THE " GRASSHOPPERS." 



101 



to Indian corn, were several small patches of potatoes, 

 pumpkins, and squashes. An air of great neatness pre- 

 vailed over the whole of the cultivated portion of the is- 

 land, and in the part still remaining in its natural state, 

 thickets of raspberry, black currant, and gooseberry bushes 

 grew in the intervals between groves of elm, basswood, 

 and oak ; and on the sandy beach an abundance of the 

 sand cherry (Cerasus pumila), the favourite Nekaumina 

 of the Indians. Large flocks of passenger pigeons (Co- 

 lumba migratoria) flew backwards and forwards over the 

 island, occasionally alighting in dense masses in the small 

 groves. The shores were covered to the depth of two or 

 three inches with countless millions of grasshoppers, which 

 had been washed there during the gale of the preceding 

 night. The greater number of the grasshoppers were 

 alive, and as the rising sun warmed and invigorated them 

 they spread with much regularity over the field of Indian 

 corn and the potato patches ; their progress across the 

 potato patches was like that of an invading army of in- 

 sects, eating and destroying every living green thing in 

 their way. Before we left the island they had advanced, 

 here and there, some thirty or forty yards from the beach, 

 in a well defined and undulating line, leaving behind them 

 nothing but the bare and blackened stalks of the plants 

 over which they had spread themselves and destroyed. 

 By inclining the head, and seeking shelter from the wind 

 under the lee of a bush, the noise of their jaws could be 

 distinctly perceived ; and had it been calm, I have no 

 doubt it would have been heard with the greatest ease for 

 a distance of several hundred yards. The Indians had 

 seen the grasshoppers before, but never in such alarming 

 numbers ; they appeared, however, quite indifferent to 

 their progress, and quietly amused themselves as they 

 squatted or lay on the ground, by jerking the intruders 



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