The account of the missionary Moffat differs somewhat from and is much more complete than Mr. Fleming’s and Dr. Sparrman’s. He says the natives of S. Africa embrace every opportunity of gathering Locusts, which can be done during the night. Whenever the cloud alights at a place not very distant from a town, the inhabitants turn out with sacks, and often with pack-oxen, gather loads, and return next day with millions. The Locusts are then prepared for eating by simple boiling, or rather steaming, as they are put into a large pot with a little water, and covered closely up; after boiling for a short time, they are taken out and spread on mats in the sun to dry, when they are winnowed, something like corn, to clear them of their legs and wings; and, when perfectly dry, are put into sacks, or laid upon the house floor in a heap. The natives eat them whole, adding a little salt when they can obtain it, or pound them in a wooden mortar; and, when they have reduced them to something like meal, they mix them with a little water and make a cold stir-about. When Locusts abound, the natives become quite fat, and would even reward any old lady who would say that she had coaxed them to alight within reach of the inhabitants. Mr. Moffat thinks the Locust not bad food, and, when well fed, almost as good as shrimps.[412] The plan of gathering Locusts by night is occasionally attended with danger. “It has happened that in gathering them people have been bitten by venomous reptiles. On one occasion a woman had been traveling for several miles with a large bundle of Locusts on her head, when a serpent, which had been put into the sack with them, found its way out. The woman, supposing it to be a thong dangling about her shoulders, laid hold of it with her hand, and, feeling that it was alive, instantly precipitated the bundle to the ground and fled.”[413] Pringle, in his song of the wild Bushman, has the following lines: Yea, even the wasting Locust-swarm, Which mighty nations dread, To me nor terror brings nor harm; I make of them my bread.[414] Flights of Locusts are considered so much of a blessing in South Africa, that, as Dr. Livingstone states, the _rain_-doctors sometimes promised to bring them by their incantations.[415] Carsten Niebuhr says that all Arabians, whether living in their own country or in Persia, Syria, and Africa, are accustomed to eat Locusts. They distinguish several species of insect, to which they give particular names. The red Locust, which is esteemed fatter and more succulent than any other, and accordingly the greatest delicacy, they call _Muken_; another is called _Dubbe_, but they abstain from it because it has a tendency to produce diarrhœa. A light-colored Locust, as well as the Muken, is eaten.