# Works of Jules Verne/Five Weeks in a Balloon/Chapter 40

CHAPTER XL STILL TO THE SOUTH
The course of the river was divided by large islands, and in those narrow branches it ran with a swift current. On one of these islets some shepherds' huts were erected, but it was impossible to take the exact bearings, for the speed of the "Victoria" kept increasing. Unfortunately it inclined more to the south, and very soon passed over Lake Debo.
Ferguson sought for other currents at different elevations, but in vain. So he abandoned the attempt, which had still more diminished the gas, as the dilation pressed it against the failing envelope of the balloon.
He said nothing, but began to feel very uneasy. The obstinate wind blowing to the south had overturned all his calculations. He did not know what to think. If he did not reach English or French territory, what would become of them in the midst of the barbarians infesting the coast of Guinea? How could they obtain a vessel to take them thence to England? And the actual direction of the wind was hurrying them towards the kingdom of Dahomey, amongst the most savage tribes, at the mercy of a king who, at public displays, sacrifices thousands of human victims. There they would be lost.
On the other hand, the balloon was rapidly falling, and the doctor felt it. However, the weather cleared a little, and he hoped that the termination of the rain would bring about a change in the atmospheric currents.
​He was disagreeably reminded of the circumstance by Joe saying:
"Well, the rain is heavy enough, but this time there is going to be a deluge, if we may judge by the cloud now approaching us."
"Another cloud!" said Ferguson.
"A regular big fellow this time," replied Kennedy.
"I have never seen such a one," replied Joe; "it seems to have been laid out with rule and line."
"I can breathe again," replied the doctor, putting down the telescope. "It is not a cloud after all."
"What?" exclaimed Joe.
"No, it is a swarm———
"Well?"
"A swarm of locusts."
"That a swarm of locusts?"
"Yes, of millions of locusts, which pass over the ground like a waterspout, and very unfortunately for the district, for if they alight it will be devastated."
"I should like to see that."
"Just wait a little, Joe; in ten minutes we shall have met the cloud, and then you can judge for yourself."
Ferguson was right; this thick cloud, extending for many miles, came upon them with a deafening noise, casting an immense shadow on the ground. It proved to be an innumerable host of those grasshoppers known as field-crickets. At a hundred paces from the "Victoria" they alighted upon a green expanse; a quarter of an hour later the mass again took flight, and the travelers could then perceive that the trees and bushes were completely stripped—the fields looked as if they had been mown. Not even a severe winter could do more damage.
"Well, Joe?"
"Well, sir, it is extraordinary, but quite natural. Though the locust is small, the numbers make him important."
"It is a terrible calamity—worse than hail in its effects," said Kennedy.
"And it is impossible to guard against them," said Ferguson. "The natives sometimes have conceived the idea of burning the forests, even the crops, in order to arrest the flight of these insects; but the leading files flew ​into the flames and actually extinguished them by mere force of numbers, so that the rest passed in safety. Happily, in these countries, there is a compensation for their ravages—the natives catch and eat them with avidity."
"They are the shrimps of the air, which," said Joe, "as an experience, I regret not having tasted."
The country became more swampy as they proceeded; the forest gave place to isolated miles of trees; upon the banks of the river they perceived some tobacco plantations, and marshes thick with grass. On a large island was the town of Jeuné, with the two towers of its mosque built of mud, which gave harbor to hundreds of swallows, whose nests exhaled a most unpleasant smell. The tops of trees appeared between the houses, and even during the night the town seemed very busy. Jeuné is really a very industrious town, and furnishes Timbuctoo with all its needs; its boats and its caravans transport thither the various productions of its industry.
"If it would not have prolonged our journey too much," said the doctor, "I should have made an attempt to descend in this town. We might see more than one Arab who had traveled to France or England, and who is not unacquainted with our method of locomotion. But it would not be prudent."
"We can call again during our next excursion," said Joe, laughing.
"Besides," continued the doctor, "if I do not mistake, the wind has a tendency to blow from the east. We cannot afford to lose such a chance."
The doctor threw overboard some useless articles—empty bottles, and an old preserved meat box—he thus succeeded in raising the "Victoria" into a zone more suitable for his plans. At 4 A. M. the first rays of the sun lighted up Sego, the capital of Bambara, easily to be known by the four towns composing it, its Moorish mosques, and the continual movement of the ferry-boats used in transporting the occupants to the various quarters. But the travelers were not more seen than they themselves saw, and fled rapidly and directly to the northwest, as the doctor's fears calmed down by degrees.
"Two days more in this direction, and at this pace, will see us at the Senegal River," said he.
​"In a friendly country?" asked Kennedy.
"Not altogether; at a pinch, if the 'Victoria' fail us, we must gain some French settlement. But if we can hold on for a couple of hundred miles, we shall arrive at the east coast comfortably."
"And that will be the end of it," said Joe. "So much the worse. If it were not for the telling of it, I should never wish to put foot on earth again. Do you think people will believe us, sir?"
"Who knows, my brave Joe? However, there is one indisputable fact. Thousands of people witnessed our departure from one side of Africa, and thousands will see us descend on the other."
"In that case it will be difficult to doubt our having crossed the continent."
"Ah, sir," replied Joe, with a deep sigh, "I shall often regret that golden ore. Look what weight it would have given to our narratives. A grain of gold for each auditor, I should have had a pretty big crowd to listen to and even to admire me."
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