Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1883-01-03

| ling the true chime
OF the good time.
Ring loud and clear
For this new year
L0custs and Wild Honey.
There are few sights at which the trav
eler in South Africa is more surprised
than at flight of locusts. A full grown
locust is from three to nearly five inches
in length, and looks like a giant grass
hopper in fact, our common grasshoppel
belongs to the true locust family. The
body is gaily tinted. and the insect is very
pretty. Its powerful jaws or nippers are
we'll fitted for a vegetable feeder; these
jaws will cut through stout leaves like
razora, and ! have found locust able to
draw blood from my fingers by his bite.
There are many birds which follow a
flight of locusts just as hyenas will hang
about herd of antelope Some of these
birds are termed the locust bird, because
they seem to live on nothing else, and are
always seen flying about after them. Cat
tie eat locusts freely so also will antelopes.
The bushman, too, considers them deli.
cacy: and, from personal experience,
can affirm that grilled locusts and wild
honey form by no means bad meal. The
/ way we cooked them was to string them
on wire, and toast them over fire,
then drop some honey on them and cat
them like shrimps.
| The largest flight of locusts we ever
saw was about 10 miles inland from
Natal. We were riding at the time and a
moderate breeze was blowing. As we
rode onward we saw cloud in front of
us, looking like snow storm; it was SO
dense that it quite obstructed our view of
distant objects, and at first we thought it
was a very heavy hail storm or thunder
shower, but, us we rode toward it we saw
some OF the advanced guard coming down
on the ground, and then we found we
were approaching flight of locusts.
This flight, as far rs we could Judge,
was four or five miles in breadth, and
was about one hundred and fifty yards
in height; the locusts were so close
to each other that with their irregular
flight they frequently knocked against
each other and fell to the ground. Hun
dreds and thousands were on the ground
and rose in wild guideless course as we
rode over them, but as they were flying in
the opposite direction to that in which we
were riding they struck against our horses
head, and so annoyed him that he would
not face them, and actually turned his
back on these pigmies. As for ourselves,
we were struck over the face and ears by
the creatures, and had to protect our eyes
with our hands TO prevent being blinded
by successive blows in the eyes from these
reckless insects. AS we stood with our
back to the storm of insects, we could
compare it TO nothing but Il tremendous
snow storm, where each flake of snow is
represented by "A locust they must have
been in millions, as the flight was quite
half mile deep. The ground little in
advance, and on which the flight had
settled, was almost bare, the grass was
nearly all eaten, and the trees were
denuded of leaves.
When a flight of locusts settles any.
where, those who are behind soon clear
off all the vegetation, and finding it USE
less to follow where others have eaten,
they fly off, usually going in the same
direction as that in which the wind is
blowing. They soon alight and commence
feeding again, whilst those left behind
soon clear the ground and adopt the same
plan. If the weather is very calm and
the vegetation plentiful, the locusts will
stop several days in the same locality, but
if much wind is blowing they are soon off
to distant feeding grounds. A severe
storm of hail is fatal, and destroys them
in millions. Heaps of dead locusts are
often seen after a storm, which are of
such size that it is impossible to remain in
their neighborhood in consequence of the
smell. Locusts and wild honey |
were the food of the ancient people in the
east, and in our memory the two sand |
together.
Let us quit this land of ours and fly off
to the far south of Africa; let us clothe
in pair of rough leather shoes,
a dark flannel shirt, cast off our coat, arm
ourselves with trusty donble-barreled
rifle, call our trusty Catfre servant to
follow us, and off to a day in the bush.
ration beef, followed by ration beef, and
again by beef. tires us. Now in yonder
long line of forests there are buck;
beautiful, graceful antelope are these buck,
some species not larger than a bare, and
very good eating, others rs tall as dom
key and dangerous when wounded. Even
more noble game may be encountered
here; leopards prowl about in this
forest, buffalo lurk in the secluded glens,
and even the monarch of the forest,
he lordly elephant treads on his silent
march at certain periods of the year,
over the ground we are bound for. But
what has our Caffre with him9 lie has II
wallet on his back and in that he has a
number of wooden pegs and hammer.
What can these be for? We shall see.
Now we enter the forest, not by "A beaten
rack made by vehicles, or even by man,
out we follow game path, a track made
)y buffalo or antelope, when they leave the
lark mazes of the forest to Craze for q
while on the open plains. Up this path
We walk with care, slowly and stealthily,
or the game we are in pursuit OF seeks to
protect itself by means of watchfulness,
ind all bush animals have very delicate
organs of hearing.
An antelope is seen; it has heard somo-
hing that alarms it, but it is rs vet
of the direction from which
langer comes. Its hesitation is fatal;
,ullet leaves the rifle, and the buck falls
lead. The Caffre carefully cleans the
Inimal, and then with knowing look,
points to distant tree and says honey is
hereP Well, a Caffre's eyes are every
where, and as we walked through the bush,
he man saw bee; this bee on being
alarmed, flew off in the direction of tho
rec. Soon after, another bee was seen,
md this also flew off in the same direction;
consequently the Caffre sees the direction
AIKEN by each bee, and finds these M eet at
he tree that he sees in the distancg. lie
hen concludes that in that tree is the 1