And so it was. The sun had set. The cool breeze weakened the wings of the insect travellers, and they were compelled to make halt for the night upon the trees, bushes, and gra.s.s.
In a few minutes the dark mist that had hid the blue rim of the sky, was seen no more; but the distant plain looked as if a fire had swept over it. It was thickly covered with the bodies of the insects, that gave it a blackened appearance, as far as the eye could reach.
The attendant birds, perceiving the approach of night, screamed for awhile, and then scattered away through the heavens. Some perched upon the rocks, while others went to roost among the low thickets of mimosa; and now for a short interval both earth and air were silent.
Von Bloom now bethought him of his cattle. Their forms were seen afar off in the midst of the locust-covered plain.
"Let "em feed um little while, baas," suggested Swartboy.
"On what?" inquired his master. "Don"t you see the gra.s.s is covered!"
"On de springhaan demself, baas," replied the Bushman; "good for fatten big ox--better dan gra.s.s--ya, better dan _mealies_."
But it was too late to leave the cattle longer out upon the plain. The lions would soon be abroad--the sooner because of the locusts, for the king of the beasts does not disdain to fill his royal stomach with these insects--when he can find them.
Von Bloom saw the necessity of bringing his cattle at once to their kraal.
A third horse was saddled, which the field-cornet himself mounted, and rode off, followed by Hendrik and Swartboy.
On approaching the locusts they beheld a singular sight. The ground was covered with these reddish-brown creatures, in some spots to the depth of several inches. What bushes there were were cl.u.s.tered with them,-- all over the leaves and branches, as if swarms of bees had settled upon them. Not a leaf or blade of gra.s.s that was not covered with their bodies!
They moved not, but remained silent, as if torpid or asleep. The cold of the evening had deprived them of the power of flight.
What was strangest of all to the eyes of Von Bloom and Hendrik, was the conduct of their own horses and cattle. These were some distance out in the midst of the sleeping host; but instead of being alarmed at their odd situation, they were greedily gathering up the insects in mouthfuls, and crunching them as though they had been corn!
It was with some difficulty that they could be driven off; but the roar of a lion, that was just then heard over the plain, and the repeated application of Swartboy"s _jambok_, rendered them more tractable, and at length they suffered themselves to be driven home, and lodged within their kraals.
Swartboy had provided himself with a bag, which he carried back full of locusts.
It was observed that in collecting the insects into the bag, he acted with some caution, handling them very gingerly, as if he was afraid of them. It was not _them_ he feared, but snakes, which upon such occasions are very plenteous, and very much to be dreaded--as the Bushman from experience well knew.
CHAPTER FOUR.
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 boor 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 it was beans of the locust-tree, and not insects, that were the food of Saint 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 Saint 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 Saint 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.