312 
LOCUST. 
their appearance about the end of March, and came 
in with a southerly wind. Early in April their 
numbers increased prodigiously ; and in the heat of 
the day large swarms appeared, which, according to 
Shaw, were so dense as to darken the sun. In the 
following month they retired to deposit their eggs, 
and in June the young brood was hatched, and was 
seen advancing in bodies of some hundred yards 
square. Large trenches were formed by the in- 
habitants in different parts of the fields, and filled 
with water, to stop their march, and large quan- 
tities of combustible materials were collected and 
set on fire for the same purpose ; but all was in 
vain, their progress was not to be stopped ; they 
advanced notwithstanding every obstacle, climbing 
over every barrier, and devouring every vegetable 
that came in their way. After having committed 
the greatest devastations, and having passed through 
the different states of their existence, this dreadful 
scourge left the country, and probably perished in 
the sea. 
During Mt. Barrow’s travels into the interior of 
Africa, he had more than one opportunity of ob- 
serving these voracious animals ; and what he has 
said respecting them is delivered in his usual clear 
and satisfactory manner. 
“ As we advanced to the northward,” says this 
intelligent traveller* u a curious but most deplorable 
spectacle presented itself to our observation. It was 
a troop of locusts resting upon the ground. The 
space they covered was about one square mile in 
