LOCUSTS AND CATERPII^ARS AS FOOD. 33 



attending upon the sick and prescribing for them, giving 

 food and otherwise assisting the poor and wretched. We 

 tried to gain their affections by attending to the wants of 

 the body. The smallest acts of friendship, an obliging 

 word and civil look, are, as St. Xavier thought, no de- 

 spicable part of the missionary armour. Nor ought the 

 good opinion of the most abject to be uncared for, when 

 politeness may secure it. Their good word in the aggregate 

 forms a reputation which may be well employed in pro- 

 curing favour for the Gospel. Show kind attention to the 

 reckless opponents of Christianity on the bed of sickness and 

 pain, and they never can become your personal enemies. 

 Here, if anywhere, love begets love. 



When at Kolobeng, during the droughts we were entirely 

 dependent on Kuruman for supplies of corn. Once we 

 w T ere reduced to living on bran, to convert which into fine 

 meal we had to grind it three times over. We were much 

 in want of animal food, which seems to be a greater neces- 

 sary of life there than vegetarians would imagine. Being 

 alone, we could not divide the butcher-meat of a 

 slaughtered animal with a prospect of getting a return with 

 regularity. Sechele had by right of chieftainship the 

 breast of every animal slaughtered either at home or 

 abroad, and he most obligingly sent us a liberal share 

 during the whole period of our sojourn. But these sup- 

 plies were necessarily so irregular, that we were sometimes 

 fain to accept a dish of locusts. These are quite a blessing 

 in the country ; so much so, that the rain-doctors some- 

 times promised to bring them by their incantations. The 

 locusts are strongly vegetable in taste, the flavour varying 

 with the plants on which they feed. There is a physio- 

 logical reason why locusts and honey should be eaten 

 together. Some are roasted and pounded into meal, which 

 eaten with a little salt is palatable. It will keep thus for 

 months. Boiled they are disagreeable ; but when they are 

 roasted, I should much prefer locusts to shrimps, though I 

 would avoid both if possible. 



In travelling we sometimes suffered considerably from 

 scarcity of meat, though not from absolute want of food. 

 This was felt more especially by my children ; and the 

 natives, to show their sympathy, often gave them a large 

 kind of caterpillar, which they seemed to relish ; these 

 insects could not be unwholesome, for the natives devoured 

 them in large quantities themselves. 



D 



