Part 15

It has been remarked, in speaking of the climate of Morocco, that the young locusts are those which are the most mischievous; and that it seems almost impossible to rid the land of these insects and their ravages, when the country once becomes thus afflicted. In order to preserve the houses and gardens in the neighbourhood of cities, they dig a ditch two feet in depth and as much in width. This they pallisade with reeds close to each other, and inclined inward toward the ditch; so that the insects unable to climb up the slippery reed, fall back into the ditch, where they devour one another.

This was the means by which the gardens and vineyards of Rabat, and the city itself were delivered from this scourge, in 1779. The intrenchment, which was, at least, a league in extent, formed a semicircle from the sea to river, which separates Rabat from Sallee. The quantity of young locusts here assembled was so prodigious that, on the third day, the ditch could not be approached because of the stench. The whole country was eaten up, the very bark of the fig, pomegranate, and orange tree, bitter, hard, and corrosive as it was could not escape the voracity of these insects.

The lands, ravaged throughout all the western provinces, produced no harvest, and the Moors being obliged to live on their stores, which the exportation of corn (permitted till 1774) had drained, began to feel a dearth. Their cattle, for which they make no provision, and which in these climates, have no other subsistance than that of daily grazing, died with hunger; nor could any be preserved but those which were in the neighbourhood of mountains, or in marshy grounds, where the regrowth of pasturage is more rapid.

In 1780, the distress was still farther increased. The dry winter had checked the products of the earth, and given birth to a new generation of locusts, who devoured whatever had escaped from the inclemency of the season. The husbandman did not reap even what he had sowed, and found himself destitute of food, cattle, or seed corn. In this time of extreme wretchedness the poor felt all the horrors of famine. They were seen wandering over the country to devour roots, and, perhaps, abridged their days by digging into the entrails of the earth in search of the crude means by which they might be preserved.

Vast numbers perished of indigestible food and want. I have beheld country people in the roads, and in the streets, who had died of hunger, and who were thrown across asses to be taken and buried. Fathers sold their children. The husband, with the consent of his wife, would take her into another province, there to bestow her in marriage as if she were his sister, and afterwards come and reclaim her when his wants were no longer so great. I have seen women and children run after camels, and rake in their dung to seek for some indigested grain of barley, which, if they found, they devoured with avidity.

_Chenier._

[67] The Abmelec or eater of Locusts, or grasshoppers, is a bird which better deserves to be described, perhaps, than most others of which travellers have given us an account, because the facts relating to it are not only strange, in themselves, but so well and distinctly attested, that however surprising they may seem, we cannot but afford them our belief. The food of this creature is the locust, or the grasshopper: it is of the size of an ordinary hen, its feathers black, its wings large, and its flesh of a greyish colour; they fly generally in great flocks, as the starlings are wont to do with us: but the thing which renders these birds wonderful is, that they are so fond of the water of a certain fountain in Corasson, or Bactria, that where-ever that water is carried, they follow; on which account it is carefully preserved; for where ever the locusts fall, the Armenian priests, who are provided with this water, bring a quanity of it, and place in jars, or pour it into little channels in the fields, the next day whole troops of these birds arrive and quickly deliver the people from the locusts.

_Universal History._

Sir John Chardin has given us, the following passage from an antient traveller, in relation to this bird. In Cyprus about the time that the corn was ripe for the sickle, the earth produced such a quantity of cavalettes, or locusts, that they obscured sometimes the splendour of the sun. Wherever these came, they burnt and eat up all; for this there was no remedy, since, as fast as they were destroyed, the earth produced more: God, however, raised them up a means for their deliverance, which happened thus. In Persia, near the city of Cuerch there is a fountain of water, which has a wonderful property of destroying these insects; for a pitcher full of this being carried in the open air, without passing through house or vault, and being set on an high place, certain birds which follow it, and fly and cry after the men who carry it from the fountain, come to the place where it is fixed. These birds are red and black, and fly in great flocks together, like starlings; the Turks and Persians call them Musulmans. These birds no sooner came to Cyprus, but they destroyed the locusts with which the Island was infested; but if the water be spilt or lost these creatures immediately disappear; which accident fell out when the Turks took this Island; for one of them going up into the steeple of Famagusta, and finding there a pitcher of this water, he, fancying that it contained gold or silver, or some precious thing, broke it, and spilt what was therein; since which the Cypriots have been as much tormented as ever by the locusts.

