156 HAUNTS AND HOBBIES 



before I could well discern its figure it had disappeared 

 among the grass and bushes on the other side. As far 

 as I could judge, it must have been at least six feet in 

 length. 



The villagers, who work all day in the fields, see 

 snakes of course far more frequently than do Euro- 

 peans, and they are certainly occasionally bitten by 

 them ; but the statements made of late in England 

 of the thousands of natives who perish from snake- 

 bites each year I regard with entire incredulity. 



So much for the snakes. I will now speak of the 

 locusts. I ought to have done so earlier, for those I 

 am about to describe made their appearance soon after 

 my arrival at this station. I was in the office one day, 

 when I heard a shouting outside. I inquired the cause, 

 and learnt that a swarm of locusts had appeared, and 

 that the shouts arose from a mob of children who were 

 running after them. 



I went at once into the verandah, and there, sure 

 enough, I beheld the locusts. They filled the air ; they 

 dimmed the light ; they quite hid the sun ; they flew 

 with a heavy, slow, undulating motion that gave to the 

 swarm as it passed something the appearance of dark, 

 falling snow. As they flew on thousands of them 

 continually alighted on the ground, on the trees, and 

 on the garden crops. The mob of children were busily 

 engaged in running about and catching them, all the 

 while shouting, " Tidhi ! tidhi!" the native name of the 

 locust. They were catching them for food, for the 

 natives eat the locusts, and regard them when fried 

 in oil as a delicacy. Some Europeans also eat them 



