THE GRASSHOPPER KIND. 



775 



In the next month, being June, the young 

 brood began to make their appearance, form- 

 in^ tii;iny compact bodies of several hundred 

 y.trds square ; which afterwards marching 

 for xard, climbed the trees, walls, and houses, 

 eating every tiling that was green in their way. 

 The inhabitants, "to stop their progress, laid 

 trenches all over their fields and gardens, 

 filling them witli water. Some placed large- 

 quantities of heath, stubble, and such like 

 co. nbustible matter, in rows, and set them on 

 fire on the approach of the locusts. But all 

 this was to no purpose ; or the trenches were 

 quickly filled up, and the fires put out by the 

 vast number of swarms that succeeded each 

 other. A day or two after one of these was 

 in motion, others that were just hatched came 

 to glean alter them, gnawing off the young 

 branches and the very bark of the trees. 

 Having lived near a month in this manner, 

 they arrived at their full growth, and threw 

 off their worm-like state, by casting their skins. 

 To prepare themselves for this change, they 

 fixed their hinder feet to some bush or twig, 

 or corner of a stone, when immediately, by 

 an undulating motion used on this occasion, 

 their heads would first appear, and soon after 

 the rest of their bodies. The whole transfor- 

 mation was performed in seven or eight 

 minutes' time ; after which, they were a little 

 while, in a languishing condition ; but as soon 

 as the sun and air had hardened their wings, 

 and dried up the moisture that remained after 

 casting off their sloughs, they returned again 

 to their former greediness, with an addition 

 both of strength and agility. But they did 

 not continue long in this state before they 

 were entirely dispersed ; after laying their 

 eggs, directing their course northward, they 

 probably perished in the sea. It is said that 

 the holes these animals make, to deposite their 

 eggs, are four feet deep in the ground ; the 

 eggs are about fourscore in number, of the size 

 of caraway comfits, and bundled up together 

 in clusters. 



It would be endless to recount all the mis- 

 chiefs which these famished insects have at 

 different times occasioned ; but whit cin have 

 induced them to take such distant flights, 

 when they come into Europe, is not so easy 

 to be accounted for. It seems most probable, 

 that by means of a very diy season in the 

 heart of Africa, they are propagated in such 



numbers, that the vegetables of the spot where 

 they are produced are not sufficient to sustain 

 them. Thus being obliged to find out other 

 countries, they traverse the sandy deserts, 

 where they can find no sustenance : still meet- 

 ing with nothing to allure them from their 

 height, they proceed forward across the sea, 

 and thus come into Europe, where they alight 

 upon the first green pastures that occur. 



In some parts of the world, the inhabitants 

 turn what seems a plague to their own ad- 

 vantage. Locusts are eaten by the natives in 

 many kingdoms of the East ; and are caught 

 in small nets provided for that purpose. 

 They parch them over the fire in an earthen 

 pan ; and when their wings and legs are fallen 

 off, they turn reddish, of the colour of boiled 

 shrimps. Dampicr has eaten them thus 

 prepared, and thinks them a tolerable dish. 

 The natives of Barbary also eat them fried 

 with salt ; and they are said to taste like cray- 

 fish. 



There is a locust in Tonquin, about the 

 bigness of the top of a man's finger, and as 

 long as the first joint. It breeds in the earth, 

 in low grounds; mid in the months of Janu- 

 ary and February, which is the season for 

 taking them, they issue from the earth in vast 

 swarms. At first they can hardly fly, so that 

 they often fall into the rivers in great num- 

 bers : however, the natives in these months 

 watch the rivers, and take them up in multi- 

 tude* in small nets. They eisher eat them 

 fresh, broiled on the coals, or pickle them for 

 keeping. They are considered as a great 

 delicacy in that part of the world, as well by 

 the rich as the poor. In the countries where 

 they are eaten, they are regularly brought to 

 market, and sold as larks or quails in Europe. 

 They must have been a common food with 

 the Jews, as Moses, in the book of Leviticus, 

 permits them to eat four different kinds of this 

 animal, which he takes care to specify. This 

 dish, however, has not yet made its way into 

 the kitchens of the luxurious in Europe ; and 

 though we may admire the delicacies of the 

 East, we are as yet happily deprived of the 

 power of imitation. 



Of all animals, however, of this noxious 

 trib". the Great West Indian Locust, m- 

 'UvUually considered, is the most formidable. 

 It is about the thickness of the barrel of a 

 goose-quill, and the body is divided into nine 



