224 The Rocky Mountain Locust. 



and jolly negress — took part in the operations ; how, when 

 the different dishes were neatly served upon the table and 

 were freely partaken of with evident relish and many 

 expressions of surprise and satisfaction by the ladies and 

 gentlemen interested, this same cook was actually induced 

 to try them and soon grew eloquent in their favor ; how, 

 finally, a prominent banker, as also one of the editors of 

 the town, joined in the meal. The soup soon vanished, 

 and banished silly prejudice ; then cakes with batter 

 enough to hold the locusts together disappeared, and were 

 pronounced good ; then baked locusts with or without 

 condiments ; and when the meal was completed with 

 dessert of baked locusts and honey a la John the Baptist, 

 the opinion was unanimous that that distinguished prophet 

 no longer deserved our sympathy, and that he had not 

 fared badly on his diet in the wilderness. Prof. H. H. 

 Straight, at the time connected with the Warrensburg 

 (Mo.) Normal School, who made some experiments for me 

 in this line, wrote: "We boiled them rather slowly for 

 three or four hours, seasoned the fluid with a little butter, 

 salt and pepper, and it made an excellent soup, actually; 

 would like to have it even in prosperous times." Mrs. 

 Johonnot, who was at the time an invalid, and Prof. 

 Johonnot, the then Principal of the school, pronounced it 

 excellent. 



I sent a bushel of the scalded insects to Mr. Jno. Bonnet, 

 one of the oldest and best known caterers of St. Louis. 

 Master of the mysteries of the cuisine, he made a soup 

 which was really delicious, and was so pronounced by 

 dozens of prominent St. Louisans who tried it. Shaw, in 

 his Travels in Barbary (Oxford, England, 1738), in which 

 two pages are devoted to a description of the ravages of 

 locusts, mentions that they are sprinkled with salt and 

 fried, when they taste like crawfish ; and Mr. Bonnet 



