Part 9
When the provincial governors of Spain are informed in the spring that Locusts have been seen, they collect the soldiers and peasants, divide them into companies and surround the district. Every man is furnished with a long broom, with which he strikes the ground, and thus drives the young Locusts toward a common center, where a vast excavation, with a quantity of brushwood, is prepared for their reception, and where the flame destroys them. Three thousand men were thus employed, in 1780, for three weeks, at Zamora; and it was reckoned that the quantity collected exceeded 10,000 bushels.[346] In 1783, 400 bushels more were collected and destroyed in the same way.[347]
Mr. Barrow informs us that in South Africa, in 1784 and 1797, two thousand square miles were literally covered by Locusts, which, being carried into the sea by a northwest wind, formed, for fifty miles along shore, a bank three or four feet high; and when the wind was in the opposite point, the horrible odor which they exhaled was perceptible a hundred and fifty miles off.[348]
The immense column of Locusts which ravaged all the Mahratta territory, and was thought to have come from Arabia, extended, Mr. Kirby’s friend told him, five hundred miles, and was so dense as thoroughly to hide the sun, and prevent any object from casting a shadow. This horde was not composed of the migratory Locust, but of a red species, which imparted a sanguine color to the trees on which they settled.[349]
Mr. Forbes describes a flight of Locusts which he saw soon after his arrival at Baroche in 1779. It was more than a mile in length, and half as much in breadth, and appeared, as the sun was in the meridian, like a black cloud at a distance. As it approached, its density obscured the solar rays, causing a gloom like that of an eclipse, over the gardens, and causing a noise like the rushing of a torrent. They were almost an hour in passing a given point.[350]
In another place, this traveler states that, in one considerable tract near the confines of the Brodera district, he witnessed a mournful scene, occasioned by a scourge of Locusts. They had, some time before he came, alighted in that part of the country, and left behind them, he says, “an awful contrast to the general beauty of that earthly paradise.” The sad description of Hosea, he adds, was literally realized: “That which the palmer-worm hath left, hath the caterpillar eaten. They have laid waste the vine, and barked the fig-tree; they have made it clean bare, and the branches thereof are made white: the pomegranate-tree, the palm-tree also, and the apple-tree, even all the trees of the field are withered. Howl, O ye husbandmen! for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished. How do the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate!”[351]
On the 16th of May, 1800, Buchanan met with in Mysore a flight of Locusts which extended in length about three miles. He compares the noise they made to the sound of a cataract.[352] This swarm was very destructive to the young crops of jola.[353]
In 1811, at Smyrna, at right angles to a flight of Locusts, a man rode forty miles before he got rid of the moving column. This immense flight continued for three days and nights, apparently without intermission. It was computed that the lowest number of Locusts in this swarm must have exceeded 168,608,563,200,200! Captain Beaufort determined that the Locusts of this flight, which he himself saw, if framed into a heap, would have exceeded in magnitude more than a thousand and thirty times the largest pyramid of Egypt; or if put on the ground close together, in a band of a mile and an eighth in width, would have encircled the globe! This immense swarm caused such a famine in the district of Marwar, that the natives fled for subsistence in a living torrent into Guzerat and Bombay; and out of every hundred of these Marwarees, Captain Carnac estimates, ninety-nine died that year! Near the town of Baroda, these poor people perished at the rate of five hundred a day; and at Ahmedabad, a large city of two hundred thousand inhabitants, one hundred thousand died from this awful visitation![354]
