Byrafn and Ghopal. 



277 



about examining all the cracks and crannies 

 where a fly might edge itself into the 

 moulding, and running over the shrivelled 

 vines trained over the piazza. Once he 

 dropped a worm, and you should have 

 seen him come tumbling down after it! 

 The nest of this brave little Esquimau 



is said to be snug and warm, made of moss 

 and lined with soft feathers, and lodged "in 

 crevices of dead logs or stumps in thick, 

 coniferous woods." What a pleasure it 

 would be to follow him north, and study all 

 his pretty ways in the dark forest home, 

 where he furnishes mirth and sunshine. 



Florence A. Merriam. 



BYRAM AND GHOPAL, 



A GREAT many of the Bunyas vis- 

 ited the Serai in the evening, now 

 chatting with Byram, now collecting in 

 little knots and discussing the probable 

 effect of the visitation on prices elsewhere. 

 There were always some about Byram's 

 cot. The idea that locusts were sent by 

 Brahma to improve prices and insure a 

 market for stocks of grain on hand was 

 familiar enough to the Bunyas, but the idea 

 that they were sent to dress the farmer's 

 land and improve his crops was a novel 

 one — and no less interesting than novel. 

 The people generally had been in the habit 

 of regarding a visitation of locusts as a 

 plague due to some oversight or neglect of 

 Brahma; and the Bunyas were not alto- 

 gether insensible to the reproach constantly 

 leveled at them, that they fattened on other 

 men's calamities. But now that the locusts 

 were said by Byram the Wise to be bless- 

 ings, and their periodical visits necessary 

 to the maintenance of the fertility of the 

 soil, it was manifestly just that the Bunyas 

 should come in for their share of the bene- 

 fits. They sat and discussed the matter 

 until it was evident enough to every com- 

 prehension that the droppings and dead 

 bodies left behind by the locusts must 

 necessarily fertilize the soil, and with the 

 prospect of selling out all their remaining 

 supply of grain at enhanced prices, their 

 hearts expanded, so that they extolled 

 Brahma and felt that inward satisfaction 



which springs from the performance of a 

 good action which has returned a hand- 

 some profit. 



Ghopal took no part in the discussion. 

 He summed up the collections of the past 

 week in his mind, and yearned to have the 



money in possession, but the more he re- 

 flected on the light Byram had thrown on 

 the functions of insects in the economy of 

 nature, the more hopeless appeared his 

 chance of getting the money in accordance 

 with the terms of the contract. 



If all the fertility of the soil, he mused, 

 is really due to animal remains, and if 

 white ants and worms, or any one of them, 

 can easily pile up an inch or two in a cen- 

 tury, they cannot help rendering man a 

 service, living or dying; but suppose these 



