EQUINOCTIAL AFRICA. INSECTS. 99 



sought for. " The whole of tropical Africa," observes 

 Mr. Smeathman, " is one immense forest, except where 

 the sandy plains are too unsettled to afford a proper 

 footing for vegetation. Whenever a plantation is to be 

 made, the trees are cut down and burned to fertilise 

 the ground (a practice common throughout South 

 America). The people never sow two years together 

 on the same spot ; but suffer the trees to grow again 

 for two or three years by way of fallow, before they 

 get another crop. It is these spots (called recent 

 plantations) which afford such an amazing variety of 

 insects ; yet so rapid is vegetation, that in the second 

 and third year these cleared lands become impassable 

 to human feet." There are several edible insects in 

 these countries, which supply a wholesome, if not a 

 delicious, food. The larvae, or caterpillars, of all those 

 beetles which feed upon decayed wood, Mr. Smeathman 

 affirms to be rich and delicate eating ; so that every 

 forest affords the traveller plenty of wholesome nourish- 

 ment, did he but know where to seek it. Of this kind 

 are the Termites, or white ants ; and even the locusts, 

 in general, are not only wholesome, but palatable to 

 many. The native children, at the proper season, are 

 always busily employed in digging out of the ground 

 the females of a particular sort of cricket, which is 

 then full of eggs, and so enclosed in a bag as to re- 

 semble part of the roe of a large fish ; these, when 

 roasted, are considered delicate food. The great num- 

 ber of locusts and cicadas is particularly remarkable ; 

 but in the sandy plains, thinly covered with grass, they 

 appear altogether innumerable, and their chirping is 

 almost deafening. In such situations they are seen of 

 various kinds, sizes, and colours, skipping or flitting 

 about in all directions, at every step of the traveller.* 

 While upon this subject, we may observe, generally, 

 that those prodigious numbers of locusts mentioned in 

 history, which have astonished and afflicted mankind at 

 remote intervals, have principally taken flight from this 



* Sraeatliman. 

 H a 