In 1816, Captain Riley met with a flight of Locusts in the north of Africa, which extended in length about eight miles, and in breadth three. He tells us, also, he was informed that several years before he came to Mogadore, nearly all the Locusts in the empire, which at that time were very numerous, and had laid waste the country, were carried off in one night, and drowned in the Atlantic Ocean: that their dead carcasses a few days afterward were driven by winds and currents on shore, all along the western coast, extending from near Cape Spartel to beyond Mogadore, forming in many places immense piles on the beach: that the stench arising from their remains was intolerable, and was supposed to have produced the plague which broke out about that time in various parts of the Moorish dominions.[355] Before this plague in 1799, Mr. Jackson tells us, from Mogadore to Tangier the face of the earth was covered by them, and relates the following singular incident which occurred at El Araiche: The whole region from the confines of the Sahara was ravaged by the Locusts; but on the other side of the river El Kos not one of them was to be seen, though there was nothing to prevent their flying over it. Till then they had proceeded northward; but upon arriving at its banks they turned to the east, so that all the country north of El Araiche was full of pulse, fruits and grain, exhibiting a most striking contrast to the desolation of the adjoining district. At length they were all carried by a violent hurricane into the Western Ocean; the shore, as in former instances, was covered by their carcasses, and a pestilence (confirming the statement, and verifying the supposition of Captain Riley) was caused by the horrid stench which they emitted: but when this evil ceased, their devastations were followed by a most abundant crop.[356]
In 1825 the Russian empire was overrun to a very alarming extent by young Locusts. About Kiew, as far as the eye could reach, they lay piled up one upon another to the height of two feet. Through the government of Ekatharinoslaw and Cherson to the Black Sea, a distance of about 400 miles, they covered the ground so thickly that a horse could not walk fast through them. The sight of such an immense number, says an eye-witness, Mr. Jaeger, of the most destructive and rapacious insects, justly occasioned a melancholy foreboding of famine and pestilence, in case they should invade the cultivated and populous countries of Russia and Poland. It was at this juncture, however, that the Emperor Alexander sent his army of thirty thousand soldiers to destroy them. These forming a line of several hundred miles, and advancing toward the south, attacked them with shovels, and collected them, as far as possible, in sacks and burned them. This is the largest army of soldiers sent against Locusts we have any record of.[357]
In 1824, Locusts made their appearance at the Glen-Lynden Colony in South Africa, being the first time they had been seen there since 1808. In 1825, they continued to advance from the north; in 1826, the corn crops at Glen-Lynden were totally destroyed by them; and in 1827, 1828, and 1829, they extended their ravages through the whole of the northern and southern districts of the colony. In 1830, they again disappeared.[358]
The following graphic description of the swarm that visited Glen-Lynden in 1825 is from the pen of Mr. Pringle. He says: “In returning to Glen-Lynden, we passed through a flying swarm, which had exactly the appearance, as it approached, of a vast snow-cloud hanging on the slope of a mountain from which the snow was falling in very large flakes. When we got into the midst of them, the air all around and above was darkened as by a thick cloud; and the rushing sound of the wings of the millions of these insects was as loud as the dash of a mill-wheel.... The column that we thus passed through was, as nearly as I could calculate, about half a mile in breadth, and from two to three miles in length.”[359]
In 1835, a plague of Locusts made their appearance in China, in the neighborhood of Quangse, and in the western departments of Quangtung. The military and people were ordered out to exterminate them, as they had done two years before. A more rational mode, however, was adopted by the authorities, of offering a bounty of twelve or fifteen cash per catty of the insects. They were gathered so fast for this price, that it was immediately lowered to five or six cash per catty. A strike followed, and the Locusts were left in quiet to do as much damage as they could.[360]
Nieuhoff tells us, Locusts in the East Indies are so destructive that the inhabitants are oftentimes obliged to change their habitations, for want of sustenance. He adds that this has frequently happened in China and the Island of Tojowac.[361]
In 1828-9, in the provinces lying between the Black and Caspian Seas, Locusts appeared in such vast numbers as were never seen in that country before.[362]
In 1839, Kaffraria was again visited by Locusts, which, together with the war at that time, caused so great a famine that many persons perished for want of subsistence.[363] Again in 1849-50, this country was visited by this dreadful scourge. The whole country, says the Rev. Francis Fleming, was covered with them; and when they arose, the cloud was so dense that this gentleman was obliged to dismount, and wait till they passed over.[364]
