270 SOME NOXIOUS INSECTS. 



neither flocks nor herds, and therefore even such insects 

 as the tzetze-fly and gad-fly have no terrors for him. 



Take, for example, the most noxious insect which an 

 agriculturist fears, namely, the locust, and see how it 

 affects a savage, say a Bosjesman. 



To the South African farmer the locust is the most 

 fearful of pests. A swarm of locusts will mean absolute 



MIGRATORY LOCUST, 



ruin, for the creatures will destroy in a single night the 

 harvest on which the owner depends for subsistence. 



But to the Bosjesman the locust-swarm is an unmixed 

 blessing. He has no crop that the insects can destroy, 

 1but he finds in the locust-swarm an abundant store of 

 food without the trouble of hunting for it. He hails the 

 approach of the distant swarm, and as long as it remains 

 in his neighbourhood he enjoys to the full the chief 

 luxury of savage life, i.e. eating to repletion day after 



