﻿LOCUSTS 
  IN 
  INDIA. 
  [73] 
  

  

  Locusts 
  in 
  India. 
  

  

  Next 
  to 
  southern 
  Eiissia, 
  India 
  is 
  afflicted 
  most 
  by 
  the 
  ravages 
  of 
  

   locusts, 
  and 
  the 
  matter 
  has 
  been 
  investigated 
  by 
  Government 
  petty 
  

   officials, 
  though 
  not 
  by 
  scientific 
  men. 
  

  

  A 
  dispatch 
  from 
  Calcutta 
  reports 
  that 
  the 
  Government 
  of 
  Madras 
  has 
  telegraphed 
  

   for 
  extra 
  famine 
  officers 
  immediately 
  because 
  of 
  the 
  ravages 
  of 
  the 
  locusts. 
  — 
  [News- 
  

   paper, 
  1879.] 
  

  

  Locusts 
  in 
  India 
  in 
  1878. 
  

  

  [From 
  the 
  Revenue 
  Report 
  of 
  the 
  Government 
  of 
  Madras, 
  1878.] 
  

  

  Kanguneri, 
  February 
  9, 
  1878. 
  

  

  The 
  plague 
  of 
  locusts 
  has 
  gone 
  on 
  increasing 
  and 
  very 
  great 
  damage 
  

   has 
  been 
  done, 
  especially 
  to 
  the 
  cumbu, 
  in 
  the 
  Ottapidaram 
  Taluq, 
  and 
  

   also 
  further 
  north. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  intimation 
  of 
  this 
  new 
  disaster 
  was 
  from 
  the 
  neighborhood 
  

   of 
  Tattaparai, 
  a 
  station 
  on 
  the 
  railway, 
  a 
  few 
  miles 
  south 
  of 
  Ottapidaram 
  

   itself. 
  They 
  were 
  then 
  moving 
  westward, 
  accompanied 
  by 
  a 
  vast 
  army 
  

   of 
  a 
  kind 
  of 
  reddish-brown 
  grasshoppers, 
  which, 
  it 
  has 
  been 
  conjectured, 
  

   are 
  merely 
  locusts 
  in 
  a 
  preliminary 
  stage 
  of 
  existence, 
  and 
  which 
  at 
  any 
  

   rate 
  consumed 
  every 
  leaf 
  of 
  cumbu 
  as 
  they 
  moved 
  slowly 
  along, 
  and 
  

   probably 
  a 
  good 
  deal 
  of 
  the 
  grain. 
  They 
  i)rogressed 
  so 
  very 
  slowly 
  that 
  

   it 
  was 
  many 
  days 
  before 
  they 
  reached 
  Maniachi 
  (a 
  little 
  more 
  than 
  a 
  week 
  

   ago), 
  and 
  now 
  they 
  appear 
  to 
  be 
  following 
  the 
  line 
  of 
  railway 
  to 
  the 
  

   north, 
  though 
  a 
  considerable 
  number 
  were 
  reported 
  to 
  have 
  been 
  seen 
  

   nearly 
  as 
  far 
  south 
  as 
  Gangaikundan, 
  within 
  10 
  miles 
  of 
  Tinnevelly; 
  

   and 
  reports 
  of 
  their 
  arrival 
  in 
  scattered 
  detachments 
  in 
  other 
  parts 
  of 
  

   the 
  district 
  also 
  have 
  been 
  heard, 
  but 
  fortunately 
  not 
  as 
  yet 
  amongst 
  

   the 
  rice 
  crops 
  in 
  the 
  Tambrapurni 
  Yalley. 
  

  

  ]N"o 
  one 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  any 
  idea 
  of 
  their 
  origin 
  ; 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  equally 
  dark 
  

   as 
  to 
  their 
  destination, 
  or 
  the 
  probable 
  duration 
  of 
  their 
  stay 
  in 
  the 
  dis- 
  

   trict. 
  

  

  Fortunately, 
  the 
  bulk 
  of 
  the 
  dry 
  crop 
  in 
  the 
  north 
  had 
  been 
  harvested 
  

   before 
  their 
  arrival, 
  and 
  as 
  the 
  rice 
  harvest 
  has 
  also 
  begun, 
  hopes 
  are 
  

   entertained 
  that 
  they 
  will 
  be 
  too 
  late 
  to 
  get 
  any 
  share 
  of 
  it 
  even 
  if 
  they 
  

   come 
  at 
  all. 
  

  

  The 
  most 
  anxious 
  question 
  at 
  present 
  is 
  whether 
  they 
  will 
  eat 
  cotton 
  

   when 
  there 
  is 
  nothing 
  else 
  left. 
  So 
  far 
  they 
  appear 
  to 
  have 
  left 
  it 
  alone, 
  

   but 
  then 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  abundance 
  of 
  more 
  nourishing 
  food 
  to 
  be 
  got, 
  

   and 
  the 
  owners 
  of 
  an 
  unusually 
  fine 
  crop 
  of 
  cotton 
  are 
  naturally 
  suffer- 
  

   ing 
  terribly 
  from 
  suspense. 
  

  

  No 
  one 
  seems 
  to 
  have 
  attempted 
  to 
  destroy 
  or 
  get 
  rid 
  of 
  them 
  in 
  any 
  

   way; 
  but 
  a 
  good 
  deal 
  of 
  grain 
  was 
  hastily 
  picked 
  (probably 
  before 
  it 
  

   was 
  quite 
  ripe) 
  as 
  the 
  plague 
  moved 
  on. 
  

  

  J. 
  B. 
  PENNINGTON, 
  

  

  Collector 
  of 
  Tinnevelly. 
  

  

  Sattur, 
  February 
  7, 
  1878. 
  

   Locusts 
  appeared 
  in 
  swarms 
  in 
  the 
  village 
  of 
  Sattur 
  and 
  in 
  the 
  fields 
  

   adjacent 
  to 
  it 
  this 
  morning. 
  They 
  have 
  been 
  also 
  going 
  towards 
  the 
  

   western 
  hills, 
  and 
  it 
  is 
  feared 
  they 
  may 
  damage 
  the 
  paddy 
  cultivations 
  

   now 
  in 
  a 
  thriving 
  condition 
  in 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  hill 
  villages 
  in 
  Sankara- 
  

   nainarkovil 
  and 
  Strivilliputtur. 
  

  

  