1 1 LOCUSTIDJE — LOCUSTS. 



liiiiulred of these Marwarees, Captain Carnac estimates, 

 niiit't y-niue died that year ! Near the town of Baroda, these 

 })oor people perished at the rate of live liundred a day; and 

 at Aiiraedabad, a hirp:e city of two hundred thousand in- 

 hal)itafas, one hundred thousand died from this awful visi- 

 tation !' 



In 1816, Captain Riley met with a flight of Locusts in 

 the north of Africa, which extended in leno^th about eight 

 miles, and in breadth three, lie tells us, also, he was iu- 

 foriiiL'd 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.'^ 

 ]5efore 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 oc- 

 curred 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, ex- 

 hibiting 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 pesti- 

 lence (confirming the statement, and verifying the supposi- 

 tion of Captain Riley) was caused by the horrid stench 

 which they emitted : but when this evil ceased, their de- 

 vastations were followed by a most abundant crop.^ 



In 1825 the Russian empire was overrun to a very alarm- 



1 Penny Mag., 1843, p. 231. 



2 Narrative, p. 234, and p. 238. 



3 Trav. in Morocco, p. 105. 



