+

LOCUSTS and GRASSHOPPERS infest the whole country, and are often as destructive to the corncrops in Canada, as Sampson's foxes were to the standing wheat of the Philistines. Some of the Grasshoppers in these Provinces are as large as a field-mouse; and all of them are much larger than any I ever saw in Europe. They seldom appear before the end of July, when they assemble in such multitudes, that a single person with a waggoner's whip might drive ten thousand of them before him, with as great ease as a shepherd can drive a flock of sheep. The whole face of the earth appears so thickly covered with them, that crops of every description seem destined to immediate destruction. Mr. Lambert gives an account of their ravages for two successive seasons, on the Island of Orleans. He says, their numbers were so great, that, after destroying every vegetable production on the island, they were forced to leave it for fear of starvation; and, having assembled in bodies upon the water, they floated over with the flood-tide to Quebec, passed through the town, stripped the ramparts of the grass as they went along, and then proceeded in separate columns through the country to the Southward. In Upper Canada, they sometimes destroy whole fields of grain and meadow-grass; but I never heard of ravages so extensive as those which they commit in the Lower Province. Dr. Dwight asserts, that the Locusts make their appearance in New England, only

every seventh year: If this be really the case with regard to that part of North America, we must presume, that they come to spend their long vacation in Canada; for I have seen them in this country for six successive years.

The HORSE-FLY is larger than an humble-bee, and is the most formidable and relentless foe to whose cruel inflictions the poor quadrupeds of Canada are doomed to submit. His bite is nearly as severe as the sting of a wasp; and he never ceases, from June to September, from tormenting every animal of the brute creation. The Horse, the Ox, and the Deer, are, however, the objects of his greatest longings, upon which he exercises his most refined cruelties. In vain do they seek the breezy plain, the woody shade, or the purling brook: He follows them to every retreat, and is their implacable enemy every summer's day, from sun-rise, till evening kindly comes to grant them a few hours' respite. I have frequently observed horses turned out to pasture of excellent quality, in the month of June, in good condition; and have seen them brought back in October, greatly reduced in flesh: And no wonder; for, instead. of being permitted quietly to feed, they are every moment employed in defending themselves against the unceasing attacks of Horse-flies, and other vexatious insects.

But of all the creatures that disturb the peace of man and beast, the MUSQUITOES are the most insupportable. They are " your days' companions and

your evenings' guests," for at least four months in the year; during which time, an inhabitant of Canada might as well hope to reverse the current of the St. Lawrence, as to secure himself a moment's relief from the insatiable stings of these unwearied tormentors.+ No spot, however sacred to repose, can fix a barrier to their entrance; and the reign of disquietude and pain is, during summer, absolute and universal. The Wolf, the Bear, and the Rattle-snake,-names which are sufficient to intimidate the stoutest European heart,-are gentle and innoxious when compared with the Musquito. If you never walk the woods without company, you will avoid all danger from the two former; and, by remaining within doors, will sufficiently secure yourself from the deadly sting of the latter. But neither your house nor your bed affords you any refuge from those long-legged destroyers of your comfort, the Musquitoes. Go where you will, they will find you

+ In MOORE's song of The Evil Spirit of the Woods, in which the poet shews his very accurate knowledge of Canadian localities, the Bull-frog and Musquito are thus associated together as insupportable plagues:

VOL. I.

There let every noxious thing
Trail its filth and fix its sting;
Let the Bull-toad taint him over,
Round him let Musquitoes hover,
In his ears and eye-balls tingling,
With his blood their poison mingling,
Till, beneath the solar fires,

Rankling all, the wretch expires!

R

out; and, by continually darting their veinpiercing proboscis into your legs, face, and hands, they will render your existence a burden as long as you are thus infested. You will therefore pray for the speedy removal of these mischievous insects, as for a blessing of no ordinary magnitude.

In the Autumn of 1818, an Irish gentleman of réspectability, who, from various disappointments in life, had contracted a fixed dislike to his native country, arrived in Canada, and settled in the London District. He was such a passionate lover of solitude, that he actually became charmed with the wilds of America. He and I were in the habit of taking a walk together, once or twice a week, on the banks of the river Thames, On these little excursions, he never failed to discover some romantic spot, and in its praise would exhaust all the eloquence of which he was possessed-always taking special care to conclude his observations with some choice reflections on "the pleasures of retirement in this enchanting quarter of the globe." As solitude had few charms for me, I only nodded my assent, and smiled. When Spring arrived, my friend was greatly offended by the croaking of the frogs, which caused him to relax considerably in his premature praises of the country. But when the Horse-fly, the Musquito, and the Sand-fly made their appearance,

Instead of spending his time, as he had formerly

done, in magnifying the delights of solitude and retirement as found in the wilds of America, "he went upon the other tack," and was continually reprobating the country, and denouncing the most impassioned, but alas! ineffectual, anathemas upon its insect-inhabitants. Before the expiration of his first Summer in the Province, he considered the plagues of Egypt as gentle chastisements, when compared with the plagues of Canada. I have often laughed most heartily when I have seen him rubbing his fingers, and scratching his legs, though at the time I was myself enduring as much pain as it was possible for poisonous insects to inflict. I certainly did experience a mitigation of my own sufferings whenever I could spend an hour or two in the company of my friend, listening to his execrations of a country in the praise of which he had, a short time before, been so extravagantly lavish. Though I must confess, this mitigation was not on account of any particular sympathy which I felt for the tortures he endured, but it had its origin in the ludicrous contrast between his present just vituperations and his past unwarrantable encomiums.

Children suffer more, if possible, than adults, from the Musquito and Black-fly. Their heads and necks swell to such a degree, as to render them not only the greatest sufferers, but the most wretched spectacles of afflicted humanity.

7

Though the sting of the BLACK-FLY, at the mo