November. near Senegal, is peitered with them. In fo ihort a fpace o f time as between the evening and midnight, they have been known to form a vault or covered way of earth or clay, which' they have gone in queft of and prepared themfelves, as other obfervers have remarked. This arched way reached from the floor of M. A d a n s o n ’s chamber to the head of his bed, (fee his Voyage au Senegal.') They moreover not only began to cut his iheet and mattrefs in pieces, but even had the impudence to fall foul on M. A d a n s o n himfelf. A Hottentot with a good appetite, would here have had a fair opportunity o f putting in execution the lex lalionis The locufts, likewife, fometimes afford a high treat to the more unpolifhed and remote hordes o f the Hottentots; when, as fometimes happens, after an interval o f eighth ten, fifteen, or twenty years, they make their appearance in incredible numbers. At thefe times they come from the north, migrating to the fouthwaid, and do not fuffer themfelves to be impeded by any obftacles, but fly boldly on, and are drowned in the fea whenever they come to it. The females o f this race o f infeds, which are moil apt to migrate, and are chiefly eaten, are faid not to be able to fly; partly by reafon o f the ihortnefs of their wings, and partly on account o f their being heavy and diilended with eg gs ; and ftiortly after they have laid thefe in the fand they are faid to die. It is particularly of thefe that the Hottentots are faid to make a brown coffee-coloured foup, which, at the fame time, acquires from the eggs a 2 m0rC CifCUm“ “ d corn- fat fat and greafy appearance. Several different people agreed w - in giving me this account, and at the fame time informed me, that the Hottentots were highly rejoiced at the arrival of thefe locufts, though they are fure to deftroy every bit o f verdure on the ground : but the Hottentots make themfelves ample amends for this lofs, by falling foul on the animals themfelves, eating them in fuch quantities as, in the fpace o f a few days, to get vifibly fatter and in better condition than before. My hoft in particular informed me, that being one locuft-year on a hunting expedition on the other fide of Vi/cli-river, the Hottentots in thofe parts explained the abundance o f thefe infeits as proceeding from feme great majler conjuror a good way to the northward, having removed a ftone from the mouth o f a certain deep pit, out of which he had let loofe thefe animals, in order to be food for them. The intentions o f nature, however, in the production o f locufts, is hardly anijvered, by their fometimes ferving to fatten a few Hottentots. But I over-ran too haftily the very extenfive tracts compofing the feuthem promontory o f this quarter o f the globe, to be able to point out with any degree o f certainty, any other ufes accruing from the migration of the locufts thither in fuch great numbers. I will venture, however, to throw out a conjecture, which, at leaft, can do no harm ; namely, that according to all accounts, wherever the fwarms of locufts alight, the vegetables are femetimes entirely confumed and deftroyed, appearing as if they had been burnt up by fire. Perhaps, the ufe o f thefe creatures is the fame with that o f fire, which latter is applied by the colonifts and Hottentots to the purpofe o f clearing their
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