The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1871-05-18

antiquity; the Arabs mix them with
dough, and make excellent cakes of
them. The Hottentots get fat upon
them, and prepare from their eggs a
brown or coffee colored soup. In the
Mahratta country they are salted, and
in Barbary they are preferred by the
Moors to pigeons. The latter usually
boil them in water for half an hour,
throwing away the head, and wings
and legs; sprinkling them with salt and
pepper, and frying them, adding little
vinegar. At Natal, the locusts are col
lected in the evening in sacks by mil
lions, and afterwards steamed in close
vessels over a fire, then dried in the
sunshine, and after being freed from
their legs and wings by kind of win
moving, are stored in baskets in the gra-
naries like corn. The dried locust is
ground to powder between stones, and
converted into kind of porridge with
water. 1t appears that the Kaffirs grow
quite fat in the locust season. DR.. Liv-
ingstone tells us, in his South African
travels, that for want of other food, he
was compelled to eat locusts; and,
strange to say, when roasted, he pre-
ferred them to shrimpsl
Some entomologist tells us that cater
pillars have taste of almonds, and spi-
ders of nuts. However this may be as
regards the former, we are told by Sped
man that large quantities of spiders,
nearly an inch long, were eaten by the
Kaffirs, and in the French colony of New
Caledonia. In Europe there are in
stances of spiders exciting kind OF
nd eta
stance of young lady who never saw
spider without catching it and eating it.
A clever woman-Anna Maria Schur-
man-used to eat spiders like nuts, as
regards the cracking process, and ex-
cused her propensity by saying that she
was born under the sign Scorpio. La
lande, the famous astronomer, was par
ticularly fond of spider food; and Ger
man is mentioned by Rozel, who used to
spread spiders upon bread and butter,
observing, in his imperfect knowledge of
English, that he found them very use
full"
Humboldt tells us that he has seen
Indian children drag out Of the earth
centipedes eighteen inches long, and
more than half en- inch broad, which
they ate with eagerness. Insects eggs
are eaten by the Arabs and Mexicans !;
grubs of insects in the West Indies by
both black and white men, who wash
and roast them. The Mexican Indians
prepare a liquor from the beetle, which
has stimulating properties.
The Greeks ate grasshoppers, and
liked them amazingly; the aborigines
of New South Wales used to eat them
raw, first taking off their wings. The
Chinese thriftily eat the chrysalis of the
silk worm, after making use of the silk /:
the larvae of hawk moth are also much
relished. The blacks in jamaica eat the
Bagong butterflies after removing the
wings, and store them up by pounding
and smoking them. The Hottentots eat
the termites, or white ants, boiled and
raw, and thrive we'll upon them-the
female ant in particular is supposed by
the Hindoos to be particularly nutri-
tious; and Broughton in his Letters
written i'll Mahratta Camp in 1909"
tells us that they were carefully sought
after, and preserved for the use of the
debilitated Lurjee Rao, Prime Minister
of Scindia, chief Of the Mahrattas. The
natives mix them with flour, and make
variety of pastry the method is to
parch them in pots over gentle fire,
stirring them about as is done in roast
ing coffee. They eat them by handfuls,
as we do comiits the taste is said to re-
semble sugared cream, or sweet almond
paste. 81 have discoursed with several
gentlemen" observes Smeathman, "up-
on the taste of the white ants, and on
comparing notes we have always agreed
that they are most delicious and delicate
eating" DR.. Livingstone says "the
white ants, when roasted, are said to be
good, and somewhat resemble grains of
boiled rice"
Humboldt mentions ants as being eat
en- by the Marivitunos and Marguera-
tares, with resin as sauce. Bees are
eaten in Ceylon 1t is probably bad
taste to allude to the mites that we con-
sumo in our cheese in myriads. The
grub of the palm-weevil, which is the
size of a thumb, is favorite dish in
some parts Of India. IElian relates OF
an Indian king, who for dessert, in
stead of fruit, set before his guests a
roasted worm taken from plant (prob-
ably the larva of this insect, which was
thought very delicious.