other useful things, so that we could occasionally get some assistance from them.

After several years of drought, we had, in the early part of 1826, been blessed with plentiful rains, and the earth was speedily covered with verdure; but our hopes of abundance were soon cut off by swarms of locusts, which infested every part of the country, devouring every species of vegetation. They had not been seen for more than twenty years before, but have never entirely left the country since. They might be seen passing over like an immense cloud, extending from the earth to a considerable height, producing, with their wings, a great noise. They always proceed nearly in the direction of the wind, those in advance descending to eat any thing they light upon, and rising in the rear, as the cloud advances. "They have no king, but they go forth, all of them, by bands," and are gathered together in one place in the evening, where they rest, and from their immense numbers they weigh down the shrubs, and lie at times one on the other, to the depth of several inches. In the morning when the sun begins to diffuse warmth, they take wing, leaving a large extent without one vestige of verdure; even the plants and shrubs are barked. Wherever they halt for the night, or alight during the day, they become a prey to other animals, and are eaten not only by beasts of prey, but by all kinds of game, serpents, lizards, and frogs. When passing through the air, kites, vultures, crows, and particularly the locust bird, as it is called, may be seen devouring them. When a swarm alights on gardens, or even fields, the crop for one season is destroyed. I have observed a field of young maize devoured in the space of two hours. They eat not only tobacco, and every thing vegetable, but also flannel and linen. The natives embrace every opportunity of gathering them, which can be done during the night. Whenever the cloud alights at a place not very distant from a town, the inhabitants turn out with sacks, and often with pack-oxen, gather loads, and return the next day with millions.

It has happened that in gathering them, individuals have been bitten by serpents, and on one occasion a woman had been travelling several miles with a large bundle of locusts on her head, when a serpent which had been put into the sack with them, found its way out. The woman supposing it to be a thong dangling about her shoulders, laid hold of it with her hand, and feeling that it was alive, instantly precipitated both to the ground, and fled. The locusts are pre

YOUNG LOCUSTS MOST DESTRUCTIVE.

299

pared for eating, by simple boiling, or rather steaming, as they are put into a large pot with a little water, and covered closely up; after boiling for a short time, they are taken out and spread on mats in the sun to dry, when they are winnowed, something like corn, to clear them of their legs and wings; and when perfectly dry, are put into sacks, or laid upon the house floor in a heap. The natives eat them whole, adding a little salt when they can obtain it; or they pound them in a wooden mortar, and when they have reduced them to something like meal, they mix them with a little water, and make a kind of cold stir-about.

When locusts abound, the natives become quite fat, and would even reward any old lady who said that she had coaxed them to alight within reach of the inhabitants. They are, on the whole, not bad food; and when hunger has made them palatable, are eaten as matter of course. When well fed they are almost as good as shrimps. There is a species not eatable, with reddish wings, rather larger than those described, and which, though less numerous, are more destructive. The exploits of these armies, fearful as they are, bear no comparison to the devastation they make before they are able to fly, in which state they are called “boyane." They receive a new name in every stage of their growth, till they reach maturity, when they are called "letsié." They never emerge from the sand, where they were deposited as eggs, till rain has fallen to raise grass for the young progeny. In their course, from which nothing can divert them, they appear like a dark red stream, extending often. more than a mile broad; and from their incessant hopping, the dust appears as if alive. Nothing but a broad and rapid torrent could arrest their progress, and that only by drowning them; and if one reached the opposite shore, it would keep the original direction. A small rivulet avails nothing, as they swim dexterously. A line of fire is no barrier, as they leap into it till it is extinguished, and the others walk over the dead. Walls and houses form no impediment; they climb the very chimneys, either obliquely or straight over such obstacles, just as their instinct leads them. All other earthly powers, from the fiercest lion to a marshalled army, are nothing compared with these diminutive insects. The course they have followed, is stripped of every leaf or blade of verdure. It is enough to make the inhabitants of a village turn pale to hear that they are coming in a straight line to their gardens. When a country is not extensive, and is bounded by the sea, the scourge is soon over, the winds

300

A CATTLE-HERD MURDERED.

carrying them away like clouds to the watery waste, where they alight to rise no more. Thus the immense flights which pass to the south and east, rarely return, but fresh supplies are always pouring down from the north. All human endeavours to diminish their numbers, would appear like attempting to drain the ocean by a pump.

