Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 10

In 1825 the Russian empire was overrun to a very alarming extent by young Locusts. About Kiew, as far as the eye could reach, they lay piled up one upon another to the height of two feet. Through the government of Ekatharinoslaw and Cherson to the Black Sea, a distance of about 400 miles, they covered the ground so thickly that a horse could not walk fast through them. The sight of such an immense number, says an eye-witness, Mr. Jaeger, of the most destructive and rapacious insects, justly occasioned a melancholy foreboding of famine and pestilence, in case they should invade the cultivated and populous countries of Russia and Poland. It was at this juncture, however, that the Emperor Alexander sent his army of thirty thousand soldiers to destroy them. These forming a line of several hundred miles, and advancing toward the south, attacked them with shovels, and collected them, as far as possible, in sacks and burned them. This is the largest army of soldiers sent against Locusts we have any record of.[357]

In 1824, Locusts made their appearance at the Glen-Lynden Colony in South Africa, being the first time they had been seen there since 1808.

In 1825, they continued to advance from the north; in 1826, the corn crops at Glen-Lynden were totally destroyed by them; and in 1827, 1828, and 1829, they extended their ravages through the whole of the northern and southern districts of the colony. In 1830, they again disappeared.[358]

The following graphic description of the swarm that visited Glen-Lynden in 1825 is from the pen of Mr. Pringle. He says: "In returning to Glen-Lynden, we pa.s.sed through a flying swarm, which had exactly the appearance, as it approached, of a vast snow-cloud hanging on the slope of a mountain from which the snow was falling in very large flakes. When we got into the midst of them, the air all around and above was darkened as by a thick cloud; and the rushing sound of the wings of the millions of these insects was as loud as the dash of a mill-wheel.... The column that we thus pa.s.sed through was, as nearly as I could calculate, about half a mile in breadth, and from two to three miles in length."[359]

In 1835, a plague of Locusts made their appearance in China, in the neighborhood of Quangse, and in the western departments of Quangtung.

The military and people were ordered out to exterminate them, as they had done two years before. A more rational mode, however, was adopted by the authorities, of offering a bounty of twelve or fifteen cash per catty of the insects. They were gathered so fast for this price, that it was immediately lowered to five or six cash per catty. A strike followed, and the Locusts were left in quiet to do as much damage as they could.[360]

Nieuhoff tells us, Locusts in the East Indies are so destructive that the inhabitants are oftentimes obliged to change their habitations, for want of sustenance. He adds that this has frequently happened in China and the Island of Tojowac.[361]

In 1828-9, in the provinces lying between the Black and Caspian Seas, Locusts appeared in such vast numbers as were never seen in that country before.[362]

In 1839, Kaffraria was again visited by Locusts, which, together with the war at that time, caused so great a famine that many persons perished for want of subsistence.[363] Again in 1849-50, this country was visited by this dreadful scourge. The whole country, says the Rev.

Francis Fleming, was covered with them; and when they arose, the cloud was so dense that this gentleman was obliged to dismount, and wait till they pa.s.sed over.[364]

Mr. Jules Remy says, that at his arrival at Salt Lake, he observed upon the sh.o.r.e, on the top of the salt, a deposit of a foot deep which was entirely composed of dead Locusts--_dipoda corallipes_. These insects, driven by a high wind in prodigiously thick clouds, had been drowned in the lake, after having, during the course of the summer (of 1855), destroyed the rising crops, and even the prairie gra.s.s. A famine ensued; but the Mormons, continues Mr. Remy, only saw in this scourge a fresh proof of the truth of their religion, because it had happened, as among the Israelites, in the seventh year after their settlement in the country.[365]

According to Lieutenant Warren, whose graphic description is here borrowed, these devastating insects of our great western plains are "nearly the same as the Locusts of Egypt; and no one," continues this officer, "who has not traveled on the prairie, and seen for himself, can appreciate the magnitude of the swarms. Often they fill the air for many miles in extent, so that an inexperienced eye can scarcely distinguish their appearance from that of a shower of rain or the smoke of a prairie fire. The height of their flight may be somewhat appreciated, as Mr.

