The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-01-31
Our Olio.
CYPRUS LocUsTs.
BY A DwELLEk IN THE EAST.

j y
the East must be acquainted with the
plague of locusts. | distinctly remember
that when small boy | was more impressed
by the accounts of the enormous extent of
their focks than with anything else my
books could tell me. There was to me
something APPALLING, and at the same time
attractive, in the swarms stretching for
miles, which obscured the sun, and devoured
everything green wherever they settled
1t is difficult, if not impossible, for any
one brought up in our temperate regions
to realize such state of things. We hear,
to be sure, Of damage done to crops at
home; just now it is sparrows; not very
long since it was game; next year it may
be something else; but in all these cases it
is simply damage perhaps one per cent,
or five per cent, or ten per cent. But with
locusts it means not damage, but destruc-
ton, or, better still, annihilation of the
crop Fancy an English farmer turning
out after breakfast and admiring his six
acre field of wheat, deliciously green, about
two feet high. Fancy him, too, coming
home to dinner at noon and seeing this
same field as bare as his hand. This is no
exaggeration, but plain matter-of-fact il
lustration of what may be seen any spring
where these abominable insects abound.
Once seen, it can never be forgotten.
have had my recollection of these
creatures and their ways revived by Par
liamentary paper entitled Report of the
Locust Campaign Of 1884, by Mr.. S. Brown,
Government Engineer, Cyprus" 1t gives
the results of the measures employed to
stay the plague to which the island has for
ages been subject; and so far it is satisfac-
tory enough The locusts have been put
down, and for most people that is the chief
point. [ notice that the Times has devoted
about half column to the paper, but has
contented itself with simply copying the
salient points, the writer evidently knowing
nothing Of the subject. The paper itself
presupposes knowledge of a certain
nature, which no one except those who are
acquainted with the district can be expected
to possess. / venture, therefore, to supply
the information necessary to a thorough
understanding of the subject.
Speaking as dweller in the East, | may
say that we have had the locusts with us
always. In the old, old days, they were
sent by the gods; in less remote times they
were dispensation of Providence. They
came and went, leaving lamentable traces
of their progress. But it was in the nature
of things that it should be so, and nobody
ever thought of trying if something could
not be done to stop their ravages. Under
Turkish rule, of course, this feeling was
intensified by the fatalism peculiar to their
faith. The locusts came of their own ac-
cord, and went off in the same way; it was
kiisn,et, and there was nothing to be done.
But even Mohammedans in time cannot
escape altogether the influence of Western
ideas, and some thirty years ago it occurred
to Osman Pasha, then governor of Cyprus,
to try and make head against the scourge
which devastated the island He was
earnest in the cause, but unfortunately died
before measures could possibly have had
any effect. His successors, as a rule, talked
a great deal, but, after the manner of their
race, did nothing A tax was imposed on
the peasants, which was to be devoted to
the purchase and destruction of locusts'
eggs. This was all very well; but as the
officials helped themselves to from fifty to
ninety per cent. of the money collected,
very little impression was made on the
swarms. And then, again, as three parts
sand and one part eggs did duty as eggs,
it is not to be wondered at that the insects
were as plentiful as ever.
So things went on till about fifteen years
ago, when Said Pasha became governor.
He kept on the system of buying eggs but
with this important difference, that when
he paid for eggs he saw that he got them.
He put some Europeans on the commission
of superintendent, had the eggs stored,
and authorized their destruction only after
his personal inspection. The proceedings
were open to the light of day, and every
thing was done to prevent imposition. The
result was admirable; in three years locusts'
eggs were as valuable as those of the silk
worm, and in 1870 it was officially reported
that the insect had ceased to exist in Cy
prus. This, however, proved to be an ex-
aggeration. No doubt great impression
had been made; swarms were no longer to
be met with by the ordinary traveller; but
it is plain that good many did remain in
out-of-the-way and difficult districts.
In 1872it was reported that iocusts were
reappearing This was pronounced to be
calumny, and the observers were referred
to the official report, showing that the
locust had ceased to exist in Cyprus
which, of course, was conclusive In
1875, however, denial was no longer pos
sible; no one with eyes in his head could
doubt the existence of countless myriads
of plundering insects. Said Pasha by this
time had left the island, and his successor
was of different character, and did moth
ing to stop their increase, which accordingly
went on unchecked till the British occupa-
ton in 1878. As may be imagined, the
question very soon engaged the attention
of the authorities, and determined set
was made against the creatures. In the
autumn of 1879 thirty-seven and half
tons of eggs were collected and destroyed,
and in the spring of that year an enormous
number of insects were trapped. In 1880
larger swarms than ever appeared, great
many of which were trapped, and two hun
dred and thirty-six tons of their eggs col