310 THE INSECT WORLD. 
And so locusts and fish are the only creatures which God allows 
the Mussulman to eat without being skinned. They must, how- 
ever, have been killed by one of the faithful, for otherwise their 
flesh is impure! The Arabs eat, and are very fond of locusts. 
When he was asked his opinion on this article of food, the Caliph 
Omar-ben-el-Khottal said, “I only wish I had a basketful of 
them, wouldn’t I scrunch them !” 
According to General Daumas, locusts, fresh or preserved, are 
good food for both men and camels. They are eaten grilled or 
boiled, or prepared in the kous-koussou, after their legs, wings, 
and heads have been taken off. Sometimes they are dried in the 
sun, and reduced to powder, which is mixed with milk, and made 
into cakes with flour, dripping, or butter and salt. Camels are 
very fond of them; and they are given to them after having been 
dried, or roasted between two layers of ashes. Dried and salted, 
they are in Asia and in Africa an object of commerce. At Bagdad 
they sometimes cause the price of meat to fall. The taste of their 
flesh may be compared to that of the crab. astern nations have 
eaten locusts from time immemorial. The Greek comic poet, 
Aristophanes, tells us, in the “‘ Acharnians,” that the Greeks sold 
them in the markets. Moses allowed to the Jews four species, 
which are mentioned in Leviticus. St. John the Baptist, fol- 
lowing the example of the prophet Amos, made them his food in 
the desert, where he found nothing but locusts and a little honey. 
The wholesomeness of this food was, however, disputed among the 
ancients. Strabo relates that there existed on the borders of the 
eulf of Arabia a people called by him Acridophagi, or Locust- 
eating people; but they all came to a miserable end. These 
people procured for themselves locusts by lighting great fires, 
when the equinoctial winds brought these hosts. Blinded and 
suffocated by the smoke, the locusts fell to the ground, and were 
picked up greedily by them, and eaten, fresh or salted. ‘These 
locust-eaters,’’ says Strabo, “are, it 1s true, active, good runners; 
but their life never exceeds forty years. As they approach this 
age, a horrible vermin issues from their bodies, which eats them 
up, beginning from the belly, and so they die a miserable death.” 
The same tale is to be met with in a description of Admiral 
Drake’s voyage round the world. This traveller speaks of the 
