In many of the above instances these devastators appear to have crossed the seas, but Hasselquist asserts that they are not formed for such extensive flights. "The grasshopper or locust," says he, "is not formed for travelling over the sea,—it cannot fly far, but must alight as soon as it rises;—for one that came on board us a hundred certainly were drowned. We observe in the months of May and June a number of these insects coming from the south, and directing their course to the northern shore; they darken the sky like a thick cloud; but scarcely have they quitted the shore, when they, who a moment before ravaged and ruined the country, cover the surface of the sea with their dead bodies.—By what instinct do these creatures undertake this dangerous flight? Is it not the wise institution of the Creator to destroy a dreadful plague to the country[398]?" Locusts however, as we have seen, take much longer flights than this author supposes them able to do. It is probable that their ability in this respect may depend a good deal upon their species, their age, and the state and direction of the wind; for, as was the case with the Egyptian plague,
"—— a pitchy cloud
Of locusts warping on the eastern wind"
may by a powerful blast be carried over a broad river, or even the sea, from one country to another. This idea is strongly confirmed by an account, exhibiting internal marks of authenticity, which appeared in the Alexandria Herald, an American newspaper; in which it is stated, that at the distance of 200 miles from the Canary Islands, the nearest land, the ship Georgia, Capt. Stokes, from Lisbon to Savannah, while sailing with a fine breeze from the south-east, was, on the 21st of Nov. 1811, all at once becalmed. "A light air afterwards sprang up from the north-east, at which time there fell from the cloud an innumerable quantity of large grasshoppers, so as to cover the deck, the tops and every part of the ship they could alight upon. They did not appear in the least exhausted; on the contrary, when an attempt was made to take hold of them, they instantly jumped, and endeavoured to elude being taken. The calm, or a very light air, lasted fully an hour, and during the whole of the time these insects continued to fall upon the ship and surround her: such as were within reach of the vessel alighted upon her; but immense numbers fell into the sea, and were seen floating in masses by the sides." Two bottles of them were preserved for inspection; the insects were of a reddish hue, with red and gray speckled wings. It is clear from this account, if it be admitted as authentic, that locusts can go far from land when the wind is strong, and likewise it seems equally clear that in a calm they cannot support themselves in the air. The principal difficulty is, how these locusts could make their way against the wind, which they must have done if they came with the black cloud, as the words seem to intimate. Perhaps this cloud was brought by a different current of air from that which impelled the ship.
With respect to the course which the locusts pursue, Hasselquist has observed that they migrate in a direct meridian line from south to north, passing from the deserts of Arabia, which is the great cradle of them, to Palestine, Syria, Carmania, Natolia, Bithynia, Constantinople, Poland, &c.—they never turn either to the east or to the west[399]. But this must be a mistaken notion; for those which Major Moor saw at Poonah, of which I have given an account above[400], must have come due east. Mr. Jackson also noticed their course north of the line to be towards the south[401]; and Sparrman tells us, that those south of the line migrate in the same direction[402].
I fear that Hasselquist's question, Could they not by fright, or some other method, be turned from their dreadful course, to steer for some river, and by that means be obliged to destroy themselves[403]? must be answered in the negative. All such experiments, it is to be apprehended, would be about as effectual as sending an army, with all the apparatus of war, to take the field against them, as this author says is done in Syria, where the Bashaw of Tripoli once raised a force of 4000 soldiers to fight the locusts, and very summarily ordered all to be hanged who thinking it beneath them to waste their valour upon such pygmy foes, refused to join the party[404].
I am, &c.