Fifteen minutes later, the mass resumed its
flight, and our travellers could, even at a distance, see the
trees and the bushes entirely stripped, and the fields as
bare as though they had been swept with the scythe.
One would have thought that a sudden winter had just
descended upon the earth and struck the region with the
most complete sterility.
"Well, Joe, what do you think of that?"
"Well, doctor, it's very curious, but quite natural.
What one grasshopper does on a small scale, thousands
do on a grand scale."
"It's a terrible shower," said the hunter; "more so
than hail itself in the devastation it causes."
"It is impossible to prevent it," replied Ferguson.
"Sometimes the inhabitants have had the idea to burn
the forests, and even the standing crops, in order to arrest
the progress of these insects; but the first ranks plunging
into the flames would extinguish them beneath their mass,
and the rest of the swarm would then pass irresistibly
onward. Fortunately, in these regions, there is some sort
of compensation for their ravages, since the natives gather
these insects in great numbers and greedily eat them."
"They are the prawns of the air," said Joe, who added
that he was sorry that he had never had the chance to
taste them--just for information's sake!
The country became more marshy toward evening;
the forests dwindled to isolated clumps of trees; and on
the borders of the river could be seen plantations of
tobacco, and swampy meadow-lands fat with forage.
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