EFFECT OF NECESSITY ON DIET. 171 
feelings, that these barbarous creatures should 
thus be found trying to support existence, by 
feeding on reptiles and insects ; if, for a moment, 
our readers but reflect on the tenacity with 
which nature inherently clings to life, through- 
out all her representatives. Nor can we alto- 
gether discard their articles of diet, without 
remarking, that the blindness of prejudice, or, 
at least, the want of stimulating hunger, makes 
us, when surrounded with luxury, abundance, 
and civilization, look at such things with dis- 
gust, when necessity would oblige us to eat 
them with toleration, or even a relish. Let 
it not be supposed that we wish to advocate 
the adoption of this fare by European palates, 
but we remember well our own feelings of 
gratitude and joy, when kneeling down and 
drinking from many a muddy pool of water 
in the plains of Africa, where we had to draw 
it through our closed teeth, to avoid swal- 
lowing the countless swarms of tadpoles, ani- 
malculse, and insects which floated in it, and 
which we could see, and feel playing against our 
lips, and in our mouth, as we drank copiously of 
the refreshing beverage. We have also seen 
ladies content to use a gentleman's hat as their 
drinking goblet, when overtaken by thirst, in 
the arid mountains of the African continent. 
Necessity is a hard master ! 