Evans saw them above his head, as far as their size would render them visible, while standing on the top of a peak of the Rocky Mountains 8500 feet above the plain, and an elevation of 14,500 above that of the sea, in the region where the snow lies all the year. To a person standing in one of the swarms as they pa.s.s over and around him, the air becomes sensibly darkened, and the sound produced by their wings resembles that of the pa.s.sage of a train of cars on a railroad, when standing two or three hundred yards from the track. The Mormon settlements have suffered more from the ravages of these insects than probably all other causes combined. They destroyed nearly all the vegetables cultivated last year at Fort Randall, and extended their ravages east as far as Iowa."[366]

The Mormons, in their simple and picturesque descriptions, say that these insects ("Crickets"--_dipoda corallipes_, Haldemars) are the produce of "a cross between the Spider and the Buffalo."[367]

In Egypt, in 1843, the popular idea was that the hordes of Locusts, which were then ravaging the land, were sent by the comet observed about that time for twelve days in the southwest.[368]

Pliny, in the words of his translator, Holland, says: "Many a time have the Locusts been knowne to take their flight out of Affricke, and with whole armies to infest Italie: many a time have the people of Rome, fearing a great famine and scarcity toward, beene forced to have recourse unto Sybil's bookes for remedie, and to avert the ire of the G.o.ds. In the Cyrenaick region within Barbarie, ordained it is by law, every three years to wage warre against them, and so to conquer them....

Yea, and a grievous punishment lieth upon him that is negligent in this behalf, as if hee were a traitour to his prince and countrey. Moreover, within the Island Lemnos there is a certaine proportion and measure set down, how many and what quant.i.ty every man shall kill; and they are to exhibit unto the magistrate a just and true account thereof, and namely, to shew what measure full of dead Locusts. And for this purpose they make much of Iaies, Dawes, and Choughs, whom they do honour highly, because they doe flie opposite against the Locusts, and so destroy them.

Moreover in Syria, they are forced to levie a warlike power of men against them, and to make ridance by that means."[369]

Democritus says, if a cloud of Locusts is coming forward, let all persons remain quiet within doors, and they will pa.s.s over the place; but if they suddenly arrive before they are observed, they will hurt nothing, if you boil bitter lupines, or wild cuc.u.mbers, in brine, and sprinkle it, for they will immediately die. They will likewise pa.s.s over the subjacent spot, continues Democritus, if you catch some bats and tie them on the high trees of the place; and if you take and burn some of the Locusts, they are rendered torpid from the smell, and some indeed die, and some drooping their wings, await their pursuers, and they are destroyed by the sun. You will drive away Locusts, continues this same writer, if you prepare some liquor for them, and dig trenches, and besprinkle them with the liquor; for if you come there afterward, you will find them oppressed with sleep; but how you are to destroy them is to be your concern. A Locust will touch nothing, he concludes, if you pound absinthium, or a leek, or centaury with water, and sprinkle it.[370]

Didymus says, to preserve vines from that species of Locusts called by the ancients _Bruchus_, set three grains of mustard around the stem of the vine at the root; for these being thus set, have the power of destroying the Bruchus.[371]

Nieuhoff tells us that when a swarm of Locusts is seen in China, the inhabitants, to prevent their alighting, "march to and again the fields with their colors flying, shouting and hallooing all the while; never leaving them till they are driven into the sea, or some river, where they fall down and are drowned."[372]

Volney says, that when the Locusts first make their appearance on the frontiers of Syria, the inhabitants strive to drive them off by raising large clouds of smoke; and if, as it too frequently happens, their herbs and wet straw fail them, they dig trenches, in which they bury them in great numbers. The most efficacious destroyers of these insects are, however, he adds, the south and southeasterly winds, and the bird called the Samarmar.[373]

