THE STATION 157 



curried, and I have heard their taste described as agree- 

 able ; I never, however, had the courage myself to test 

 the correctness of the statement. 



The swarm passed by in about an hour. Notwith- 

 standing the myriads and myriads of locusts it con- 

 tained, I found that the swarm was regarded as no 

 more than a small one. It certainly by no means 

 occasioned the devastation which has often been 

 described as accompanying the passage of these 

 insects ; still there was a good deal of injury done to 

 the crops, more especially to those of the gardens. 



The natives have an idea that the locusts are bred 

 in the Himalaya. The idea is, I believe, quite 

 erroneous ; still, according to my experience, flights 

 of locusts are more common among the lower ranges 

 of those mountains than in the plains. When seen 

 among those ranges their appearance even more 

 strikingly resembles that of dark - coloured, slowly 

 falling snow. Filling the valleys, obscuring the great 

 mountains, they impress the mind with an extreme 

 sense of gloom and of grandeur. 



Towards the end of October it was full moon ; I 

 never remember moonlight more beautiful ; I used 

 often in the evenings to sit outside to enjoy it, there 

 was something so soothing, so delicious, in its soft, 

 mysterious glow. The air, besides, was in itself agree- 

 able, not exactly cold, but sufficiently cool to make 

 a shawl or an overcoat pleasant. 



This mention of the moonlight reminds me of another 

 appearance peculiar to Eastern nights ; it is what I have 

 heard described as the " mirage of the dark." I first 



