VARIOUS INSECTS EATEN AS FOOD. 357 



Western nations the beccafico and other food deli- 

 cacies. 



Locusts or grasshoppers can be prepared in more ways 

 even than oysters ; they may be eaten raw, stewed, and 

 fried in oil, broiled on a gridiron, smoked, or ground up 

 in a handmill and baked into cakes; first boiled in water 

 and then fried in butter they make an excellent dish. 

 Many savage and some civilised nations eat them with 

 delight. 



Father Ovalle, writing in 1649, informs us that the 

 Indians of Chili, in the absence of grain, convert this 

 insect into bread. They watch where the locusts alight 

 to rest at night, then setting fire to the bushes, reduce 

 all to ashes, which are gathered and baked into cakes. 

 Mr. Gordon Gumming also has a word to say in their 

 favour. To him they proved palatable food, and he calls 

 them "fattening and wholesome for bird, beast, and 

 man." If further testimony were required, we have it 

 in the declaration of Dr. Livingstone that locusts are a 

 real blessing to the country. This eminent traveller 

 adds, besides, " that when reduced to meal and mingled 

 with a little salt, they afford palatable food, which keeps 

 uninjured for months." Boiled, he found locusts disagree- 

 able, but roasted they had a vegetable flavour, and on 

 the whole he preferred them to shrimps. 



On the other hand, we must not forget that Diodorus 

 Siculus says that the Acridophagi, or locust-eaters of 

 Ethiopia, fell victims to their diet at the early age of 

 forty years, innumerable insects being generated in their 

 bodies. Nevertheless, however unlikely it may be that 

 any European nation would voluntarily select such food, 

 it is abundantly clear that locusts are relished by mil- 

 lions of both Asiatics and Africans. It must be obvious, 

 also, that the judicious and economic storing of this in- 

 sect, which at certain seasons pours over two continents 

 so abundantly as to become a plague and a scourge, is a 

 fit subject to engage the attention of our philanthropists 

 abroad. 



Grasshoppers were eaten by some of the soldiers of 