Capt. Riley tells us, it is said at Mogadore, and believed by the Moors, Christians, and Jews, that the Bereberies inhabiting the Atlas Mountains have the power to destroy every flight of Locusts that comes from the south, and from the east, and thus ward off this scourge from all the countries north and west of this stupendous ridge, merely by building large fires on the parts of the mountains over which the Locusts are known always to pa.s.s, and in the season when they are likely to appear, which is at a definite period, within a certain number of days in almost every year. The Atlas being high, and the peaks covered with snow, these insects become chilled in pa.s.sing over them, when, seeing the fires, they are attracted by the glare, and plunge into the flame. What degree of credit ought to be attached to this opinion, Capt. Riley says he does not know, but is certain that the Moorish Sultan used to pay a considerable sum of money yearly to certain inhabitants of the sides of the Atlas, in order to keep the Locusts out of his dominions. He also adds, the Moors and Jews affirmed to him, that during the time in which the Sultan paid the said yearly stipend punctually, not a Locust was to be seen in his dominions; but that when the Emperor refused to pay the stipulated sum, because no Locusts troubled his country, and thinking he had been imposed upon, that the very same year the Locusts again made their appearance, and have continued to lay waste the country ever since.[374]

An impostor, who is believed to have been a French adventurer, at one time, it is said, endeavored to persuade the people of Morocco that he could destroy all the Locusts by a chemical process.[375]

The superst.i.tious Tartars of the Crimea, in order to rid their country of its most destructive enemy, the Locusts, at one time sent over to Asia Minor, whence these insects had come, to procure Dervises to drive them away by their incantations, etc. These divines prayed around the mosques, and, as a charm, ordered water to be hung out on the minarets, which, with the prayers, were meant to entice a species of blackbird to come in mult.i.tudes and devour the Locusts! The water thus hung out is said to be still preserved in the mosques. On this occasion, the Dervises collected eighty thousand rubles, the poorest shepherd giving half a ruble.[376]

We read in "Purchas's Pilgrims," of Locusts being exorcised and excommunicated, so that they immediately flew away![377] From this interesting collection the following is clipped: "In the yeere 1603, at Fremona, great misery happened by Gra.s.se-hoppers, from which Paez freed the Catholikes, by Letanies and sprinkling the Fields with Holy-water; when as the Fields of Heretikes, seuered only by a Ditch, were spoyled by them. Yea, a Heretike vsing this sacred sprinkling, preserued his corne, which, to a Catholike neglecting in one Field, was lost, and preserued in another by that couiured aspersion (so neere of kinne are these Locusts to the Deuill, which is said to hate Holy-water)."[378]

In the south of Europe rewards are offered for the collection both of the Locusts and their eggs; and at Ma.r.s.eilles, it is on record that, in the year 1613, 20,000 francs were paid for this purpose. In 1825, the same city paid a sum of 6200 francs for destroying these pests to agriculture.[379] We read in the eighty-first volume of the Gentleman's Magazine, that most of the Agricultural Societies of Italy have offered premiums for the best method of destroying Locusts: that in many districts several thousand persons are employed in searching for the eggs; that in four days the inhabitants of the district of Ofanto collected at one time 80,000 sacks full, which were thrown into the river.[380]

The noise Locusts make when engaged in the work of destruction has been compared to the sound of a flame of fire driven by the wind, and the effect of their bite to that of fire.[381] Volney says: "The noise they make, in browsing on the trees and herbage, may be heard at a great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret." His following sentence may also be introduced here: "The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals."[382] Robbins compares their noise to that of small pigs when eating corn.[383] The noise produced by their flight and approach, the poet Southey has strikingly described:

Onward they came a dark continuous cloud Of congregated myriads numberless, The rushing of whose wings was as the sound Of a broad river headlong in its course Plunged from a mountain summit, or the roar Of a wild ocean in the autumn storm, Shattering its billows on a sh.o.r.e of rocks![384]

Another comparison may be introduced here, to give some idea of the infinite numbers of these insects. Dr. Clarke compares a cloud of them to a flight of snow when the flakes are carried obliquely by the wind.

