Evening star., 1894-03-24
DENSE FLIGHT OF LOCUSTS.
The Remarkable Scene Witnessed h,
Noted OricntnIiSt in Syrin.

We were sitting on the hills with our
backs turned to the west wind, which was
softly blowing from the Mediterranean,
says Sir Edwin Arnold in the Iordon Tele-
graph. The horses were picketed close by.
grazing the sweet mountain grass. The
Arabs of our caravan were cooking a pill
law little distance off. Around us were
laid out the wherewithals of a light lunch
among which was an open marmalade lar
l was thinking of Ahab. and wondering
how he could put up so long with Elijah,
especially when, this very spot the
prophet said to the king, LAS the Lord
liveth in this place where dogs licked the
blood of Naboth shall dogs lick thy blood
even thin e'-when suddenly right into the
marmalade there dropped what l took for
large grasshcpper. 1t was yellow and
green, with long jumping legs and big
head, ana while | was taking il out of the
jar two others fell into a plate of SOUP
and half dozen more of the same kind
upon dish of salad. AT the same moment
my horse stamped violently, and | saw
more of these Grasshoppers pelting his
hCcks and launches. Turning round to find
whence this insect shower came, / witness
ed what was to me an extraordinary spec
tacle, though common enough, of course, in
the east. large cloud denser in its lower
than its upper part, filled an eighth part
of the western hemicycle. The remoter
portion of it was thick as brown and
brumOus as a London fog The nearer side
opened suddenly up into millions and bill
same green and yellow insects pelting in
a close-winged crowd quite as thickly as
flakes of snow upon all the hilsdes far and
near You could not stand a mom.lt
against the aggressive and offensive rain
of these buZzing creatures. The horses
even swung themselves round and stood
with lowered creSts, taking the storm upon
their backs and fanks
You had to turn up the collar of your
coat to keep them out of your neck and
button the front not to have your pockets
filled with the repulsiVe swarm, which in
two minutes had peppered the whole
scene round about that its color and char
acter were entirely altered. Every little
creature of the interminable flight on
alighting veered himself round head to
wind on the earth, just as If he had dropped
anchor and swung to the breeze; and 1t
was curious to notice that the general tint
of the grOurd of their countless bodies was
brown if you looked to windward and green
If you gaZed to leeWard. But very quickly
the only green to be seen round about was
the hue afforded by this sudden invasion
Even while we prepared to yield up the
spot to them and pack our lunch baskets
for departure they had cleared off grass
and leaves and every verdant thing around +;
and when they arose again from the SOIL
or from any clump of trees, in a hungry
throng, the place they quilted had already
assumed barren and Wintry aspect. The
Syrian peasants passing along the roads
were beating their breasts and cursing the
| ill fortune of the plague. Some of them,
none the less gathered up cloth full of
the nOXiouS things: for the locust is dis
tnctly edible. Half in wrath and revenge,
and half for a novelty in diet, the Arabs
| to this day eat a few of them, roasting
them in wire nets or in earthen vessels over
slow fire till the wings and legs drop off
and the locust becomes crisp, in which
state ii tastes, / am able to say from
personal experience, something like an I'M
salted praWn. But it seemed as if. had all
Syria and the globe itself taken to living on
locusts. they would have hardly made a
sensible mark upon the extraordinary num-
Der that drifted that day over our heads.