On the confines of the Medes and of Armenia, at certain times a great quantity of Birds are seen who resemble our blackbirds, and they have a property sufficiently curious to make me mention it. When the corn in these parts begins to grow, it is astonishing to see the number of Locusts with which all the fields are covered. The Armenians have no other method of delivering themselves from these insects, than by going in procession round the fields and sprinkling them with a particular water which they take care to preserve in their houses. For this water comes from a great distance, they fetch it from a Well belonging to one of their Convents near the frontiers, and they say that the bodies of many Christian martyrs were formerly thrown into this well. These processions and the sprinkling continue three or four days, after which the Birds that I have mentioned come in great flights, and whether it be that they eat the locusts, or drive them away, in two or three days the country is cleared of them.

_Tavernier._

At Mosul and at Haleb, says Niebuhr, I heard much of the Locust Bird, without seeing it. They there call it _Samarmar_, or as others pronounce it, _Samarmog_. It is said to be black, larger than a sparrow, and no ways pleasant to the palate. I am assured that it every day destroys an incredible number of Locusts; they pretend nevertheless that the Locusts sometimes defend themselves, and devour the Bird with its feathers, when they have overpowered it by numbers. When the children in the frontier towns of Arabia catch a live Locust, they place it before them and cry _Samarmog_! And because it stoops down terrified at the noise, or at the motion of the child, or clings more closely to its place, the children believe that it fears the name of its enemy, that it hides itself, and attempts to throw stones. The _Samarmog_ is not a native of Mosul or Haleb, but they go to seek it in Khorasan with much ceremony. When the Locusts multiply very greatly, the government sends persons worthy of trust to a spring near the village of _Samarûn_, situated in a plain between four mountains, by _Mesched_, or _Musa er ridda_, in that province of Persia. The deputies with the ceremonies prescribed fill a chest with this water, and pitch the chest so that the water may neither evaporate nor be spilt before their return. From the spring to the Town whence they were sent, the chest must always be between heaven and earth: they must neither place it on the ground, nor under any roof, lest it should lose all its virtue. Mosul being surrounded with a wall, the water must not pass under the gate way, but it is received over the wall, and the chest placed upon the Mosque _Nebbi Gurgis_, a building which was formerly a church, and which in preference to all the other buildings has had from time immemorial the honour to possess this chest upon its roof. When this precious water has been brought from Khorasan with the requisite precautions, the common Mohammedans, Christians and Jews of Mosul believe that the _Samarmog_ follows the water, and remains in the country as long as there is a single drop left in the chest of _Nebbi-Gurgis_. Seeing one day a large stork's nest upon this vessel, I told a Christian of some eminence in the town, how much I admired the quick smell of the _Samarmog_, who perceived the smell of the water thro' such a quantity of ordure, he did not answer me, but was very much scandalized that the government should have permitted the stork to make her nest upon so rare a treasure, and still more angry, that for more than nine years, the government had not sent to procure fresh water.

_Niebuhr. Desc. de l'Arabie._

Dr. Russell describes this bird as about the size of a starling, the body of a flesh colour, the rest of its plumage black, the bill and legs black also.

[68] The Locusts are remarkable for the hieroglyphic that they bear upon the forehead, their colour is green throughout the whole body, excepting a little yellow rim that surrounds their head, which is lost at their eyes. This insect has two upper wings pretty solid: they are green like the rest of the body, except that there is in each a little white spot. The Locust keeps them extended like great sails of a ship going before the wind, it has besides two other wings underneath the former, and which resemble a light transparent stuff pretty much like a cobweb, and which it makes use of in the manner of smack sails that are along a vessel; but when the Locust reposes herself she does like a vessel that lies at anchor, for she keeps the second sails furled under the first.

