[ P L & T l SKOO.
B V B N I N G SCEKB ON THE DMSOHOTI BIVKE,
ic elephant Uronses iii
rivcr-)ionie gntnboU u
:o ill liis nood,
•A ii. tlic HooJ."
THK Umiionoti is a small yet picturesque river, full of deep ponds and rocky hollows, which flows through a
remarkably rich country hetweeu the Umvoti and the Túgala. The accompanying sketch was taken at evening, when
a mellow and ploasaut light spreads over the Africau landscape. Some hippopotami, or river-hoi-ses ("sea-cow" of the
colonists), are splashing in the still water of the pools; the luxuriant foliage along the banks of the river is unshaken
by a breath of ^^•¡Ilcl, and the leaves hang silently in the sultry air.
It was on the banl<s of a similar stream, farther up the coast, that I had the opportunity of witnessing one of those
vast flights of locusts that at certain seasons visit this poi-tion of Africa.
My Journal, Sept. 12th, s a y s " We slept at a kraal near a river deeply shaded by spreading mimosa-trees. In
the morning, which was very bi'illianl, I was astonished, on going outside the kraal, to see the entire Iaudscai>e of a
puiplbih bfown colour—there were no green trees visible, no grass, no tobacco-plants, or shoots of young raaize—all
was wrapped, as it were, by a thick mantle of insect life—locusts were in every direction, in myriads, in countless millions.
Tlie mimosa-trees that on the previous evening looked so fresh and green, were now of the same uniform puri>lish colour
that pervaded the whole scene, and their boughs drooped beneath the weight of locusts that was upon them. Every step
I took I crushed numbers; they lay several inches deep upon the ground, and the Kafir children were employed in
gathering them for the puqiose of food, impaling them on twigs, which they roasted over a fire. In the brightness of
the early moraiug they were all still, but as the sun rose higher, and the locust.s began-to move, the air was filled with
them, so that they bore some resemblance to a snow-storm, with the sunlight shining on theLi- wings. As we rode forwards
they nearly blinded ns by flutteiing against our faces, and our horses trampled down multitudes iit every step. Througli this
dense cloud of locusts the sun looke<l dim, as thi'ough a heavy fall of snow, and this phenomenon continued for a distance
of three miles." llie locust was a small species, about three inches long, of a purplish bi'own coloui-, and the wings tinged
at their insertions with a pale pink