Popular Adventure Tales Part 54

CHAPTER IV.

A TALK ABOUT LOCUSTS.

It was a night of anxiety in the kraal of the field-cornet. Should the wind veer round to the west, to a certainty the locusts would cover his land in the morning, and the result would be the total destruction of his crops. Perhaps worse than that. Perhaps the whole vegetation around--for fifty miles or more--might be destroyed; and then how would his cattle be fed? It would be no easy matter even to save their lives.

They might perish before he could drive them to any other pasturage!

Such a thing was by no means uncommon or improbable. In the history of the Cape colony many a boer had lost his flocks in this very way. No wonder there was anxiety that night in the kraal of the field-cornet.

At intervals Von Bloom went out to ascertain whether there was any change in the wind. Up to a late hour he could perceive none. A gentle breeze still blew from the north--from the great Kalihari desert--whence, no doubt, the locusts had come. The moon was bright, and her light gleamed over the host of insects that darkly covered the plain. The roar of the lion could be heard mingling with the shrill scream of the jackal and the maniac laugh of the hyena. All these beasts, and many more, were enjoying a plenteous repast.

Perceiving no change in the wind, Von Bloom became less uneasy, and they all conversed freely about the locusts. Swartboy took a leading part in this conversation, as he was better acquainted with the subject than any of them. It was far from being the first flight of locusts Swartboy had seen, and many a bushel of them had he eaten. It was natural to suppose, therefore, that he knew a good deal about them.

He knew not whence they came. That was a point about which Swartboy had never troubled himself. The learned Hans offered an explanation of their origin.

"They come from the desert," said he. "The eggs from which they are produced, are deposited in the sands or dust; where they lie until rain falls, and causes the herbage to spring up. Then the locusts are hatched, and in their first stage are supported upon this herbage. When it becomes exhausted, they are compelled to go in search of food. Hence these 'migrations,' as they are called."

This explanation seemed clear enough.

"Now I have heard," said Hendrik, "of farmers kindling fires around their crops to keep off the locusts. I can't see how fires would keep them off--not even if a regular fence of fire were made all round a field. These creatures have wings, and could easily fly over the fires."

"The fires," replied Hans, "are kindled, in order that the smoke may prevent them from alighting; but the locusts to which these accounts usually refer are without wings, called _voetgangers_ (foot-goers). They are, in fact, the _larvae_ of these locusts, before they have obtained their wings. These have also their migrations, that are often more destructive than those of the perfect insects, such as we see here. They proceed over the ground by crawling and leaping like gra.s.shoppers; for, indeed, they are gra.s.shoppers--a species of them. They keep on in one direction, as if they were guided by instinct to follow a particular course. Nothing can interrupt them in their onward march unless the sea or some broad and rapid river. Small streams they can swim across; and large ones, too, where they run sluggishly; walls and houses they can climb--even the chimneys--going straight over them; and the moment they have reached the other side of any obstacle, they continue straight onward in the old direction.

"In attempting to cross broad rapid rivers, they are drowned in countless myriads, and swept off to the sea. When it is only a small migration, the farmers sometimes keep them off by means of fires, as you have heard. On the contrary, when large numbers appear, even the fires are of no avail."

"But how is that, brother?" inquired Hendrik. "I can understand how fires would stop the kind you speak of, since you say they are without wings. But since they are so, how do they get through the fires? Jump them?"

"No, not so," replied Hans. "The fires are built too wide and large for that."

"How then, brother?" asked Hendrik. "I'm puzzled."

"So am I," said little Jan.

"And I," added Truey.

"Well, then," continued Hans, "millions of the insects crawl into the fires and put them out!"

"Ho!" cried all in astonishment. "How? Are they not burned?"

"Of course," replied Hans. "They are scorched and killed--myriads of them quite burned up. But their bodies crowded thickly on the fires choke them out. The foremost ranks of the great host thus become victims, and the others pa.s.s safely across upon the holocaust thus made.

So you see, even fires cannot stop the course of the locusts when they are in great numbers.

"In many parts of Africa, where the natives cultivate the soil, as soon as they discover a migration of these insects, and perceive that they are heading in the direction of their fields and gardens, quite a panic is produced among them. They know that they will lose their crops to a certainty, and hence dread a visitation of locusts as they would an earthquake, or some other great calamity."

"We can well understand their feelings upon such an occasion," remarked Hendrik, with a significant look.

"The flying locusts," continued Hans, "seem less to follow a particular direction than their larvae. The former seem to be guided by the wind.

Frequently this carries them all into the sea, where they perish in vast numbers. On some parts of the coast their dead bodies have been found washed back to land in quant.i.ties incredible. At one place the sea threw them upon the beach, until they lay piled up in a ridge four feet in height, and fifty miles in length! It has been a.s.serted by several well-known travellers that the effluvium from this ma.s.s tainted the air to such an extent that it was perceived one hundred and fifty miles inland!"

