LOCUSTS 255 



saying, " God grants thee a part of thy wishes." And, indeed, as 

 all true believers know, this prayer of their prophet, written on 

 a piece of paper, and enclosed in a reed which is stuck in the 

 ground, is sure to preserve a field or an orchard from locust- 

 devastation. 



From 1778 to 1780 the whole empire of Morocco was so 

 laid waste by swarms of these insects, that a dreadful famine 

 ensued. Mr. Barrow, in his travels, states that in the southern 

 parts of Africa the. whole surface of the ground might literally 

 be said to be covered with them for an area of nearly 2,000 

 square miles. When driven into the sea by a north-west wind, 

 they formed upon the shore, for fifty miles, a bank three or four 

 feet high ; and when the wind was south-east, the stench was 

 such as to be smelt at the distance of 150 miles. 



Major Moore observed at Poonah an army of locusts, 

 which devastated the whole country of the Mahrattas, and 

 most likely came from Arabia. Their columns extended in 

 a width of 500 miies, and were so dense as to darken the 

 light of the sun. It was a red species (not the common G^^l- 

 lu8 migratorius), whose bloody colour added to the terror of 

 their appearance. 



On his way to Kehoboth, a German missionary station 

 in Central Africa, near the tropic of Capricorn, Anderson 

 met with vast numbers of the larvse of the locust, commonly 

 called by the Boers " Voet-gangers," or pedestrians. In some 

 places they might be seen packed in layers several inches in 

 thickness, and myriads were crushed and maimed by the waggon 

 and cattle. Towards nightfall they crawled on the bushes and 

 shrubs, many of which, owing to their weight and numbers, 

 were either bowed down or broken short off. They were of a 

 reddish colour, with dark markings ; and as they hung thus sus- 

 pended, they looked like clusters of rich fruit. These larvse 

 are justly dreaded by the colonists, as nothing seems capable 

 of staying their progress. Even rivers form no barrier to 

 their march, as the drowning multitudes afford the survivors 

 a temporary bridge ; endeavours to diminish their numbers 

 would appear like attempting to drain the ocean by a 

 pump. 



On travelling on, next morning, the locust itself was en- 

 countered, and in such masses as literally to darken the air. 



