xxxi SOME PECULIAR FOODS 279 



western and northern shores of Lake Nyassa, 

 capture myriads of small midgets that come in 

 clouds on the wind, and make a kind of cake from 

 the dough procured by crushing the insects. In 

 the same category, may be classed locusts, which are 

 eaten by most native tribes, who, after plucking off 

 their wings, fry and devour them. I have tried 

 locusts fried in butter, as an experiment, and found 

 them not distasteful. 



Many of the native tribes dwelling near rivers and 

 lakes show a decided penchant for crocodiles' eggs, 

 which equal those of a duck in size, and are 

 to be found in the sun-warmed sand near the 

 water. 



Wild honey, of which there are several kinds, is 

 eaten by almost all the native tribes with whom I 

 have come in contact. First, comes the honey, 

 called asari, obtained from the hive of the ordinary 

 wild bee and closely resembling in flavour the 

 honey produced by the garden bee in the Old 

 Country. Second, I would rank that of a small 

 midget which makes its hive in the cavities of trees. 



This honey, called by the most tribes insoma, but 

 by the Angoni, chingwaengie, has a most delicious 

 flavour with a faint odour of musk just a delicacy 

 for the epicure. Another kind, called lecama and 

 resembling insoma in flavour, is the product of a 

 larger midget which makes its home in ant-hills. 