Mr. Jules Remy says, that at his arrival at Salt Lake, he observed upon the shore, on the top of the salt, a deposit of a foot deep which was entirely composed of dead Locusts--_Œdipoda corallipes_. These insects, driven by a high wind in prodigiously thick clouds, had been drowned in the lake, after having, during the course of the summer (of 1855), destroyed the rising crops, and even the prairie grass. A famine ensued; but the Mormons, continues Mr. Remy, only saw in this scourge a fresh proof of the truth of their religion, because it had happened, as among the Israelites, in the seventh year after their settlement in the country.[365]
According to Lieutenant Warren, whose graphic description is here borrowed, these devastating insects of our great western plains are “nearly the same as the Locusts of Egypt; and no one,” continues this officer, “who has not traveled on the prairie, and seen for himself, can appreciate the magnitude of the swarms. Often they fill the air for many miles in extent, so that an inexperienced eye can scarcely distinguish their appearance from that of a shower of rain or the smoke of a prairie fire. The height of their flight may be somewhat appreciated, as Mr. Evans saw them above his head, as far as their size would render them visible, while standing on the top of a peak of the Rocky Mountains 8500 feet above the plain, and an elevation of 14,500 above that of the sea, in the region where the snow lies all the year. To a person standing in one of the swarms as they pass over and around him, the air becomes sensibly darkened, and the sound produced by their wings resembles that of the passage of a train of cars on a railroad, when standing two or three hundred yards from the track. The Mormon settlements have suffered more from the ravages of these insects than probably all other causes combined. They destroyed nearly all the vegetables cultivated last year at Fort Randall, and extended their ravages east as far as Iowa.”[366]
The Mormons, in their simple and picturesque descriptions, say that these insects (“Crickets”--_Œdipoda corallipes_, Haldemars) are the produce of “a cross between the Spider and the Buffalo.”[367]
In Egypt, in 1843, the popular idea was that the hordes of Locusts, which were then ravaging the land, were sent by the comet observed about that time for twelve days in the southwest.[368]
Pliny, in the words of his translator, Holland, says: “Many a time have the Locusts been knowne to take their flight out of Affricke, and with whole armies to infest Italie: many a time have the people of Rome, fearing a great famine and scarcity toward, beene forced to have recourse unto Sybil’s bookes for remedie, and to avert the ire of the gods. In the Cyrenaick region within Barbarie, ordained it is by law, every three years to wage warre against them, and so to conquer them.... Yea, and a grievous punishment lieth upon him that is negligent in this behalf, as if hee were a traitour to his prince and countrey. Moreover, within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down, how many and what quantity every man shall kill; and they are to exhibit unto the magistrate a just and true account thereof, and namely, to shew what measure full of dead Locusts. And for this purpose they make much of Iaies, Dawes, and Choughs, whom they do honour highly, because they doe flie opposite against the Locusts, and so destroy them. Moreover in Syria, they are forced to levie a warlike power of men against them, and to make ridance by that means.”[369]
Democritus says, if a cloud of Locusts is coming forward, let all persons remain quiet within doors, and they will pass over the place; but if they suddenly arrive before they are observed, they will hurt nothing, if you boil bitter lupines, or wild cucumbers, in brine, and sprinkle it, for they will immediately die. They will likewise pass over the subjacent spot, continues Democritus, if you catch some bats and tie them on the high trees of the place; and if you take and burn some of the Locusts, they are rendered torpid from the smell, and some indeed die, and some drooping their wings, await their pursuers, and they are destroyed by the sun. You will drive away Locusts, continues this same writer, if you prepare some liquor for them, and dig trenches, and besprinkle them with the liquor; for if you come there afterward, you will find them oppressed with sleep; but how you are to destroy them is to be your concern. A Locust will touch nothing, he concludes, if you pound absinthium, or a leek, or centaury with water, and sprinkle it.[370]
