THE LOCUSTS. 
167 
not seem to be understood. Those of our native locusts, whose 
flight is the most noisy, are the coral-winged, the yellow¬ 
winged, and the broad-winged species. But as these are 
comparatively small insects, and never assemble in such great 
swarms as the much larser mim'atino; locusts of Asia and 
Africa, the noise of their flight bears no comparison to that 
of the latter. When a lare:e number of these take fliMit 
together, it is said that the noise is like the mshing of a 
whirlwind; and hence we read, of the symbolical locusts 
of the Apocalypse, that the sound of their wings was as 
the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; * 
and of others, that their comino; is like the noise of chariots 
on the tops of mountains, or the crackling of stubble when 
overnin and consumed by a flame of fire.f 
The East seems to have suffered severely at various times 
%> 
from the irruptions of immense swarms of locusts, darkening 
the sky during their passage, stripping the surface of the 
earth, where they alight, of all vestiges of vegetation, and 
' thus reducing, in an inconceivably short time, the most fertile 
regions to barren wastes. The ground over which they have 
passed presents the appearance of having been scorched by 
fire; and hence the name of locust, which is derived from the 
Latin,if and means a burnt place, is highly expressive of the 
desolation occasioned by their ravages. Famine and pesti¬ 
lence have sometimes followed their appearance, as we find 
recorded by various writers. In the Scriptures § frequent 
mention is made of the destructive powers of locusts, and 
these accounts are fully confirmed by the testimony of numer¬ 
ous travellers in Asia and Africa, some of whom have been 
eyewitnesses of the devastations of these insects. Among 
* Revelation ix. 9. f Joel ii. 5. 
t Lot us and ustus. 
§ For an explanation of the various passages in which allusion is made to lo¬ 
custs, and for much interesting matter relating to the history of these insects, as 
contained in the Bible and elucidated by the accounts of historians and travellers, 
the reader is referred to the article Locust in the learned and instructive work of 
my father, entitled, “ The Natural History of the Bible, by Thaddeus Mason Har¬ 
ris,” 8vo, Boston, 1820. 
