INSECTS. 231 
If Locufts are to this day eaten in thofe places, 
^’here St. John dwelt, I cannot fee why he may not 
have lived on the fame infect, according to the evan- 
gelic hiftory, which therefore needs no alteration. 
’Ajco^jf w iH remain what they have been, and are 
Neither changed to birds nor fruit. 
A traveller is the only perfon who can learn 
Whether Locufts are to this day eaten in the Eaft ; 
to accomplifti his defign, he muft cither be an eye 
tt'itnefs, or receive informations from thofe’ who 
have been on the fpot, where they could know the ' 
truth of it; of whofe veracity he muft be as well 
;i ffured, as if he had feen and eat them himfelf. 
Arabia is the place where thefc informations are to 
he obtained, a country inacceffible to Europeans : it 
ls therefore evident, that no European ever could, 
0r perhaps fcarcely ever will, be an eye witnefs to 
l he truth of this. Informations and relations there- 
‘Ore, procured from perfons who have vifited, and 
f een the cuftoms of, the country, on which one may 
depend, are the only means we have left to come at 
Ate truth; and thefe I have earneftly endeavoured to 
obtain, during my travels in Afia and Egypt. I 
have aiked Franks, who have long lived in the Eaft, 
Whether they ever heard that Locufts were eaten 
there ? They all anfwered in the affirmative, and 
thofe of greateft veracity I got in Egypt (Chaffin, 
,, r ft French interpreter in Alexandria, who had 
,; v ed thirty years in Egypt) and Aleppo (Bonard, 
: tench Chancellor in Smyrna, who had long lived 
*\t Aleppo) being the places where fuch informa- 
tions may be eafieft obtained. I have a/ked Chrif- 
t\ans, inhabitants of the country, Armenians, Gre- 
Cla ns, Coptites, and Syrians, who were born here, 
?J*d travelled in Syria, near the lied Sea and Egypt, 
1 they knew whether the Arabians eat Locufts ? 
0.4 AH 