Didymus says, to preserve vines from that species of Locusts called by the ancients _Bruchus_, set three grains of mustard around the stem of the vine at the root; for these being thus set, have the power of destroying the Bruchus.[371]
Nieuhoff tells us that when a swarm of Locusts is seen in China, the inhabitants, to prevent their alighting, “march to and again the fields with their colors flying, shouting and hallooing all the while; never leaving them till they are driven into the sea, or some river, where they fall down and are drowned.”[372]
Volney says, that when the Locusts first make their appearance on the frontiers of Syria, the inhabitants strive to drive them off by raising large clouds of smoke; and if, as it too frequently happens, their herbs and wet straw fail them, they dig trenches, in which they bury them in great numbers. The most efficacious destroyers of these insects are, however, he adds, the south and southeasterly winds, and the bird called the Samarmar.[373]
Capt. Riley tells us, it is said at Mogadore, and believed by the Moors, Christians, and Jews, that the Bereberies inhabiting the Atlas Mountains have the power to destroy every flight of Locusts that comes from the south, and from the east, and thus ward off this scourge from all the countries north and west of this stupendous ridge, merely by building large fires on the parts of the mountains over which the Locusts are known always to pass, and in the season when they are likely to appear, which is at a definite period, within a certain number of days in almost every year. The Atlas being high, and the peaks covered with snow, these insects become chilled in passing over them, when, seeing the fires, they are attracted by the glare, and plunge into the flame. What degree of credit ought to be attached to this opinion, Capt. Riley says he does not know, but is certain that the Moorish Sultan used to pay a considerable sum of money yearly to certain inhabitants of the sides of the Atlas, in order to keep the Locusts out of his dominions. He also adds, the Moors and Jews affirmed to him, that during the time in which the Sultan paid the said yearly stipend punctually, not a Locust was to be seen in his dominions; but that when the Emperor refused to pay the stipulated sum, because no Locusts troubled his country, and thinking he had been imposed upon, that the very same year the Locusts again made their appearance, and have continued to lay waste the country ever since.[374]
An impostor, who is believed to have been a French adventurer, at one time, it is said, endeavored to persuade the people of Morocco that he could destroy all the Locusts by a chemical process.[375]
The superstitious Tartars of the Crimea, in order to rid their country of its most destructive enemy, the Locusts, at one time sent over to Asia Minor, whence these insects had come, to procure Dervises to drive them away by their incantations, etc. These divines prayed around the mosques, and, as a charm, ordered water to be hung out on the minarets, which, with the prayers, were meant to entice a species of blackbird to come in multitudes and devour the Locusts! The water thus hung out is said to be still preserved in the mosques. On this occasion, the Dervises collected eighty thousand rubles, the poorest shepherd giving half a ruble.[376]
We read in “Purchas’s Pilgrims,” of Locusts being exorcised and excommunicated, so that they immediately flew away![377] From this interesting collection the following is clipped: “In the yeere 1603, at Fremona, great misery happened by Grasse-hoppers, from which Paez freed the Catholikes, by Letanies and sprinkling the Fields with Holy-water; when as the Fields of Heretikes, seuered only by a Ditch, were spoyled by them. Yea, a Heretike vsing this sacred sprinkling, preserued his corne, which, to a Catholike neglecting in one Field, was lost, and preserued in another by that couiured aspersion (so neere of kinne are these Locusts to the Deuill, which is said to hate Holy-water).”[378]
In the south of Europe rewards are offered for the collection both of the Locusts and their eggs; and at Marseilles, it is on record that, in the year 1613, 20,000 francs were paid for this purpose. In 1825, the same city paid a sum of 6200 francs for destroying these pests to agriculture.[379] We read in the eighty-first volume of the Gentleman’s Magazine, that most of the Agricultural Societies of Italy have offered premiums for the best method of destroying Locusts: that in many districts several thousand persons are employed in searching for the eggs; that in four days the inhabitants of the district of Ofanto collected at one time 80,000 sacks full, which were thrown into the river.[380]
