174 ELDORADO 



CHAPTER XX. 



FOES, FRUITS AND PROGRESS. 



The year 1855 was known as the grasshopper year. 

 At times the Hght of the sun was obscured by clouds of 

 "hoppers" filling the atmosphere. Their appearance 

 continued for several weeks, and during the time nearly 

 every green thing was eaten or destroyed by them. 

 Grain fields and fruit trees in many instances were 

 ruined. The course of their flight was westward and 

 they finally disappeared in the ocean. One curious 

 feature during their appearance was that they became 

 llie food supply of the Indians. The Indians would 

 dig funnel shaped holes, to the depth of two or three 

 feet in the earth, when bucks, women and children 

 would form extended lines, and with willow bushes 

 and old sacks drive the "hoppers" into the holes. Then 

 they would fill their sacks and carry them to their 

 rancheries for food. They were regarded as a great 

 luxury, to be eaten raw, cooked, or dried. It was a 

 curious sight to watch tliem, day after day gather 

 sack's full in that manner at my ranch on the Con- 

 sumnes. 



It has been suggested that grasshoppers (a species 

 of locust) eaten with wild honey, was what consti- 

 tuted the diet of Jolm the Baptist while sojourning in 



