ert, and partially roasted. "Hum! a strange sort of
taste, but rather nice, too. Have some, Charles, you'll find them
rather good eating."

"Thank you, Nick," returned Lavie, gravely, "I am not fond of insects,
or I would have a few."

"Insects!" repeated Gilbert, in a tone of mingled surprise and disgust.
"You can't mean that, to be sure!" He dropped the handful to which he
had just helped himself, and looked at the doctor with mouth and eyes
wide open.

"They are locusts, if I don't mistake," said the latter. "Hand them up
here, Frank, and I'll take a closer look at them. Yes, they are
locusts. These Hottentots consider them a great dainty."

"The nasty wretches!" cried Nick, starting up and throwing away the
viands he had been consuming. "To think I should live to sup on
beetles! Hand us the bowl of milk there, Ernest. I suppose _that's_
all right, isn't it? That comes from a cow, and not a crocodile, or
something of the sort?"

"Yes, that's all right, Nick," said Lavie, laughing; "and, after all,
there are many other people who eat locusts besides these Hottentots."

"Every one to his taste," said Gilbert, setting down the bowl after a
long draught. "Mine doesn't incline to roasted insects. However, that
milk has pretty well taken the taste out. And now, I suppose the next
thing is to go to bed. I was up very early this morning, and have had a
hard day of it. What do you say, Frank?"

"I say ditto to you," said Wilmore. "I shall just roll myself up in one
of these skins to keep off the flies, and shut up for the night. Good
night, Lion, old boy; I wish you a sound repose."

The two boys accordingly wrapped themselves in the deer-hides which were
scattered on the floor, and lay down, each with a roll of matting for a
pillow. In two or three minutes their regular breathing announced that
they were fast asleep. But Ernest and Charles did not follow their
example. They sat near the entrance of the hut, smoking their pipes,
and conversing on subjects which had but little interest for their
companions.

"These Hottentots are a strange race," observed Warley. "I suppose
nothing is really known of their origin and history."

"Nothing, I believe, with any certainty," returned the doctor. "They
seem to have no traditions on the subject, which is a rare circumstance
in the history of any people. Their very name is uncertain. Europeans
call them Hottentots, or Namaquas, but they themselves do