130 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



rises ; for one that came on board us a hundred certainly were drowned. 

 We observe in the months of May and June a number of these insects 

 coming from the south, and directing their course to the northern shore; 

 they darken the sky like a thick cloud ; but scarcely have they quitted the 

 shore, when they, who a moment before ravaged and ruined the country, 

 cover the surface of the sea with their dead bodies. By what instinct do 

 these creatures undertake this dangerous flight ? Is it not the wise insti- 

 tution of the Creator to destroy a dreadful plague to the country?" 1 

 Locusts, however, as we have seen, take much longer flights than this 

 author supposes them able to do. It is probable that their ability in this 

 respect may depend a good deal upon their species, their age, and the 

 state and direction of the wind ; for, as was the case with the Egyptian 

 plague, 



" a pitchy cloud 



Of locusts warping on the eastern wind" 



may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river, or even the sea, 

 from one country to another. This idea is strongly confirmed by an 

 account, exhibiting internal marks of authenticity, which appeared in the 

 Alexandria Herald, an American newspaper ; in which it is stated, that at 

 the distance of 200 miles from the Canary Islands, the nearest land, the 

 ship Georgia, Capt. Stokes, from Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing with 

 a fine breeze from the south-east, was, on the 21st of Nov. 1811, all at 

 once becalmed. " A light air afterwards sprung up from the north-east, 

 at which time there fell from the cloud an innumerable quantity of large 

 grasshoppers, so as to cover the deck, the tops, and every part of the ship 

 they could alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted; on 

 the contrary, when an attempt was made to take hold of them, they 

 instantly jumped, and endeavoured to elude being taken. The calm, or a 

 very light air, lasted fully an hour, and during the whole of the time these 

 insects continued to fall upon the ship and surround her : such as were 

 within reach of the vessel alighted upon her ; but immense numbers fell 

 into the sea, and were seen floating in masses by the sides." Two bottles 

 of them were preserved for inspection ; the insects were of a reddish hue, 

 "with red and grey speckled wings. It is clear from this account, if it be 

 admitted as authentic, that locusts can go far from land when the wind is 

 strong, and likewise it seems equally clear that in a calm they cannot 

 support themselves in the air. The principal difficulty is, how these locusts 

 could make their way against the wind, which they must have done if they 

 came with the black cloud, as the words seem to intimate. Perhaps this 

 cloud was brought by a different current of air from that which im- 

 pelled the ship. A similar statement is given in the Essex (Massachusetts) 

 Register, in an extract from a letter of the mate of the brig Levant of 

 Boston, who writes, " that after having encountered a severe gale on the 

 13th September ^1839), when in lat. 18 north, and the nearest land being 

 over 450 miles, they were surrounded for two days by large swarms of 

 locusts of a large size ; and in the afternoon of the second day, in a squall 

 from the north-west, the sky was completely black with them. They 

 covered every part of the brig immediately, sails, rigging, cabin, &c. It is 



1 Voyage to the Levant, 444. 



