102 SHIPWRECK AVERTED BY IT. 



water was inquired into, and it was found, that of a 

 hundred casks there remained but three, to supply- 

 four hundred men and thirty horses. Upon this, 

 the Adelantado gave orders to make the nearest land. 

 Three days they stood towards it. A soldier, who 

 set out in ill health, had brought a grillo, or ground- 

 cricket, with him from Cadiz, thinking to be amused 

 by the insect's voice ; but it had been silent the 

 whole way^ to his no little disappointment. Now, 

 on the fourth morning, the grillo began to sing its 

 shrill rattle, scenting, as was immediately supposed, 

 the land. Such was the miserable watch which had 

 been kept, that upon looking out at the warning, 

 they perceived high rocks within bow-shot ; against 

 which, had it not been for the insect, they must in- 

 evitably have been lost. They had just time to drop 

 anchor. From hence they coasted along, the grillo 

 singing every night, as if it had been on shore, till 

 they reached the island of St. Catalina."* 



The cricket does not pass its entire existence about 

 our hearths. Like other denizens of the town, it 

 delights occasionally to take an excursion during the 

 summer, and at such times may be heard singing 

 its vesper song in company with another species, 

 which is always a denizen of the fields {Acheta cam- 

 pestris). The Rev. Gilbert White, in his delightful 

 * " Penny Magazine," November 3, 1832. 



