180 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Locusts eaten by the natives of Barbary, &c. 



and about the size of caraway comfits, retires to 

 some solitary place underground; where, by her 

 sagacity, she secures them from the intempe- 

 rance of the air, as well as from the more imme- 

 diate danger of the plough or spade, one fatal 

 blow of which would destroy all the hopes of a 

 rising generation. It is said that the holes these 

 animals make to deposit their eggs. are four feet 

 deep in the ground, each lays about fourscore 

 eggs, which are about the size of caraway com- 

 fits, and bundled up together in clusters. 



In some parts of the world, the inhabitants 

 turn what seems a plague to their own advan- 

 tage. Locusts are eaten by the natives in many 

 kingdoms of the east, and are caught in small 

 nets provided for that purpose. They parch 

 these insects over the fire in an earthen pan, and 

 when their wings and legs are fallen off, they 

 turn reddish, like boiled shrimps. Dampier says, 

 he has eaten them, thus prepared, and they are a 

 tolerable dish. The natives of Barbary also eat 

 them fried with salt, and they are said to taste 

 like cray-fish. Vaillant also, in his Travels into 

 the Interior Part of Africa, in 1781, relates, that 

 his hottentot attendants were much delighted at 

 the appearance of a swarm of locusts, which re- 

 sembled a cloud ; as these insects passed over 

 their heads they caught them in great numbers, 

 and ate them with much avidity ; from which he 

 was induced to partake, but declares that he did 

 not like them. 



