HERE AND THERE IN NORTHERN AFRICA 



83 



vated as far as the eye could reach, to- 

 ward the Mountain of the Lions ; golden 

 grain with ears so full that the stalks 

 could hardly stand upright ; lemon groves 

 with their yellow fruit and fragrant blos- 

 soms ; great groves of mandarins and 

 oranges, so verdant, so beautiful, and so 

 fertile it seemed like the Garden of Eden. 



A south wind blew, and the locusts 

 came. They were probably the same sort 

 as in the days of Pharaoh and the plague. 

 At first they came in small swarms. Men, 

 women, and children were impressed to 

 help battle against this terrible foe, for 

 wherever the locusts alight nothing green 

 remains when they pass on. 



The fertile plain, rich vineyards, and 

 verdure are in a few hours turned into a 

 barren desert, with only stumps and tree 

 trunks with the leaves gone and the bark 

 all off. 



It was a curious sight to see hundreds 

 of Arab and Spanish laborers, overseers, 

 and even wealthy French land-owners 

 themselves, and semi-naked Arab chil- 

 dren walking abreast in an almost straight 

 line, each beating an old wooden pail, an 

 empty box, a vegetable can, or a drum 

 and blowing a tin trumpet or twirling a 

 policeman's rattle. Each person or child 

 walks in a furrow to himself, and the 

 deafening noise keeps the locusts from 

 settling. Frequently the owners of the 

 plantations build fires and make them 

 smoke to keep away the swarms of lo- 

 custs. 



When the locusts have alighted late in 

 the afternoon, nothing can drive them 

 off. They take wing the following morn- 

 ing, shortly after sunrise, unless the time 

 has arrived for the female locust to lay 

 her eggs. 



THE NYMPHS OF THE) LOCUSTS MORE DE- 

 STRUCTIVE THAN THE TOCUST 



The females excavate holes in the 

 earth two and three inches deep, in 

 which they deposit from sixty-two to 

 sixty-eight eggs, enveloped in a glutinous 

 secretion, shaped somewhat like an ear 

 of wheat. 



Men have to plow and spade every inch 

 of ground, for the nymphs are more de- 

 structive than the locusts, and the only 

 way to prevent the eggs from hatching 



is to uncover them and leave them in the 

 sun. 



The period of incubation is twenty- 

 one days; then tiny creatures — called 

 nymphs — crawl out. They remain quiet 

 for two days and then begin to eat. They 

 eat and eat and eat. 



Men with torches burn the nymphs by 

 the millions, but they crawl out of the 

 earth faster than the hand of man can 

 destroy them. The first one to come out 

 takes the lead, and the others follow in 

 swarms many feet wide. They make a 

 curious noise, like the sound of the sea. 



It seems incredible that a thing so 

 small and insignificant is so difficult to 

 destroy. Build great fires and the 

 swarms of crawling, wriggling nymphs 

 will smother them, those in front being 

 burned by millions, and those in the rear 

 pushing on and passing over the burned 

 bodies of the leaders. They will block 

 and fill up a sluggish African stream, 

 and the millions in the rear will pass 

 over unharmed. 



The government sends troops to aid in 

 the defense, for it means ruin and star- 

 vation to thousands of people, besides 

 heavy money losses. Great trenches are 

 dug and the nymphs fall in. and when 

 three-fourths full kerosene oil is poured 

 on them and they are set afire, or else 

 earth is thrown on them to a depth of 

 about two feet. They can crawl out of 

 the earth if only covered with a few 

 inches, but when deeply covered they 

 smother to death. 



The young locusts are most destruc- 

 tive, selecting the choicest vegetables or 

 tender shoots and green leaves. It takes 

 weeks for them to develop from a tiny, 

 black nymph into a full-sized locust, but 

 they increase rapidly in size, and one can 

 almost see their legs and wings develop. 



LOCUSTS AS A FOOD 



Saint John the Baptist is spoken of as 

 having lived on locusts and wild honey. 

 From the earliest times the tribes that 

 dwelt on or near the great deserts of 

 Persia, Arabia, and Africa have eaten 

 dried locusts as food, and they will keep 

 on doing so as long as huge swarms fly 

 out of the desert. 



Arabs eat the flesh of locusts when 