_Norden._

The Mohammedans believe some mysterious meaning is contained in the lines upon the Locust's forehead.

I compared the description in the Poem with a Locust, which was caught in Leicestershire. It is remarkable that a single insect should have found his way so far inland.

[69] An Arabian expression from the Moallakat. "She turns her right side, as if she were in fear of some large-headed Screamer of the night."

_Poem of Antara._

[70] The Mussulmans are immutably prepossessed, that as the Earth approaches its dissolution, its sons and daughters gradually decrease in their dimensions. As for Dagjial, they say, he will find the race of mankind dwindled into such diminutive pigmies, that their habitations in cities, and all the best towns, will be of no other fabrick than the shoes and slippers made in these present ages, placed in rank and file, in seemly and regular order; allowing one pair for two round families.

_Morgan's Hist. of Algiers._

[71] The story of Haruth and Maruth as in the Poem, may be found in D'Herbelot, and in Sale's notes to the Koran. Of the differing accounts I have preferred that which makes Zohara originally a woman, and metamorphoses her into the planet Venus to that which says the planet Venus descended as Zohara to tempt the Angels.

The Arabians have so childish a love of rhyme, that when two names are usually coupled they make them jingle, as in the case of Haruth and Maruth. Thus they call Cain and Abel, Abel and Kabel. I am informed that the Koran is crowded with rhymes, more particularly at the conclusion of the chapters.

[72] The Ism-Ablah--The Science of the Name of God. They pretend that God is the lock of this science, and Mohammed the key, that consequently none but Mohammedans can attain it; that it discovers what passes in distant countries, that it familiarizes the possessors with the Genii, who are at the command of the initiated and who instruct them; that it places the winds and the seasons at their disposal, that it heals the bile of serpents, the lame, the maimed, and the blind. They say that some of their greatest Saints, such as _Abdulkadir Cheilani_ of Bagdat, and _Ibn Alwan_ who resided in the south of Yemen, were so far advanced in this science by their devotion, that they said their prayers every noon in the Kaba of Mecca, and were not absent from their own houses any other part of the day. A merchant of Mecca, who had learnt it in all its forms from Mohammed el Dsjanâdsjeni (at present so famous in that city) pretended that he himself being in danger of perishing at sea, had fastened a billet to the mast with the usual ceremonies, and that immediately the tempest ceased. He showed me at Bombay, but at a distance, a book which contained all sorts of figures and mathematical tables, with instructions how to arrange the billets and the appropriate prayers for every circumstance. But he would neither suffer me to touch the Book, nor copy the title.

There are some Mohammedans who shut themselves up in a dark place without eating and drinking for a long time, and there with a loud voice repeat certain short prayers till they faint. When they recover they pretend to have seen not only a croud of Spirits, but God himself, and even the Devil. But the true initiated in the Ism-Allah do not seek these visions. The secret of discovering hidden treasures, belong also, if I mistake not, to the Ism Allah.

_Niebuhr._

[73] One of the Arabs whom we saw from afar, and who was mounted upon a Camel, seemed higher than a tower and to be moving in the air, at first this was to me a strange appearance, however it was only the effect of refraction. The Camel which the Arab was upon touched the ground like all others. There was nothing then extraordinary in this phenomenon, and I afterwards saw many appearances exactly similar in the dry Countries.

_Niebuhr._

"They surprized you, not indeed by a sudden assault; but they advanced, and the sultry vapour of noon thro' which you saw them, increased their magnitude."

