; and that was
not all. While one of these rascals had been pocketing our money under
our very nose, the other had bagged two great iron pins that we had
driven into the court-yard for the purpose of our camels. Therefore,
we took a resolution, better late than never, to admit in future no
merchant whatever into our room.'

We cannot sufficiently regret, that two travellers who have furnished
us with such interesting accounts of territories comparatively so
little unexplored, should, after a brief sojourn, have been compelled
to quit the scene of their labours. After eighteen months' travel,
Messrs Huc and Gabet arrived at the Thibetian town of Lha-Ssa, where,
under the protection of the local authorities, they remained
unmolested for several weeks; but their presence excited the jealousy
of Ki-Chan, the deputy of the emperor of China, and at his instigation
the nomekhan of Lha-Ssa ordered them to quit. They ultimately settled
at Macao in 1846, and there compiled the narrative from which we have
been quoting.

FOOTNOTES:

[3] _Travels in Tartary, Thibet, and China, during the years
1844-5-6._ By M. Huc. Translated by W. Hazlitt. London. (National
Illustrated Library.)

A DAINTY DISH.

Among the variety of curious insects which are common to tropical
climates, the groogroo worms of the West Indies may be considered
particularly interesting. From the peculiar manner in which they are
produced, and from the circumstance of their constituting a choice
article of food for man, they become entitled to some attention.

The groogroo worm--so called because it is found in a species of palm
vulgarly called the groogroo--is the larva of a large-sized beetle,
the _Prionus_, which is peculiar to the warm latitudes of America.
With the exception of a slight similarity about the region of the
head, the worm bears no resemblance to the parent beetle. When
full-grown, it is about 3-1/2 inches in length, having the body large
and turgid, and increasing in circumference from the head towards the
opposite extremity. The head is of a corneous, opaque substance. It
has neither eyes nor the rudiments of the antennae which distinguish
the beetle tribe. It is, however, provided with the mandibles and
other oral apparatus of the mandibulate group of insects, and it is
only in this feature that any connection with the beetle can be
traced. The trunk is precisely that of a worm; it consists of many
closely-knitted segments, whic