222 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



her ; but immense numbers fell into the sea, and were seen 

 floating in masses by the sides." Two bottles of them 

 were preserved for inspection ; the insects were of a reddish 

 hue, with red and gray speckled wings. It is clear from 

 this account, if it be admitted as authentic, that locusts 

 can go far from land when the wind is strong, and likewise 

 it seems equally clear that in a calm they cannot support 

 themselves in the air. The principal difficulty is, how 

 these locusts could make their way against the wind, which 

 they must have done if they came with the black cloud, 

 as the words seem to intimate. Perhaps this cloud was 

 brought by a different current of air from that which im- 

 pelled the ship. 



With respect to the course which the locusts pursue, 

 Hasselquist has observed that they migrate in a direct 

 meridian line from south to north, passing from the deserts 

 of Arabia, which is the great cradle of them, to Palestine, 

 Syria, Carmania, Natolia, Bithynia, Constantinople, Po- 

 land, &c. — they never turn either to the east or to the 

 west a . But this must be a mistaken notion ; for those 

 which Major Moor saw at Poonah, of which I have given 

 an account above 5 , must have come due east. Mr. 

 Jackson also noticed their course north of the line to be 

 towards the south c ; and Sparrman tells us, that those 

 south of the line migrate in the same direction d . 



I fear that Hasselquist's question, Could they not by 

 fright, or some other method, be turned from their dread- 

 ful course, to steer for some river, and by that means be 

 obliged to destroy themselves e ? must be answered in the 



a Voyage to the Levant, p. 446-7. b See p. 210. 



c Travels, 54. d Travels, i. 36G„ 



e Travels, 455, 



