VARIOUS INSECTS ?IA.TEN AS FOOD. 367 



ring o£ flame, until the luckless grasshoppers are caught 

 in the pits or roasted at the brink. Mixed with pounded 

 acorns, they constitute one of the national dishes. 



The Editor of the Empire County Argus (California) 

 describes a great dish among the Digger Indians, in the 

 districts where the grasshoppers are very numerous, and 

 gives the following account of their mode of preparing 

 the delicacy : — " A piece of ground is sought where they 

 most abound, in the centre of which an excavation is 

 made, large and deep enough to prevent the insect from 

 hopping out when once in. The entire party of Diggers, 

 old and young, male and female, then surround as much 

 of the adjoining ground as they can, and with each a 

 green bough in hand, whipping and thrashing on every 

 side, gradually approach the centre, driving the insects 

 before them in countless multitudes, till at last all, or 

 nearly all, are secured in the pit. In the meantime 

 smaller excavations are made, answering the purpose of 

 ovens, in which fires are kindled and kept up till the 

 surrounding earth, for a short distance, becomes suffi- 

 ciently heated, together with a flat stone large enough 

 to cover the oven. The grasshoppers are now 4iaken in 

 coarse bags, and after being thoroughly soaked in salt 

 water for a few moments, are emptied into the ovens and 

 closed in. Ten or fifteen minutes suffice to roast them, 

 when they are taken out and eaten without further 

 preparation, and with much apparent relish, or, as is 

 sometimes the case, reduced to powder and made into 

 soup. And having from curiosity tasted, not of the 

 soup, but of the roast, really if one could but divest him- 

 self of the idea of eating an insect as we do an oyster or 

 shrimp, without other preparation than simple roasting, 

 they would not be considered very bad eating even by 

 more refined epicures than the Digger Indians." Grass- 

 hoppers are also pounded up with service, hawthorn 

 or other berries. The mixture is made into small cakes, 

 pressed hard and dried in the sun for future use.* 



* Report of Com. of Agriculture, 1870, p. 426, Washington. 



