern parts of it, 

 would appear to be a quarter of the globe even more 

 frequently and more severely subjected to the scourge 

 of their inroads than Asia. Often have the lands on 

 the frontier of the colony been totally laid waste by 

 their migratory swarms, which, as usual, have been 

 followed by all the horrors of famine ; whilst to the 

 wandering Bushman, who has neither flocks nor 

 herds to perish for lack of nourishment — no garden 

 nor corn-fields of which to lament the devastation, 

 the intrusion, so appalling to the grazier and agri- 

 culturist, proves a source of joy rather than of sorrow. 

 Following up their devouring hosts, he feeds upon 

 them as they advance, and preserving also a large 

 quantity for future emergencies, finds in the insect 

 army a ready and ample compensation for the wild 

 game which has been compelled to abandon the ra- 

 vaged pastures of the wilderness. Their hereditary 

 enemies are also numerous ; almost every animal, 



* Anglici, Locust-blrd. E 5* 



