INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 165 



We observe in the months of May and June a number of these insects 

 coming from the south, and directing their course to the northern shore ; 

 they darken the sky Hke a thick cloud ; but scarcely have they quitted 

 the shore, when they, who a moment before ravaged and ruined the coun- 

 try, cover the surface of the sea with their dead bodies. By what instinct 

 do these creatures undertake this dangerous flight? Is it not the wise 

 institution of the Creator to destroy a dreadful plague to the country ? "^ 

 Locusts, however, as we have seen, take much longer flights than this 

 author supposes them able to do. It is probable that their ability in this 

 respect may depend a good deal upon their species, their age, and the 

 stale and direction of the wind ; for, as was the case with the Egyptian 

 plague, 



" a pitchy cloud 



Of locusts warping on the eastern wind " 



may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river, or even the sea, 

 from one country to another. This idea is strongly confirmed by an 

 account, exhibiting internal marks of authenticity, which appeared in the 

 Alexandria Herald, an American newspaper; in which it is stated, that 

 at the distance of 200 miles from the Canary Islands, the nearest land, 

 the ship Georgia, Capt. Stokes, from Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing 

 with a fine breeze from the south-east, was, on the 21st of Nov. 1811, all 

 at once becalmed. " A light air afterwards sprang up from the north-east, 

 at which time there fell from the cloud an innumerable quantity of large 

 grasshoppers, so as to cover the deck, the tops, and every part of the ship 

 they' could alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted; on 

 the contrary, when an attempt was made to take hold of them, they in- 

 stantly jumped, and endeavored to elude being taken. The calm, or a 

 very light air, lasted fully an hour, and during the whole of the time these 

 insects continued to fall upon the ship and surround her: such as were 

 within reach of the vessel alighted upon her; but immense numbers fell 

 into the sea, and were seen floating in masses by the sides." Two bottles 

 of them were preserved for inspection ; the insects were of a reddish hue, 

 with red and gray speckled wings. It is clear from this account, if it be 

 admitted as authentic, that locusts can go far from land when the wind is 

 strong, and likewise it seems equally clear that in a calm they cannot 

 support themselves in the air. The principal difficulty is, how these 

 locusts could make their way against the wind, which they must have done 

 if they came with the black cloud, as the word seems to intimate. Perhaps 

 this cloud was brought by a different current of air from that which im- 

 pelled the ship. A similar statement is given in the Essex (Massachu- 

 setts) Register in an extract from a letter of the mate of the brig Levant 

 of Boston, who writes, "that after having encountered a severe gale on 

 the 13th September (1839), when in lat. 18° north, and the nearest land 

 being over 450 miles, they were surrounded for two days by large swarms 

 of locusts of a large size ; and in the afternoon of the second day, in a 

 squall from the north-west, the sky was completely black with them. They 

 covered every part of the brig immediately, sails, rigging, cabin, &c. It 

 is a little singular how they could have supported themselves in the air so 

 long, as there was no land to the north-west for several thousand miles. 



' Voyage to the Levant, 444. 



