M A R M Q T> 
Appear in numberlefs troops at very uncertain 
periods in Norway, and Lapland: are the peft and 
wonder of the country: they march like the army 
of locufts, fo eniphatically defcribed by the prophet 
Joel: deftroy every root of grafs * before them, 
and fpread univerfal defolation : they infedl the very 
ground, and cattle are faid to perifh which tafte of 
the grafs which they have touched : they march by 
myriads, in regular lines : nothing flops their pro- 
grefs, neither fire, torrents, lake or morafs ; they 
bend their courfe ftrait forward, with moil amazing 
obftinacy; they fwim over the lakes ^ the greateft 
rock gives them but a flight check, they go round, 
it, and then refume their march diredlly on, without 
the left deviation : if they meet a peafant, they per- 
ftft in their courfe, and jump as high as his knees in 
defence of their progrefs : are fo fierce as to lay hold 
of a flick, and fuffer themfelves to be fwung about 
before they quit their hold : if ftruck, they turn 
about and bite, and will make a noife like a dog : 
are the prey of foxes, Jyaxes, and ermines, who 
follow them in great numbers; at length they perifh, 
either thro 5 want of food, or by deftroying one ano¬ 
ther, or in fome great water, or in the fea: they 
are the dread of the country : in former times fpiri- 
tual weapons were exerted againft them, the prieft 
exorcifed, and had a long form of prayer to avert 
the evilf: happily it does not occur frequently^ 
once 
* Unn <xut .adds, that they feed on the Rcin-dter Liverwort, and 
Catkins of the Dwarf-birch. 
t Warn. Mus. 333. where the whole form is prefqrved. It >vas 
©ace fenoufly believed, that thefe animals were generated in the 
T 2 clouds, 
