114 LOCUSTID^ — LOCUSTS. 



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 

 laies, 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. "^ 



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 im- 

 mediately 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 be- 

 sprinkle them with the liquor; for if you come there after- 

 ward, you will find them oppressed with sleep; but how you 

 are to destroy them is to be your concern. A Locust will 

 toych nothing, he concludes, if you pound absinthium, or a 

 leek, or centaury with water, and sprinkle it.^ 



Pidymus 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.^ 



^'ieuhoff 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 



1 Nat. Hist., xi. 29; Holland, Pt. I. p. 327, F-H. 



2 Owen's Geojjonika, ii. 137-8. ^ Ibid., 138. 



