CHAPTER XVIII 

 THE LOCUSTS: THEIR EGGS 



\T/ r HAT can our Locusts do ? Not much 

 * * in the way of manufactures. Their 

 business in the world is that of alchemists 

 who in their gourdlike stomach elaborate 

 and refine material destined for higher ob- 

 jects. As I sit by my fireside, in the evening 

 hours of meditation, scribbling these notes 

 upon the part which Locusts play in life, I 

 am not prepared to say that they have not 

 contributed from time to time to the awaken- 

 ing of thought, that magic mirror of things. 

 They are on the earth to thrive as best they 

 can and to multiply, the latter being the 

 highest law of animals charged with the 

 manufacture of foodstuffs. 



From the former point of view, if we ex- 

 cept the all-devouring tribes which at times 

 imperil the very existence of Africa, the Lo- 

 custs hardly attract our attention. They are 

 poor trenchermen ; and I can surfeit a whole 

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