1 68 Mr. smeathman’s Account of 
On the following morning, however, as I have obferved, 
they are to-be feen running upon the ground in chace of each 
. • r ■;? other 
f , f _ ... u ^ 
I haVetiot found the Africans fo ingenious in .procuring or drafting them. The/ 
J are dahteAt with a very fmall part of thofe which, at the time of fwarming, or 
rather of emigration, fall into the neighbouring waters, which they fkim off with 
calabafhes, bring large kettles full of them to their habitations, and parch them 
in iron pots over a, gentle dire, -ilirring them about as is ufually <lone in roafting 
coffee. Tn that Hate, without fauce or any other addition, they ferve them a« 
delicious food ; and they put them by hands -full into their mouths, as we do com- 
fits. I have eat'them drefied this way feveral times, and think them both delicate, 
nourifhing, and wholefome ; they are fomething fweeter, but not fo fat and cloy- 
ing as the caterpillar or maggot of the Palm-tree &nout-beetle> Curcullo Palmarum , 
which is ferved up at all the luxurious tables of Weft Indian epicures, particularly 
of, the French, as the greateil dainty of the Weflern world. 
According tc the Baron de geer, Mr. sparrman fays, that the Hoctentots 
ea^ thefe infeds, and even grow fat upon them; but does not fay what methods 
they take-to .procure or drefs them, de geer , Memoircs des Infcftes, tom. VII. p. 49. 
'(22) p^iso, de laet, marcgrave, and other writers, mention their being an 
article of diet in different parts of South America. 
(l Alia presterea ; datuf grandis fpecies Tama-ioura dicta digit! articulum adce- 
** quansV Quarura etiam dunes deffecantur et friguntur pro bono alimento.” 
juso, Hifi. Natural, lib. I. p. 9. lib. V. 291. 
(23) marcgr. Hill:. Nat. 56. 
(24) “ Penique formica hie vifuntur grandiflimiE, quas indigense vulgo come* 
4t dunt; et in foris venales habent.” de jlaet. Americas Utriufque Defcriptio, 
P- 333 * 
“ Formicas vefeebantur, eafqiie ftudiofe ad vidtum educabant. Ibid. p. 379/’ 
(25) Sir hans sloane fays, the filk-cotton-tree worm is efteemed by the Indians 
and negroes beyond marrow. This worm is no more than a large maggot, being 
the Caterpillar of a large Capricorn Beetle, or Goat Chafer : the Larva of a 
pretty large Cerambix (the Lamia L'ribulus of fabricius) which is alfo brought 
from Africa, where I have eaten thofe worms roafted. This infed is raofl: pro- 
bably to be found in all countries where the filk-cotton-tree ( Bombax ) is indi- 
genous, sloane’s Jamaica, vol. II, p. 193, 
I have 