_Moallakat. Poem of Hareth._

[74] One of these _Hykes_ is usually six yards long and 5 or 6 foot broad, serving the Arab for a compleat dress in the day, and for his bed and covering in the night. It is a loose but troublesome kind of garment, being frequently disconcerted and falling upon the ground, so that the person who wears it, is every moment obliged to tuck it up, and fold it anew about his body. This shews the great use there is for a girdle in attending any active employment, and in consequence thereof, the force of the scripture injunction alluding thereunto, of _having our loyns girded_. The method of wearing these garments, with the use they are at other times put to, in serving for coverlets to their beds, should induce us to take the finer sort of them at least, such as are wore by the Ladies and persons of distinction, to be the _peplus_ of the antients. It is very probable likewise, that the loose folding garment, (the _Toga_ I take it to be) of the Romans, was of this kind: for if the drapery of their statues is to instruct us, this is actually no other than what the Arabs appear in, when they are folded up in their _Hykes_. Instead of the _fibula_, they join together, with thread or a wooden bodkin, the two upper corners of this garment, which being first placed over one of their shoulders, they fold the rest of it afterwards round their bodies.

_Shaw._

The employment of the women is to prepare their wool, spin, and weave in looms hung lengthways in their tents. These looms are formed by a list of an ell and a half long, to which the threads of the warp are fixed at one end, and at the other on a roller of equal length; the weight of which, being suspended, keeps them stretched. The threads of the warp are so hung as to be readily intersected. Instead of shuttles, the women pass the thread of the woof thro' the warp with their fingers, and with an iron comb, having a handle, press the woof to give a body to their cloth. Each piece of about 5 ells long, and an ell and a half wide, is called a _haick_; it receives neither dressing, milling nor dying, but is immediately fit for use: it is the constant dress of the Moors of the country, is without seam, and incapable of varying according to the caprices of fashion. When dirty it is washed: the Moor is wrapped up in it day and night, and this _haick_ is the living model of the drapery of the ancients.

_Chenier._

If thou at all take thy neighbour's raiment to pledge, thou shalt deliver it unto him by that the Sun goeth down.

For that is his covering only, it is his raiment for his skin: wherein shall he sleep?

_Exodus._ XXII. 26. 27.

[75] Fear the fire whose fuel is men, and stones prepared for the unbelievers.

_Koran. Chap. 2._

Verily those who disbelieve our signs, we will surely cast to be broiled in hell fire; so often as their skins shall be well burned, we will give them other skins in exchange, that they may take the sharper torment.

_Koran. Chap. 4._

[76] The Arabians attribute to Solomon a perpetual enmity and warfare against wicked Genii and Giants; on the subject of his wonder-working Ring their tales are innumerable. They have even invented a whole race of Pre-Adamite Solomons, who according to them governed the world successively to the number of 40, or as others affirm, as many as 72. All these made the evil Genii their unwilling Drudges.

_D'Herbelot._

Anchieta was going in a canoe to the mouth of the river Aldea, a delightful spot, surrounded with mango trees, and usually abounding with birds called goarazes, that breed there. These birds are about the size of a hen, their colour a rich purple, inclining to red. They are white when hatched, and soon become black, but as they grow larger lose that colour and take this rich and beautiful purple. Our navigators had reached the place, but when they should have enjoyed the fine prospect which delights all who pass it, the sun was excessively hot, and this eye-pleasure was purchased dearly when the whole body was in a profuse perspiration, and the rowers were in a fever. Their distress called upon Joseph, and the remedy was no new one to him. He saw three or four of these birds perched upon a mango, and calling to them in the Brazilian language which the rowers understood, said, go you, call your companions, and come to shade these hot servants of the Lord. The birds stretched out their necks as if in obedience, and away they went to seek for others, and in a short time they came flying in the shape of an elegant cloud, and they shadowed the canoe a good league out to sea till the fresh sea breeze sprung up. Then they told them they might go about their business, and they separated with a clamor of rude but joyful sounds, which were only understood by the Author of Nature who created them. This was a greater miracle than that of the cloud with which God defended his chosen people in the wilderness from the heat of the sun, inasmuch as it was a more elegant and fanciful parasol. _Acho que foy maior portento este que o da nuvem, com que deos defendes no deserto a seu Povo minoso do calor do sol, tanto quanto mais tem de gracioso & aprasivel este chapeo de sol, que aquelle._

This was a common miracle of Anchietus. Jacob Biderman has an epigram upon the subject, quoted in the Jesuit's life.