They covered his carriage and horses, and the Tartars a.s.sert that people are sometimes suffocated by them. The whole face of nature might have been described as covered with a living veil. They consisted of two species--_Locusta tartarica_ and _L. migratoria_; the first is almost twice the size of the second, and, because it precedes it, is called by the Tartars the herald or messenger.[385]

In the Account of the admirable Voyage of Domingo Gonsales, the little Spaniard, to the World of the Moon, by Help of several Gansa's, or large Geese, we find the following: "One accident more befel me worth mention, that during my stay, I say, I saw a kind of a reddish cloud coming toward me, and continually approaching nearer, which, at last, I perceived, was nothing but a huge swarm of Locusts. He that reads the discources of learned men concerning them (as John Leo, of Africa, and others, who relate that they are seen for several days in the air before they fall on the earth), and adds thereto this experience of mine, will easily conclude that they can come from no other place than the globe of the moon."[386]

To accompany this piece of satire, the following suits well:

A Chinese author, quoted by Rev. Thomas Smith, observes, that Locusts never appear in China but when great floods are followed by a very dry season; and that it is his opinion that they are hatched by the sun from the sp.a.w.n of fish left by the waters on the ground![387]

So far the history of the Locust has been but a series of the greatest calamities which human nature has suffered--famine, pestilence, and death. No wonder that, in all ages and times, these insects have so deeply impressed the imagination, that almost all people have looked on them with superst.i.tious horror. We have shown how that their devastations have entered into the history of nations. Their effigies, too, like those of other conquerors of the earth, have been perpetuated in coins.

We are the army of the great G.o.d, and we lay ninety-and-nine eggs; were the hundredth put forth, the world would be ours--such is the speech the Arabs put into the mouth of the Locust. And such is the feeling the Arabs entertain of this insect, that they give it a remarkable pedigree, and the following description of its person: It has the head of the horse, the horns of the stag, the eye of the elephant, the neck of the ox, the breast of the lion, the body of the scorpion, the hip of the camel, the legs of the stork, the wings of the eagle, and the tail of the dragon.[388]

The Mohammedans say, that after G.o.d had created man from clay, of that which was left he made the Locust: and in utter despair, they look upon this devastating scourge as a just chastis.e.m.e.nt from heaven for their or their nation's sins, or as directed by that fatality in which they all believe.[389]

The wings of some Locusts being spotted, were thought by many to be leaves from the book of fate, in which letters announcing the destiny of nations were to be read. Paul Jetzote, professor of Greek literature at the Gymnasium of Stettin, wrote a work on the meaning of three of these letters, which were, according to him, to be seen on the wings of those Locusts which visited Silesia in 1712. These letters were B. E. S., and formed the initials of the Latin words "Bella Erunt Saeva," or "Babel Est Solitudo;" also the German words, "Bedeutet Erschreckliche Schlacten,"

portending frightful battles, "Bedeutet und Erfreuliche Siege,"

portending happy victories. There are Greek and Hebrew sentences likewise, in which, no doubt, the professor showed as much learning, judgment, and spirit of prophecy as in those already quoted.[390]

A quite common belief in our own country is, that every Locust's wing is marked with either the letter W, portending War, or the letter P, portending Peace.

Not content with the dreadful presence of this plague, the inhabitants of most countries took that opportunity of adding to their present misery by prognosticating future evils. The direction of their flight pointed out the kingdom doomed to bow under the divine wrath. The color of the insect designated the national uniform of such armies as were to go forth and conquer.[391]

Aldrovandus states, on the authority of Cruntz, that Tamerlane's army being infested by Locusts, that chief looked on it as a warning from G.o.d, and desisted from his designs on Jerusalem.[392]

Mouffet says: "If any credit may be given to Apomasaris, a man most learned in the learning of the Indians, Persians, and Egyptians, to dream of the coming of Locusts is a sign of an army coming against us, and so much as they shall seem to hurt or not hurt us, so shall the enemy."[393]

We now turn to the history of the Locust as an article of food--a striking benefit directly derived from insects. For as they are the greatest destroyers of food, so as some recompense they furnish a considerable supply of it to numerous nations--as they cause, they are frequently the means of preventing famines. They are recorded to have done this from the remotest antiquity.

