APPENDIX XL^DATA FROM BRITISH AMERICA. [147] 



wincl-currents of the vast interior plains seem to be propagated on the interior pla- 

 teaus and pass outwards in the same way. The locusts coming on the wind will gene- 

 rally do the same thing, but not always, as alow pressure will cause an inward draught, 

 and if the sun shines the locusts will rise and travel on the wind, which may be 

 blowing from the northeast at the time. — [John Macoum, Belleville, Ont., September 

 22, 1877. 



LaJce Winnipeg, Sunday, August 17, 1800. — The beach was covered with grasshoppers, 

 which had been thrown up by the waves and formed one continued line as far as the 

 eye coukl see. In some places they lay from six to nine inches deep, and now were 

 in a state of putrefaction, which occasioned a horrid stench. 



Femhina Eivei', June 2.5, 1808. — I found great swarms of grasshoppers, which still 

 continue here, and have destroyed the greater part of my vegetables in my kitchen- 

 garden, in particular the onions, cabbage, melons, cucumbers, carrots, parsnips, and 

 beets. They also attacked the potatoes and corn, but those had acquired sufficient 

 strength at the root to resist and sprout up again, whilst plants of a weaker nature 

 had ail been destroyed. Those swarms of grasshoppers appear about the 15th of June. 

 They generally come in great clouds from the southward and spread destruction 

 wherever they pass ; even the very trees were stripped of their leaves. They pass on 

 northward until millions are drowned in Lake Winnipeg, and cause a most horrid 

 stench, as I have already observed. — [Extract from M S. notes from Henry's Journey 

 from Lake Superior to the Pacific Ocean, 1799-1816. 



[From the Hon. Donald Gunn, one of the oldest settlers in Manitoba, and an enthusiastic observer of 

 natiire, -we obtained the following reports, the second one called forth by the fact that several other 

 old residents questioned whether the insects ever came into the Province as early as June. The 

 above-quoted notes from Henry's journey and other data that we have elsewhere referred to corrobo- 

 rate the accuracy of Mr. Gunn's records :j 



These destructive creatures made their first appearance in the colony in the latter 

 end of July, in the year 1818, six years after the commencement of the settlement. 

 The crops were ripe when they came, and they did not injure the wheat to any serious 

 degree, but it was otherwise with the barley, which they attacked by cutting off the 

 ears ; but, with all their voracity, they could not eat the ears, and the settlers secured 

 as much as they were able to gather by gleaning. This great swarm, after accom- 

 plishing the work of reproduction, disappeared. * * * * 



After this digression we will turn our attention to what took place in the spring of 

 1819. After the genial rays of the sun had communicated to the earth the warmth 

 necessary to hatch the ova deposited during the preceding season, the young grass- 

 hoppers 'made their appearance in immense numbers. During the first eight or ten 

 days of their existence they are feeble, inactive, and innoxious, but as they become 

 strong enough to travel, they seemed to have moved in one direction, devouring every 

 green thing that they found in their way, leaving in the evening bare and black what 

 they found in the morning green and flourishing. And thus they destroyed the unfor- 

 tunate settler's expectations of realizing what otherwise would have been the reward 

 of his industry. 



If the myriads which ravaged the land in 1819 took their flight before they deposited 

 their ova, others in numbers equally great came to occupy their place, whose progeny 

 destroyed the husbandman's hopes for 1820 ; and, owing to a similar cause, his fortune 

 was no better in 1821. Thus, for three successive seasons, were the fruits of the earth 

 destroyed by these pests. 



Six and thirty years passed before these creatures made their appearance again 

 within the limits of the settlement. But in the summer of 1857 a swarm fell on the 

 Assiniboine. They deposited their eggs, and in the following spring and summer they 

 destroyed all the crops within their reach; but be it observed that their progress is 

 slow until they cast their slough ; their wings expand and dry, when in a few days 

 they fly away. 



In the latter end of June, 1864, grasshoppers appeared in considerable swarms, ex- 

 tending over the whole of the settlement. They did very little injury to the wheat- 

 crop, but were the cause of great loss in the barley by cutting off the ears, which jjeo- 

 ple could find neither time nor hands to gather. About the beginning of July they 

 began to deposit their ova, and continued doing so until the beginning of October. 

 In the following summer of 1865 the young brood destroyed some fields and iujnred 

 many more, but they left many fields that they did not touch. After they got their 

 wings they left this part of the country. On the 9th of June, this year, a sprinkling 

 of grasshoppers fell, extending from Fort Alexander, on the river Winnipeg, to Mani- 

 toba Lake, and likely over the Swan River region, but they were not numerous near 

 the Red River, and although they deposited their ova, the young ones proceeding from 

 them were too few to do any perceptible damage; but in the month of August, 1867, 

 they made their appearance in such great numbers that they literally covered the 

 whole face of the country. The wheat was ripe and beyond their power to injure, but 

 many had great difficulty in preserving even part of their barley. I need not say that 



