310 
LOCUST. 
swarm was several hundred fathoms, and its den- 
sity so great that it hid the sun, and darkened the 
sky to that degree that when it was but a little way 
from the ground the people could hardly distin- 
guish each other at the distance of twenty paces. 
Being at length tired with their flight, one part of 
them alighted on some unripe corn, while another 
took possession of a wood, and having miserably 
wasted the produce of the land, they continued 
their journey as if a signal had actually been given 
for a march. Phe guards stationed at the Red 
Tower attempted to stop their flight into Transyl- 
vania by firing at them : and where the balls and 
shot swept through the swarm, they gave way ; but 
having filled up their ranks in a moment, they pio- 
ceeded on their journey. In the month of Sep- 
tember some troops ot them were thrown to the 
ground by heavy rains and inclement weather. 
These were miserably soaked, and were seen creep- 
ing along in quest of holes in the earth, dung, and 
straw ; where being sheltered from the wet they 
laid a great number of eggs which stuck together, 
and were longer and smaller than what is com- 
monly called an ant’s egg : vast numbers of these 
eggs were afterwards turned up and crushed by the 
plough. 
In the spring of 1748, little blackish worms were 
seen lying in the fields and among the bushes, 
sticking together and collected in clusters, not un- 
like the hillocks of moles or ants. It appears that 
the inhabitants, not knowing what they were, dis- 
