INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



193 



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 Savan- 

 nah, while sailing with a fine breeze from the south-east, was, 

 on the 21st of ^^ov. 1811, all at once becalmed. " A light 

 air afterwards sprang up from the north-east, at which time 

 there fell from the cloud an innumerable 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 ap- 

 pear in the least exhausted; on the contrary, when an at- 

 tempt 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 sur- 

 round 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." Tavo 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 dif- 

 ferent current of air from that which impelled the shijD. 

 A similar statement is given in the Essex (Massachusetts) 

 Register in an extract from a letter of the mate of the 

 brig Levant of Boston, who writes, "that after having en- 

 countered a severe gale on the 13th September (1839), when 

 VOL. I. o 



