LOCUSTS ANTS. 461 



their ravages as that of the Prophet Joel : " The land 

 is as the garden of Eden hefore them, and behind them 

 a desolate wilderness."* Africa, Egypt, Persia, and the 

 whole of Asia, are subject to their visitations. In Arabia 

 the locusts come invariably from the East, which makes 

 the Arabs suppose that they are produced by the water of 

 the Persian Gulf. Nejed is particularly exposed to their 

 ravages j and when they have destroyed the harvests, they 

 penetrate by thousands into private dwellings, and devour 

 whatever they can find, even the leather of the water- 

 vessels. The Bedouins of Sinai are frequently driven to 

 despair by the multitudes of these vermin, which remain 

 generally during a space of forty or fifty days, and then 

 disappear for the rest of the season. They arrive towards 

 the end of May, when the Pleiades are setting, which leads 

 the natives to suppose that locusts entertain a dread for that 

 constellation. A few .visit the country annually ; but the 

 great flights take place every fourth or fifth year. All 

 Arabs, except those of Sinai, wherever they reside, are ac- 

 customed to eat locusts. In almost every town there are 

 shops where they are sold by measure. In preparing 

 them the cook throws them alive into boiling water, with 

 which a good deal of salt has been mixed. After a few 

 minutes they are taken out, and dried in the sun j the 

 head, feet, and wings are then torn off; the bodies are 

 cleansed from the salt, and perfectly dried, after which 

 they are put up into sacks or bags. Sometimes they are 

 broiled in butter, and spread on the unleavened bread 

 used at breakfast. The Jewish Arabs believe that the 

 food of which the Israelites ate so abundantly in the de- 

 sert was showers of locusts ; and they laugh at our trans- 

 lators, who suppose that quails were rained where quails 

 were never found. 



Another scourge of Arabia, and of hot countries in ge- 

 neral, is a small insect named arda ( Termesfatale, Linn.), 

 of the bulk of a grain of barley. On account of some 

 general resemblance, this insect is represented as an ant. 

 Its instinct disposes it to travel only by night ; it forms 

 a sort of gallery or mine in the earth ; and, after reaching 

 the end of its journey, it destroys every thing, victuals, 

 clothes, and furniture. At Beit el Fakih, the Danish 

 travellers were grievously annoyed by them ; they in- 



* See Africa, in Edinburgh Cabinet Library, 2d edit. pp. 500, 501. 

 VOL. II. 2 F 



