New Britain herald., 1916-01-29


 Moses, the law. giver, it's hordes of ribute-bringing pilgrims cut off by
 the world war, and bearing the bur- | dens of war taxation in money and 1 men. the Holy Land, in the year 1915, | struggled against such adverse condi- 1 tions as it has not known throughout 1 it's modern history begins bulletin l just issued by the National Geogra- l phic society at Washington which en- l bodies account Of the great locust 1 plague over Palestine and Syria dur | ing 1915 as told in a communication | to the society by John D. Whiting. 1 That which was left by the creep | ing locust hath the SWarming locust eaten, and that which was left by the swarming locust hath the grass locust eaten and that which was left by the grass locust hath the corn locust eat en. Awa<e-and weep and howl For a nation hath come up over my land, bold and without number Thus Joel, writing some seven or eight hun dred years B. c. begins description of a locust plague, which then as now must have laid waste this land. We marvel how this ancient writer could have given so graphic and true a de- scrption of a devastation caused by locusts in so condensed a, form. The oldest men of Palestine remembered no such invasion. Since 1885, com monly called the year of the locusts,' locusts have at intervals reappeared in Syria but in smaller areas and caus- ing nothing like a general disaster or distress. More recently occurred in 1892, in the Jordan valley near Jer- icho, where waving fields of tall green J tN the stump in a remarkably short time
 "The locusts of the recent plague first made their appearance during the last days of February, 1915. They flew overhead in such thick clouds as to obscure the sun. However, before they were seen, a loud noise, produced Ky the Tapping of myriads of locust wings, was heard, described as re- sembling the distant rumble of waves or as St. John has it, the sound of their wings was as the sound of char iots of many horses running into bat tle'
 They reached Jerusalem in the first days of March. Attention was drawn to them by the sudden darken- ing of the bright sunshine. They did not settle in Jerusalem evidently seek ing greener and less populated dis tricts. They departed for Bethlehem Quantities were now gathered by the poorer Bethlehemites and a few ate them roasted, describing the taste as delicious, especially the females full of eggs. Still the main reason for collecting them was in order to se- cure the small bonus offered by the To- cal government of Bethlehem.
 Irons were destroyed, being buried he, cisterns were filled, while in surround ing villages each family was required to produce a stipulated weight. Like wise in Jaffa they were destroyed by being thrown into the Mediterranean and, when washed ashore dead and dried on the beach, were collected and used as fuel in the public Turkish baths and ovens.'
 "These clouds of flying locusts. in Jerusalem at least, invariably came from the northeast going toward the southwest, and it was observed that when strong winds arose, too stiff for them to resist, rather than be carried they seem to settle till the storm passed over.
 "The locust swarm began covering the fields preparatory to laying eggs. Once the alarming extent to which these eggs were laid was realized, the authorities issued a proclamation, re- quring each male person from sixteen to sixty years to gather eleven pounds of the eggs. It is estimated by com potent authorities that as many as 65, to 75,OO0 locust eggs are con- centrated in a square meter of soil, and allowing for a loss of thirty per cent in matching, some 60000 de- ctr thirty nine inches square.
 "Iocusts are not, however, without their own enemies provided by nature Large flocks of storks flew past Je- rusaIen during the early days when the adults arrived and after the larave were hatChed consuming apnormal quantities, for which reason the na- lives have always given ADO Saad the stork) a warm welcome. fuf- thermore, in many of the underSround cells in which the female locust de- posits her eggs were found eggs laid by certain species of flies, the young worm or larvae of Whlch, when matched, lives upon the locust eggs, sucking them dry, till developed Into the crvsalis and emerging full fledged fly. Wild birds and domestic fowls developed a raVenOus appetite for locusts while with the smaller lar vac and pupae turkeys and chickens simply gorged themselves with the re- suit that the yolS of their eggs became a deep-red color.
 "The eggs of the locust once matched the little fellows seem to hold together for a few days, till a little developed and in sufficient numbers, when they would start their forward march of from 400 to 600 feet per day, clearing the ground of any vegetation before them It was observed that these new broods instinctively went in the reverse direction to that from which their flying parents had come. None but those who have seen them can be-
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