544 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



As the locusts moult and dry they be- 

 gin to try their wings — first a few feet 

 from the ground, then into the tree-tops, 

 where they spend about two days and 

 nights, and with insatiable appetites build 

 up solidly their frail bodies, till, at some 

 unknown and unheard signal, they fly 

 skyward, collecting like a cloud of dust 

 in a whirlwind, and migrate. Thus every 

 few days, after great numbers have 

 moulted, the air all at once would be 

 thickened by the countless numbers leav- 

 ing the country, while others of the 

 creepers moulted and took their places, 

 finally ending in the complete clearance 

 of the land of the pupa. 



It was noticed that these new fliers 

 never collected for migration except when 

 a strong west wind was blowing, which 

 therefore carried them due east. 



THEY COVERED THE EACE OE THE WHOU 



EARTH, SO THAT THE LAND 



WAS DARKENED 



Twice Bedouins from En-gedi, the his- 

 toric spring situated on the western 

 shores of the Dead Sea, reported that in 

 passing many locusts had fallen into this 

 salt lake and were washed ashore in huge 

 piles, which news, however, lacks con- 

 firmation. One thing seems certain from 

 the course they took when leaving here — 

 that they must have been making for the 

 great desert just east of the arable range 

 of Moab. 



Similar must have been the case in 

 Joel's experience, for we read from his 

 minute and graphic narrative : "And the 

 Northerner will I remove far from you, 

 and drive him into a land parched and 

 desolate, with his face towards the east- 

 ern sea (Dead Sea), and his rear towards 

 the hinder sea (Mediterranean),— then 

 shall come up his ill odour, yea his stench 

 shall ascend" (Joel 2:20).* 



That Joel depicts faithfully, if not even 

 mildly, the bad smell of the dead locusts, 

 no one who has got even a whiff of their 

 putrid masses can ever doubt. In Naz- 

 areth, to which we have before alluded, 

 where so many were crushed to death in 

 the narrow streets, actual observers state 

 that the air for awhile was so putrid and 

 vile as to be almost unbearable 



* The Emphasised Bible, Rotherham. 



We have before noted that Jericho es- 

 caped the ravages of the creeping locusts 

 (see page 533), but now, in passing the 

 Jordan V r alley, these fliers of recent date 

 came in clouds sufficiently dense to darken 

 the sun and cleared this Jericho oasis of 

 its vegetable gardens and' the leaves from 

 the fruit trees, rendering it for a while 

 as barren as the parched wilderness en- 

 circling it. Unlike the rest of the country, 

 where the fliers (not to mention them in 

 the creeping stages) remained for a 

 couple of weeks, here the entire devasta- 

 tion was wrought by two visits lasting 

 but a day or so each, after which diligent 

 search could not produce a single locust. 



Similarly, at the time of the Israelitish 

 exodus, they formed one of the most 

 grievous of the Egyptian plagues, and 

 just as suddenly that plague ceased and 

 the locusts were no more. 



"And Moses stretched forth his rod 

 over the land of Egypt, . . . and when 

 it was morning, the east wind brought 

 the locusts. And the locusts went up 

 over all the land of Egypt; . . . very 

 grievous were they. . . . Eor they 

 covered the face of the whole earth, so 

 that the land was darkened ; and they did 

 eat every herb of the land, and all the 

 fruit of the trees, . . . and there re- 

 mained not any green thing 

 through all the land of Egypt. Then 

 Pharaoh . . . said I have sinned . . . 

 entreat the Lord, that he may take away 

 from me this death only. . . . And 

 the Lord turned a mighty west wind, 

 which took away the locusts, and cast 

 them into the Red Sea ; there remained 

 not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt" 

 (Ex. 10: 13-19)- 



EOCUST CANNIBALISM 



One strange revelation while watching 

 the fascinating insects was to find that, 

 contrary to expectations, locusts are not 

 strictly vegetarians, being especially fond 

 of the taste of flesh of their own kind. 



While on the usual march, vegetable 

 food being still abundant, it would often 

 be seen that a larger locust would, with- 

 out provocation or warning, walk up to 

 a smaller one and with one bite nip off 

 one of the long back legs. The victim 

 seemed not to care, unless it happened to 



