218 INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



dor to Tangier, before the plague in 1799, the face of the 

 earth was covered by them — at that time a singular inci- 

 dent occured at El Araiche. The whole region from the 

 confines of the Sahara was ravaged by them : but on the 

 other side of the river El Kos not one of them was to be seen, 

 though there was nothing to prevent their flying over it. 

 Till then they had proceeded northward; but upon arriv- 

 ing at its banks they turned to the east, so that all the coun- 

 try north of El Araiche was full of pulse, fruits and grain, 

 — exhibiting a most striking contrast to the desolation of 

 the adjoining district. At length they were all carried 

 by a violent hurricane into the Western Ocean; the shore, 

 as in former instances, was covered by their carcases, 

 and a pestilence was caused by the horrid stench which 

 they emitted: — but when this evil ceased, their devasta- 

 tions were followed by a most abundant crop. The Arabs 

 of the Desert, "whose hands are against every man a ," 

 and who rejoice in the evil that befalls other nations, 

 when they behold the clouds of locusts proceeding from 

 the north are filled with gladness, anticipating a general 

 mortality, which they call El-Khere (the benediction); 

 for, when a country is thus laid waste, they emerge from 

 their arid deserts and pitch their tents in the desolated 

 plains 5 . 



The noise the locusts make when engaged in the work 

 of destruction has been compared to the sound of a flame 

 of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite 

 to that of fire c . A wild poet of our day has very striking- 

 ly described the noise produced by their flight and ap- 

 proach : 



a Genes, xvi. 12. «> Jackson's Travels in Morocco, 54. 



e See Bochurt, Hierozoic, P 1, iv, c, 5. 474-5. 