"Heigh!" exclaimed little Jan. "I didn't think anybody had so good a nose."

At little Jan's remark there was a general laugh. Von Bloom did not join in their merriment. He was in too serious a mood just then.

"Papa," inquired little Truey, perceiving that her father did not laugh, and thinking to draw him into the conversation,--"Papa! were these the kind of locusts eaten by John the Baptist when in the desert? His food, the Bible says, was 'locusts and wild honey.'"

"I believe these are the same," replied the father.

"I think, papa," modestly rejoined Hans, "they are not exactly the same, but a kindred species. The locust of Scripture was the true _Gryllus migratorius_, and different from those of South Africa, though very similar in its habits. But," continued he, "some writers dispute that point altogether. The Abyssinians say that it was beans of the locust-tree, and not insects, that were the food of St. John."

"What is your own opinion, Hans?" inquired Hendrik, who had a great belief in his brother's book-knowledge.

"Why, I think," replied Hans, "there need be no question about it. It is only torturing the meaning of a word to suppose that St. John ate the locust fruit, and not the insect. I am decidedly of opinion that the latter is meant in Scripture; and what makes me think so is, that these two kinds of food, 'locusts and wild honey,' are often coupled together, as forming at the present time the subsistence of many tribes who are denizens of the desert. Besides, we have good evidence that both were used as food by desert-dwelling people in the days of Scripture. It is, therefore, but natural to suppose that St. John, when in the desert, was forced to partake of this food; just as many a traveller of modern times has eaten of it when crossing the deserts that surround us here in South Africa.

"I have read a great many books about locusts," continued Hans; "and now that the Bible has been mentioned, I must say for my part, I know no account given of these insects so truthful and beautiful as that in the Bible itself. Shall I read it, papa?"

"By all means, my boy," said the field-cornet, rather pleased at the request which his son had made, and at the tenor of the conversation.

Little Truey ran into the inner room and brought out an immense volume bound in gemsbok skin, with a couple of bra.s.s clasps upon it to keep it closed. This was the family Bible; and here let me observe, that a similar book may be found in the house of nearly every boer, for these Dutch colonists are a Protestant and Bible-loving people--so much so, that they think nothing of going a hundred miles, four times in the year, to attend the _nacht-maal_, or sacramental supper! What do you think of that?

Hans opened the volume, and turned at once to the book of the prophet Joel. From the readiness with which he found the pa.s.sage, it was evident he was well acquainted with the book he held in his hands.

He read as follows:

"A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong: there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations. A fire devoureth before them, and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as hors.e.m.e.n, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining. How do the beasts groan! the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate."

Even the rude Swartboy could perceive the poetic beauty of this description.

But Swartboy had much to say about the locusts, as well as the inspired Joel.

Thus spoke Swartboy:--

"Bushman no fear da springhaan. Bushman hab no garden--no maize--no buckwheat--no nothing for da springhaan to eat. Bushman eat locust himself--he grow fat on da locust. Ebery thing eat dem dar springhaan.

Ebery thing grow fat in da locust season. Ho! den for dem springhaan!"

These remarks of Swartboy were true enough. The locusts are eaten by almost every species of animal known in South Africa. Not only do the _carnivora_ greedily devour them, but also animals and birds of the game kind--such as antelopes, partridges, guinea-fowls, bustards, and, strange to say, the giant of all--the huge elephant--will travel for miles to overtake a migration of locusts! Domestic fowls, sheep, horses, and dogs, devour them with equal greediness. Still another strange fact--the locusts eat one another! If any one of them gets hurt, so as to impede his progress, the others immediately turn upon him and eat him up!

The Bushmen and other native races of Africa submit the locusts to a process of cookery before eating them; and during the whole evening Swartboy had been engaged in preparing the bagful which he had collected. He "cooked" them thus:--

He first boiled, or rather steamed them, for only a small quant.i.ty of water was put into the pot. This process lasted two hours. They were then taken out, and allowed to dry; and after that shaken about in a pan, until all the legs and wings were broken off from the bodies. A winnowing process--Swartboy's thick lips acting as a fan--was next gone through; and the legs and wings were thus got rid of. The locusts were then ready for eating.

A little salt only was required to render them more palatable, when all present made trial of, and some of the children even liked them. By many, locusts prepared in this way are considered quite equal to shrimps!

Sometimes they are pounded when quite dry into a sort of meal, and with water added to them, are made into a kind of stirabout.

When well dried, they will keep for a long time; and they frequently form the only store of food which the poorer natives have to depend upon for a whole season.

Among many tribes--particularly among those who are not agricultural--the coming of the locusts is a source of rejoicing. These people turn out with sacks, and often with pack-oxen to collect and bring them to the villages; and on such occasions vast heaps of them are acc.u.mulated and stored, in the same way as grain!

Conversing of these things the night pa.s.sed on until it was time for going to bed. The field-cornet went out once again to observe the wind; and then the door of the little kraal was closed, and the family retired to rest.