INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 221 



creatures undertake this dangerous flight ? Is it not the 

 wise institution of the Creator to destroy a dreadful 

 plague to the country 3 ?" Locusts however, as we have 

 seen, take much longer flights than this author supposes 

 them able to do. It is probable that their ability in this 

 respect may depend a good deal upon their species, their 

 age, and the state and direction of the wind ; for, as was 

 the case with the Egyptian plague, 



" a pitchy cloud 



Of locusts warping on the eastern wind " 



may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river, or 

 even the sea, from one country to another. This idea is 

 strongly confirmed by an account, exhibiting internal 

 marks of authenticity, which appeared in the Alexandria 

 Herald, an American newspaper ; in which it is stated, 

 that at the distance of 200 miles from the Canary Islands, 

 the nearest land, the ship Georgia, Capt. Stokes, from 

 Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing with a fine breeze from 

 the south-east, was, on the 2 1st of Nov. 1811, all at once 

 becalmed. " A light air afterwards sprang up from the 

 north-east, at which time there fell from the cloud an in- 

 numerable quantity of large grasshoppers, so as to cover 

 the deck, the tops and every part of the ship they could 

 alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhaust- 

 ed ; on the contrary, when an attempt was made to take 

 hold of them, they instantly jumped, and endeavoured 

 to elude being taken. The calm, or a very light air, lasted 

 fully an hour, and during the whole of the time these 

 insects continued to fall upon the ship and surround her : 

 such as were within reach of the vessel alighted upon 

 a Voyage to the Levant, 444. 



