180 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 
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vises; for one that came on board us a hundred certainly were drowned, 
We observe in the months of May and June a number of these insects 
coming from the south, and directing their course to the northern shore; 
they darken the sky like a thick cloud; but scarcely have they quitted the 
shore, when they, who a moment before ravaged and ruined the country, 
cover the surface of the sea with their dead bodies. By what instinct do 
these creatures undertake this dangerous flight? Is it not the wise insti- 
tution of the Creator to destroy a dreadful plague to the country ?”? 
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 Sayannah, while sailing with 
a fine breeze from the south-east, was, on the 21st of Noy. 1811, all at 
once becalmed. “ A light air afterwards sprung up from the north-east, 
at which time there fell from the cloud an innumerable quantity of large 
grasshoppers, so as to coyer the deck, the tops, and every part of the ship 
they could alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted; 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 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 grey 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 themselvesin theair. The principal difficulty is, how these locusts 
could make their way against the wind, which they must haye 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- 
pelledthe ship. A similar statement is given in the /ssea (Massachusetts) 
Register, in an extract from a letter of the mate of the brig Levant of 
Boston, who writes, “that after having encountered a severe gale on the 
13th September (1839), when in lat. 18° north, and the nearest land being 
over 450 miles, they were surrounded for two days by large swarms of 
locusts of a large size ; and in the afternoon of the second day, in a squall 
from the north-west, the sky was completely black with them. They 
coyered eyery part of the brig immediately, sails, rigging, cabin, &c. tis 
1 Voyage to the Levant, 444, 