We could not, however, feel otherwise than thankful for this visitation, on account of the poor for as many thousands of cattle had been taken from the natives, and gardens to an immense extent destroyed, many hundreds of families, but for the locusts, must have perished with hunger. It was not surprising that our scanty supplies, which we were compelled to procure from a distance, were seized by the hungry people. If our oxen or calves were allowed to wander out of sight, they were instantly stolen. One day two noted fellows from the mountains came down on a man who had the charge of our cattle, murdered him, and ran off with an ox. Some time before, the whole of our calves disappeared; two of our men went in pursuit, and found in the ruins of an old town the remains of the calves laid aside

for future use. On tracing the footmarks to a secluded spot near the river, they found the thieves, two desperate-looking characters, who, seizing their bows and poisoned arrows, dared their approach. It would have been easy for our men to have shot them on the spot, but their only object was to bring them, if possible, to the station. After adangerous scuf fle, one fled, and the other precipitated himself into a pool of water, amidst reeds, where he stood menacing the men with his drawn bow, till they at last succeeded in seizing him. He was brought to the station, with some of the meat, which, though not killed in the most delicate manner, was acceptable, and was the first veal we ever ate there; for calves are too valuable in that country to be slaughtered, not only because they perpetuate the supply of milk from the cow, but are reared to use in travelling and agriculture.

The prisoner had a most forbidding appearance, and we could not help regarding him as a being brutalized by hunger; and, in addition to a defect in vision, he looked like one capable of perpetrating any action without remorse. His replies to our queries and expostulations, were something like the growlings of a disappointed hungry beast of prey. There were no authorities in the country to which we could appeal, and the conclusion to which the people came, was to inflict a little castigation, while one of the natives was to whisper in his ear, that he must flee for his life. Seeing a

A REMARKABLE CASE.

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young man drawing near with a gun, he took to nis heels, and the man firing a charge of loose powder after him, increased his terror, and made him bound into the marsh, and flee to the opposite side, thinking himself well off to have escaped with his life, which he could not have expected from his own countrymen. He lived for a time at a neighbouring village, where he was wont to describe in graphic style his narrow escape, and how he had outrun the musket-ball. When told by some one that the gun was only to frighten him, he saw that it must have been so; he reasoned on our character, made inquiries, and, from our men sparing him in the first instance, and ourselves giving him food, and allowing him to run off after he had received a few strokes with a thong, he concluded that there must be something very merciful about our character; and at last he made his appearance again on our station. He was soon after employed as a labourer, embraced the Gospel, and has, through Divine grace, continued to make a consistent profession, and is become an example of intelligence, industry, and love.

CHAPTER XXVII.

In the end of the year 1826, having removed into our new habitation, and the state of the country being somewhat more tranquil, a journey was resolved on to the Barolongs, near the Molapo, in order to attend exclusively to the language which hitherto it had not been possible to do, owing to the succession of manual labour connected with commencing a new station, when the missionaries must be at the beginning, middle, and end of every thing. Mr. Hamilton, who felt that his advanced age was a serious barrier to his acquisition of the language, was anxious for my progress, and cheerfully undertook the entire labours of the station for a short season, preaching to the Batlapis in the neighbourhood, and keeping up public service for the few on the station. Two attempts had been previously made for this very purpose, but I had not long left the place before, in both instances, I was recalled on account of threatened attacks. As

302

AN INTERVIEW WITH LIONS.

it was taking a new position among a wild people, a brief glance at my manner of life may yield information, and interest the mind of the reader.

Having put my wagon in order, taken a driver, and a little boy as leader of the oxen, and two Barolongs, who were going to the same place, I left the station, my wife and family, for an absence of two or three months. Our journey lay over a wild and dreary country, inhabited by Balalas only, and but a sprinkling of these. On the night of the third day's journey, having halted at a pool (Khokhole,) we listened, on the lonely plain, for the sound of an inhabitant, but all was silent. We could discover no lights, and, amid the darkness were unable to trace footmarks to the pool. We let loose our wearied oxen to drink and graze, but as we were ignorant of the character of the company with which we might have to spend the night, we took a firebrand, and examined the edges of the pool to see, from the imprints, what animals were in the habit of drinking there, and, with terror, discovered many spoors of lions. We immediately collected the oxen, and brought them to the wagon, to which we fastened them with the strongest thongs we had, having discovered in their appearance something rather wild, indicating that either from scent or sight, they knew danger was near. The two Barolongs had brought a young cow with them, and though I recommended their making her fast also, they very humorously replied that she was too wise to leave the wagon and oxen, even though a lion should be scented. We took a little supper, which was followed by our evening hymn, and prayer. I had retired only a few minutes to my wagon to prepare for the night, when the whole of the oxen started to their feet.

A lion had seized the cow only a few steps from their tails, and dragged it to the distance of thirty or forty yards, where we distinctly heard it tearing the animal, and breaking the bones, while its bellowings were most pitiful. When these were over, I seized my gun, but as it was too dark to see any object at half the distance, I aimed at the spot where the devouring jaws of the lion were heard. I fired again and again, to which he replied with tremendous roars, at the same time making a rush towards the wagon, so as exceedingly to terrify the oxen. The two Barolongs engaged to take firebrands, advance a few yards, and throw them at him, so as to afford me a degree of light, that I might take aim, the place being bushy. They had scarcely discharged them from their hands, when the flame went out, and the