In the curious account given by Alexis of a poor Athenian family's provisions, mention of this insect is found:

For our best and daintiest cheer, Through the bright half of the year, Is but acorns, onions, peas, Ochros, lupines, radishes, Vetches, wild pears nine and ten, With a Locust now and then.[394]

Diodorus Siculus, who lived about threescore years before our Saviour's birth, first, if I mistake not, described the Acridophagi, or Locust-eaters, of Ethiopia. He says they are smaller than other men, of lean and meager bodies, and exceeding black: that in the spring the south winds rise high, and drive an infinite number of Locusts out of the desert, of an extraordinary bigness, furnished with most dirty and nasty colored wings; and these are plentiful food and provision for them all their days. This historian has also given us an account of their peculiar mode of catching these insects: In their country there is a large and deep vale, extending far in length for many furlongs together: all over this they lay heaps of wood and other combustible material, and when the swarms of Locusts are driven thither by the force of the winds, then some of the inhabitants go to one part of the valley, and some to another, and set the gra.s.s and other combustible matter on fire, which was before thrown among the piles; whereupon arises a great and suffocating smoke, which so stifles the Locusts as they fly over the vale, that they soon fall down dead to the ground. This destruction of them, he continues, is continued for many days together, so that they lie in great heaps; and the country being full of salt, they gather these heaps together, and season them sufficiently with this salt, which gives them an excellent relish, and preserves them a long time sweet, so that they have food from these insects all the year round.

Diodorus concludes his history of this people, with an account of the strange and wonderful death that comes to them at an early age, the result of eating this kind of food: They are exceeding short-lived, never living to be over forty; and when they grow old, winged lice breed in their flesh, not only of divers sorts, but of horrid and ugly shapes; that this plague begins first at the abdomen and breast, and in a short time eats and consumes the whole body. (_Phthiriasis._)[395]

Strabo, most probably quoting from the above pa.s.sage from Diodorus, speaks of a nation bordering on that of the Struthophagi, or Bird-eaters, whose food consisted entirely of Locusts, and who were carried off by the same most horrible disease.[396]

Pliny remarks: "The people of the East countries make their food of gra.s.shoppers, even the very Parthians, who otherwise abound in wealth."[397]

The Arabs, who are compelled at the present day to inhabit the desert of Sahara, welcome the approach of Locusts as the means, oftentimes, of saving them from famishing with hunger. Robbins tells us their manner of preparing these insects for food is, by digging a deep hole in the ground, building a fire at the bottom, and filling it with wood. Then, after the earth is heated as hot as possible, and the coals and embers taken out, they prepare to fill the cavity with the live Locusts, confined in a bag holding about five bushels. Several hold the bag perpendicularly over the hole with the mouth near the surface of the ground, while others stand round with sticks. The bag is then opened, and the Locusts shaken with great force into the hot pit, while the surrounding persons immediately throw sand upon them to prevent their flying off. The mouth of the hole is now completely covered with sand, and another fire built upon the top of it. When the Locusts are thoroughly roasted and become cool, they are picked out with the hand, thrown upon tent-cloths, or blankets, and placed in the sun to dry.

During this process, which requires two or three days, they must be watched with the utmost care, to prevent the live Locusts from devouring them, if a flight should happen to be pa.s.sing at the time. When perfectly dry, they are pounded slightly, pressed into bags, or skins, and are ready for transportation. To prepare them now for present eating, they are pulverized in mortars, and mixed with water sufficient to make a kind of dry pudding. They are, however, sometimes eaten singly without pulverizing, after breaking off the head, wings, and legs. Mr.

Robbins considers them nourishing food.[398]

Locusts are sometimes boiled at Wadinoon for food for men and beasts.[399]

The Arabs of Morocco, we learn from Mr. Jackson, esteem Locusts a great delicacy; and, during the summer of 1799 and the spring of 1800, after the plague had almost depopulated Barbary, dishes of them were served up at the princ.i.p.al repasts. Their usual way of dressing these insects, was to boil them in water half an hour, then sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and fry them, adding a little vinegar. The body of the insect is only eaten, and resembles, according to this gentleman, the taste of prawns. For their stimulating qualities, the Moors prefer them to pigeons. A person may eat a plateful of them containing two or three hundred without any ill effects.[400] In another place, however, Mr.