The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1875-01-09
Ghe Slaturalist.
The LOcusts and the Grasshoppers in
History and Religion.

The American Ndturaiist recommends
that the people Of those sections which
have suffered so grieyously from the raw
ages Of the grasshoppers should retaliatc
by eating up these destructive insects As
the latter have consumed the crops they
are supposed to be in good condition for
the table.
These creatures and locusts have his
tory that dates back to the remotest past.
They have been known as scOurges from
the earliest times, and have been dreaded
in the numerous countries subject to their
visitation as pestilence and famine are
dreaded. Human ingenuity has failed to
find any adequate measures of protection
against them. They come in such dense
and mighty numbers as to darken the air,
and in few hours all vegetation disap-
pears before them. It is said that the
locusts, of which we read, and which have
so often carried dismay among the East
ern and the European nations, are bred in
the deserts Of Arabia and Tartary, and are
carried by the east winds into Africa and
Europe. A writer says that after inaa-
ting themselves with air they undertake
journeys, during which they travel more
than six leagues day, laying waste all
vegetation in their route.
Pliny relates that in many places in
Greece law obliged the inhabitants to
wage war against the locusts three times a
year.. G. in the egg state, the larvae state,
and the adult state. In the Isle Of Lem :
nos the citizens were required to pay as
taxes so many measures of locusts. Ar
mics have been employed to destroy them.
All kinds Of fnoises have been rcsortcd to to
frighten them-yells, cannon, &c. Good
Christians have tried the efficacy Of chant
ing psalms and exorcism. The traveller
Alvarez, monk, relates that while in
Ethiopia he employed all the power Of the
Church to frighten or destroy them away.
Ordering the natives to catch some Of the
locusts, he delivered to the insects an ad-
juration, which he had written the preced-
ing night, "summoning, admonishing and
accommodating them" He then char
ged them in three hours time to depart.
"0n their refusal Of which" says he, II
adjured and invoked all the birds Of the
air, animals aud tempests to dissipate,
destroy and devour them; and pronouncing
these words in their presence, that they
might not be ignorant Of them, l let them
60, SO they might tell the rest" But
such superstition was not confined to
Christians. The Mahommedans had an
idea that by catching some, writing certain
verses Of the Koran on their wings, and
then turning them loose, they would pre-
vail with the rest to depart.
The locusts have been eaten by many
Eastern people. They are eaten, "grilled,
or boiled, and sometimes dried in the sun,
powdered, mixed with milk and made into
cakes with four" Dried and salted, they
are an article Of commerce in Asia and
Africa. Their taste is likened to that Of
the crab. All remember how John the
Baptist, when in the wilderness, lived on
locusts and wild honey. The Arabs are
very fond Of them The Caliph Omar
Bcnel- Khottol, when asked his opinion of
them, said ;---'I only wish ! had basket
full Of them, wouldn't l crunch them2'