Hesperii peterent cum barbara littora mystæ, Et sociis æger pluribus unus erat, Ille suum extincto, Phoebi quia lampadis æstu Occultoque uri, questus ab igne caput Quæsiit in prora, si quam daiet angulus umbram, Nulla sed in proræ partibus umbra fuit. Quæsiit in puppi, nihil umbræ puppis habebat, Summa sed urebant solis, & ima faces. His cupiens Anchieta malis succurrere, solam Aera per medium tendere vidit avem. Vidit, ei socias, ait, i, quære cohortes Aliger atque redux cum legione veni. Dicta probavit avis, celerique citatior Euro, Cognatum properat, quærere jussa gregem. Milleque mox sociis comitata revertitur alis, Mille sequi visæ, mille præire ducem. Mille supra, & totidem, juxtaque, infraque volabant, Omnis ad Anchietæ turba vocata preces. Et simul expansis facta testudine pennis, Desuper in tostas incubuere rates. Et procul inde diem, & lucem pepulere diei, Debile dum molis conderet umbra caput. Scilicet hæc fierent, ut canopea repente Anchieta artifices, esse coegit aves.

_Vida do Veneravel Padre Joseph de Anchieta, da companhia de Jesu, Taumaturgo do Novo Mundo, na Provincia do Brasil. composta pello P. Simam de Vasconcellos, da mesma companhia._

_Lisboa. 1672._

Father Simam de Vasconcellos probably stole this miracle from the Arabian story of Solomon, not that he is deficient in invention, but a Jesuit cannot be suspected of ignorance.

In a very old book, the _Margarita Philosophica_, is an account of a parasol more convenient, tho' not in so _elegant a taste_ as that of the wonder worker Anchieta. There is said to be a nation of one legged men, and one of these unipods is represented in a print lying on his back, under the shade of his own great foot. It is probably a classical lie.

The most quaint account of Solomon's wisdom is in Du Bartas.

Hee knowes---- Whether the Heavens sweet-sweating kisse appear To be Pearls parent, and the Oysters pheer, And whether, dusk, it makes them dim withall, Cleer breeds the cleer, and stormy brings the pale: Whether from sea the amber-greece be sent, Or be some fishes pleasant excrement. He knowes why the Earth's immoveable and round, The lees of Nature, center of the mound; Hee knows her mesure: and hee knows beside How _Coloquintida_ (duely apply'd) Within the darknesse of the Conduit-pipes, Amid the winding of our inward tripes, Can so discreetly the _white humour_ take. _Sylvester's Du Bartas._

[77] In places where there was water we found a beautiful variety of the plover.

_Niebuhr._

[78] The Camels of the hot countries are not fastened one to the tail of the other as in cold climates, but suffered to go at their will like herds of cows. The Camel driver follows singing, and from time to time giving a sudden whistle. The louder he sings and whistles, the faster the Camels go, and they stop as soon as he ceases to sing. The Camel-drivers to relieve each other sing alternately, and when they wish their beasts to brouze for half an hour on what they can find, they amuse themselves by smoking a pipe, after which beginning again to sing, the Camels immediately proceed.

_Tavernier._

[79] At four in the afternoon we had an unexpected entertainment, which filled our hearts with a very short-lived joy. The whole plain before us seemed thick covered with green grass and yellow daisies. We advanced to the place with as much speed as our lame condition would suffer us, but how terrible was our disapointment, when we found the whole of that verdure to consist in senna and coloquintida, the most nauseous of plants, and the most incapable of being substituted as food for man or beast.

_Bruce._

[80] The girdles of these people are usually of worsted, very artfully woven into a variety of figures, and made to wrap several times about their bodies, one end of them, by being doubled and sown along the edges, serves them for a purse, agreable to the acceptation of the word [Greek: Zônê] in the Holy Scriptures, the Turks and Arabs make a further use ot their girdles by fixing their knives and poiniards in them; whilst the Hojias, i. e. the writers and secretaries, are distinguished by having an inkhorn, the badge of their office, suspended in the like situation.

_Shaw._