314 
LOCUST. 
side of the Sea-cow river, and eighty or ninety 
miles in length, an area of sixteen or eighteen 
hundred square miles, the whole surface of the 
ground might literally be said to be covered with 
them. The water of the river was scarcely visible 
on account of the dead carcases that floated on the 
surface, which had perished in the attempt to de- 
vour the reeds that were growing in the water. 
They had completely destroyed every herb and 
every blade of grass ; and had it not been for the 
insulated reeds, on which our cattle entirely sub- 
sisted while we skirted the banks of the river, our 
journey must have been discontinued, at least in 
the line that had been proposed, for want of food 
for our horses and cattle. The larvae, as generally 
is the case in this class of insects, are much more 
voracious than the perfect animal; nothing is re- 
jected by them that belongs to the vegetable part 
of the creation. They swarmed in thousands into 
our tent to devour the crumbs of bread that fell on 
the ground, and seized with avidity on a mutton 
bone. They are not, however, without a choice in 
their food. When they attack a field of corn just 
stricken into the ear, they first mount to the sum- 
mit, and pick out every grain, before they touch 
the leaves and stem. In such a state it is lamenta- 
ble to see the ruins of a fine field of corn. The 
insect seems constantly to be in motion, and to have 
some object in view. When on a march, during 
the day it is utterly impossible to turn the direction 
of a troop, which is generally the same as that 