The noise Locusts make when engaged in the work of destruction has been compared to the sound of a flame of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite to that of fire.[381] Volney says: “The noise they make, in browsing on the trees and herbage, may be heard at a great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret.” His following sentence may also be introduced here: “The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals.”[382] Robbins compares their noise to that of small pigs when eating corn.[383] The noise produced by their flight and approach, the poet Southey has strikingly described:
Onward they came a dark continuous cloud Of congregated myriads numberless, The rushing of whose wings was as the sound Of a broad river headlong in its course Plunged from a mountain summit, or the roar Of a wild ocean in the autumn storm, Shattering its billows on a shore of rocks![384]
Another comparison may be introduced here, to give some idea of the infinite numbers of these insects. Dr. Clarke compares a cloud of them to a flight of snow when the flakes are carried obliquely by the wind. They covered his carriage and horses, and the Tartars assert that people are sometimes suffocated by them. The whole face of nature might have been described as covered with a living veil. They consisted of two species--_Locusta tartarica_ and _L. migratoria_; the first is almost twice the size of the second, and, because it precedes it, is called by the Tartars the herald or messenger.[385]
In the Account of the admirable Voyage of Domingo Gonsales, the little Spaniard, to the World of the Moon, by Help of several Gansa’s, or large Geese, we find the following: “One accident more befel me worth mention, that during my stay, I say, I saw a kind of a reddish cloud coming toward me, and continually approaching nearer, which, at last, I perceived, was nothing but a huge swarm of Locusts. He that reads the discources of learned men concerning them (as John Leo, of Africa, and others, who relate that they are seen for several days in the air before they fall on the earth), and adds thereto this experience of mine, will easily conclude that they can come from no other place than the globe of the moon.”[386]
To accompany this piece of satire, the following suits well:
A Chinese author, quoted by Rev. Thomas Smith, observes, that Locusts never appear in China but when great floods are followed by a very dry season; and that it is his opinion that they are hatched by the sun from the spawn of fish left by the waters on the ground![387]
So far the history of the Locust has been but a series of the greatest calamities which human nature has suffered--famine, pestilence, and death. No wonder that, in all ages and times, these insects have so deeply impressed the imagination, that almost all people have looked on them with superstitious horror. We have shown how that their devastations have entered into the history of nations. Their effigies, too, like those of other conquerors of the earth, have been perpetuated in coins.
We are the army of the great God, and we lay ninety-and-nine eggs; were the hundredth put forth, the world would be ours--such is the speech the Arabs put into the mouth of the Locust. And such is the feeling the Arabs entertain of this insect, that they give it a remarkable pedigree, and the following description of its person: It has the head of the horse, the horns of the stag, the eye of the elephant, the neck of the ox, the breast of the lion, the body of the scorpion, the hip of the camel, the legs of the stork, the wings of the eagle, and the tail of the dragon.[388]
The Mohammedans say, that after God had created man from clay, of that which was left he made the Locust: and in utter despair, they look upon this devastating scourge as a just chastisement from heaven for their or their nation’s sins, or as directed by that fatality in which they all believe.[389]
The wings of some Locusts being spotted, were thought by many to be leaves from the book of fate, in which letters announcing the destiny of nations were to be read. Paul Jetzote, professor of Greek literature at the Gymnasium of Stettin, wrote a work on the meaning of three of these letters, which were, according to him, to be seen on the wings of those Locusts which visited Silesia in 1712. These letters were B. E. S., and formed the initials of the Latin words “Bella Erunt Sæva,” or “Babel Est Solitudo;” also the German words, “Bedeutet Erschreckliche Schlacten,” portending frightful battles, “Bedeutet und Erfreuliche Siege,” portending happy victories. There are Greek and Hebrew sentences likewise, in which, no doubt, the professor showed as much learning, judgment, and spirit of prophecy as in those already quoted.[390]