LOCUSTS. 280 
In Hazara some four hundred maunds of young locusts were destroyed in 
April in the Mansahra Tahsil under the direction of the tahsildar, 
In Peshawar the villagers were turned out at once whenever young locusts 
showed themselves, and by the 20th April some ten thousand people were at 
work. When the rabi harvest began the villagers were dismissed, and five 
thousand hired labourers were employed until about the 3rd of May, when the 
barley was half reaped and the ears of wheat were too hard to be attacked by 
the young locusts. At a low estimate, over eighty millions of young locusts 
were destroyed, the cost being about eight thousand rupees, The myriads of 
locusts, however, which poured into the district from independent territory 
made it impossible to deal at all completely with the invasion. 
In Kohat orders were issued to turn out the people when the locusts 
hatched, and the greatest exertions were made to deal with the pest. In the 
Kohat station itself, Captain Parsons wrote that the chief invasion lasted 
about ten days. During this time vast numbers of locusts were destroyed 
each day, the quantity amounting on one occasion to six hundred maunds, 
One rupee was paid for each maund weighed. Nearly all the undetained 
inhabitants of the city laboured, and the troops and the boys of the large High 
School assisted. The collection of the insects was very simple, as they could 
be shaken off the trees by thousands into sheets held below. Four men could 
collect a maund ina very short time. There were ten weighing stations 
established, and the district funds were freely drawn upon. According toa 
crop report published in June, 1891, numbers of young locusts in the Hangu 
Tahsil of Kohat were also destroyed by firing the dwarf palms through which 
they were crawling, while in the Barak ilaqua the destruction is noticed in the 
same report of some three thousand maunds of young locusts, 
In Jhelum the destruction of eggs began early in March. From five 
hundred to six hundred maunds of eggs were destroyed in one tahsil. At first 
one anna, and later half-an-anna,a seer was paid for the egos, while gur and 
atta were distributed to the people engaged in destroying the young locusts, 
Some Rs. 3,000 was noticed as spent from district funds in the early part of 
the spring upon the.destruction of eggs and young locusts. But the Deputy 
Commissioner states that the people were inclined to be apathetic, as, from the 
dimensions of the plague, it seemed hopeless to cope with it, 
In Shahpur the naib-tahsildar of Khushab was put in special charge, and 
large numbers of young locusts were destroyed, though little real impression 
was made upon the pest. 
In Gujranwalla in March many of the winged locusts were killed in the 
mornings and evenings when they were inactive, Every patwari, lambardar, 
and policeman was made responsible for reporting at the tahsil whenever egos 
were laid or young appeared. Land in which egos had been deposited, if not 
under crop, was ploughed three or four times so as to expose them, Hggs 
