The authority of Capt. Riley is, that Locusts are esteemed very good food by the Moors, Arabs, and Jews of Barbary, who catch large numbers of them in their season, and throw them, while alive and jumping, into a pan of boiling argan oil, where they are allowed to remain, hissing and frying, till their wings are burned off and their bodies sufficiently cooked; they are then poured out and eaten. Riley says they resemble, in consistence and flavor, the yolks of hard-boiled hens’ eggs.[403] Capt. Beechey tells us he saw many asses, heavily laden with Locusts for food, driven into the town of Mesurata, in Tripoli.[404] Barth, in Central Africa, saw whole calabashes filled with roasted Locusts, which, he says, occasionally form a considerable part of the food of the natives, particularly if their grain has been destroyed by this plague, as they can then enjoy not only the agreeable flavor of the dish, but also take a pleasant revenge for the ravages of their fields.[405] Adanson, after describing an immense swarm of Locusts that covered an extent of several leagues which he saw, says the negroes of Gambia eat these insects, and have different ways of dressing them--some pounding and boiling them in milk, others only boiling them on coals.[406] Dr. Sparrman says the Hottentots rejoice greatly upon the arrival of the Locusts, although they never fail to destroy every particle of verdure on the ground. But, continues the doctor, they make themselves ample amends for this loss, for, seizing these marauding animals, they eat them in such numbers as, in the space of a few days, to get visibly fatter and in a better condition. The females are principally eaten, especially when about to migrate, before they are able to fly, when their wings are short and their bodies heavy and distended with eggs. The soup prepared of these is of a brown coffee color, and, when cooled, from the eggs has a fat and greasy appearance.[407] Dr. Sparrman also relates a curious notion which the Hottentots about the Visch River have with respect to the origin of the Locusts: that they proceed from the good will of a great master-conjurer a long way to the north, who, having removed the stone from the mouth of a certain deep pit, lets loose these insects in order to furnish them with food.[408] This is not unlike the account, given by the author of the Apocalypse, of the origin of the symbolical Locusts, which are said to ascend upon an angel’s opening the pit of the abyss.[409] The Korannas and Bushmen of the Cape save the Locusts in large quantities, and grind them between two stones into a kind of a meal, which they mix with fat and grease, and bake in cakes. Upon this fare, says Mr. Fleming, they live for months together, and chatter with the greatest joy as soon as the Locusts are seen approaching.[410] Locusts in Madagascar are greatly esteemed by the natives as food.[411]