LOCUSTID^ — LOCUSTS. 121 



long time sweet, so that they have food from these insects all 

 the year round. 



Diodorus concludes his history of this people, with an 

 account of the strange and wonderful death that comes to 

 them at an early age, the result of eating this kind of food : 

 They are exceeding short-lived, never living to be over 

 forty ; and when they grow old, winged lice breed in their 

 flesh, not only of divers sorts, but of horrid and ugly shapes ; 

 that this plague begins first at the abdomen and breast, and 

 in a short time eats and consumes the whole body. (Phthi- 

 riasis. y 



Strabo, most probably quoting frora'the above passage 

 from Diodorus, speaks of a nation bordering on that of the 

 Struthophagi, or Bird-eaters, whose food consisted entirely 

 of Locusts, and who were carried off by the same most horri- 

 ble disease.^ 



Pliny remarks : " The people of the East countries make 

 their food of grasshoppers, even the very Parthians, who 

 otherwise abound in wealth.'"^ 



The Arabs, who are compelled at the present day to in- 

 habit the desert of Sahara, welcome the approach of Locusts 

 as the means, oftentimes, of saving them from famishing 

 with hunger. Robbins tells us their manner of preparing 

 these insects for food is, by digging a deep hole in the 

 ground, building a fire at the bottom, and filling it with 

 wood. Then, after the earth is heated as hot as possible, 

 and the coals and embers taken out, they prepare to fill the 

 cavity with the live Locusts, confined in a bag holding about 

 five bushels. Several hold the bag perpendicularly over the 

 hole with the mouth near the surface of the ground, while 

 others stand round with sticks. The bag is then opened, 

 and the Locusts shaken with great force into the hot pit, 

 while the surrounding persons immediately throw sand upon 

 them to prevent their flying off. The mouth of the hole is 

 now completely covered with sand, and another fire built 

 upon the top of it. When the Locusts are thoroughly roast- 

 ed and become cool, they are picked out with the hand, 

 thrown upon tent-cloths, or blankets, and placed in the 



1 Diod. Sic. mat., L. III. c. 2. Booth's Trans., 170-1. 



2 Strabo. Geoff., L. XVI. c. 4, ^13. 



3 Nat. Hist., xi. 26. Holl. Pt. I. p. 325. E. Cf. Pliny, Xat. Illst., 

 xi. 29. 



