In the event of a cold or wet day they would have to remain as they were, and perhaps the wind might change round again before they resumed their flight.

Oh, for a torrent of rain, or a cold cloudy day! Vain wish! vain hope! In half-an-hour after the sun rose up in African splendour, and his hot rays, slanting down upon the sleeping host, warmed them into life and activity.

They commenced to crawl, to hop about, and then, as if by one impulse, myriads rose into the air.

The breeze impelled them in the direction in which it was blowing,--in the direction of the devoted maize-fields.
In less than five minutes, from the time they had taken wing, they were over the kraal, and dropping in tens of thousands upon the surrounding fields.

Slow was their flight, and gentle their descent, and to the eyes of those beneath they presented the appearance of a shower of _black_ snow, falling in large feathery flakes.