THE LOCUST.

THIS is certainly the most terrible and destructive insect with which we are acquainted, and the immense numbers in which they collect when undertaking a predatory expedition, often renders it impossible to put a stop to their ravages, which in such cases terminate in the most complete desolation.

The locust, of which there are many species, has several names in the Hebrew Scriptures, each of which is characteristic of some feature in its nature or manners.

The great brown locust, which is the one with which we are best acquainted, is about three inches in length, has two horns or feelers about an inch long, and two pair of wings: the back is protected by a shield of a greenish color; and its general form much resembles that of a common grasshopper.

On several occasions these formidable creatures have been used as a scourge in the hand of the incensed Majesty of heaven for chastising a guilty world. Among the plagues which the perverse and impious conduct of the haughty Pharaoh brought upon his country, was a swarm of locusts, which covered the face of the whole land, so that the earth was darkened; and they devoured every green herb of the earth, and the fruit of every tree which the hail had left. Nothing green remained either on the trees or on the herbs of the earth, throughout the whole land of Egypt.' Exod. x. 15. A similar calamity happened to the Africans in the time of the Romans, and about one hundred and twenty-three years before Christ. An immense number of locusts covered the whole country, consumed every plant and blade of grass in the fields, without sparing the roots and the leaves of the trees, with the tendrils upon which they grew. These being exhausted, they penetrated with their teeth the bark, however bitter, and even caroded the dry and solid timber. After they had accomplished this terrible destruction, a sudden blast of wind dispersed them into different portions, and after tossing them awhile in the air, plunged their innumerable hosts into the sea. But the deadly scourge was not then at an end; the raging billows threw up enormous heaps of

their dead and corrupted bodies, upon that long extended coast, which produced a most insupportable and poisonous stench. This soon brought on a pestilence, which affected every species of animals; so that birds, and sheep, and cattle, and even the wild beasts of the field, perished in great numbers; and their carcasses, being soon rendered putrid by the foulness of the air, added greatly to the general corruption. The destruction of the human species was horrible; in Numidia, where at that time Micipsa was king, eighty thousand persons died; and in that part of the sea coast which bordered upon the region of Carthage and Utica, two hundred thousand are said to have been carried off by this pestilence. The immense number in which locusts migrate, is spoken of by several travellers of respectability. Mr. Brown, in his travels in Africa, says, 'An area of nearly two thousand square miles might be said to be literally covered by them.' Mr. Forbes states, that when at Barodha, in India, where the locust is not near so pernicious as in Africa and Arabia, he saw a flight of them extending above a mile in length, and half as much in breadth; they appeared, as the sun was in the meridian, like a black cloud at a distance. As they approached from the east, the density of the host obscured the solar rays, cast an awful gloom, like that of an eclipse, over the garden where he was, and caused a noise like a rushing of a torrent. They were near an hour in passing over the spot. In Kirby and Spence's Entomology it is said, that one of the swarms which entered Transylvania, in August, 1748, was several hundred fathoms in width (at Vienna the breadth of one of them was three miles), and extended to so great a length as to be four hours in passing over the Red Tower; and such was its density that it totally intercepted the solar light, so that when they flew low, one person could not see another at the distance of twenty paces.

These extracts, which might be greatly multiplied, will show the propriety of the Scripture references to the numerical strength of the locust armies. See Judg. vi. 5; vii. 12; Psalm cv. 34; Jer. xlvi. 23; Nah. iii. 15, &c.; for although our translation has ‘ ' grasshopper' in some of these passages, the locust is no doubt the creature intended by the original.

But the most particular description of the locust in the sacred. writings, is that in Joel ii. 3-10. A fire devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burneth: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, nothing shall escape them, &c.

This is, perhaps, one of the most striking and animated pictures to be found in the whole compass of prophecy. The contexture of the passage is extremely curious; and the double destruction to be produced by locusts, and the enemies of which they were the harbingers, is painted with the most expressive force, and described with the most terrible accuracy. We may fancy the destroying army moving before us while we read, and the desolation spreading while we turn over the pages.

Many writers mention the resemblance which the head of the locust bears to that of the horse; whence the Italians call them cavalette. But the prophet does not appear to be describing the shape of the insect, when he compares it to a horse, but rather its properties, its fierceness, and its swift motion. Thus, in Rev. ix. 7, the locusts are compared to horses prepared for the battle; furious and impatient for the war.

The noise of their coming shall be heard at a distance, like the sound of chariots passing over the mountains. When they fall on the ground and leap from place to place, and devour the fruits, the sound of them will resemble the crackling of the stubble when consuming by the flames; or the din and clamor of an army ready prepared to engage in battle.

How this description agrees to the locusts, is shown abundantly by Bochart, who tells us, from several authors, that they fly with a great noise; as John has also described them, 'The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots, of many horses running to battle,' (Rev. ix. 9.); that they may be heard at six miles distance; and that when they are eating the fruits of the earth, the sound is like that of a flame driven by the wind.

The prophet adds

Before them the earth quaketh, the heavens tremble;
The sun and the moon are darkened,

And the stars withdraw their shining.

Dr. Shaw, by whose excellent zoological remarks so many passages in the sacred writings have been elucidated, has shown, from the testimony of his own observation, that these poetical expressions are scarcely hyperbolical with respect to this formidable insect. And Pliny, the Roman naturalist, gives a description of its migratory swarms almost equally sublime with that of the eastern poet. "This plague,' says he, 'is considered as a manifestation of the wrath of the gods. For they appear of an unusual size; and fly with such a noise, from the motion of their wings, that they might be taken for birds. They darken the sun. And the nations view them in anxious suspense; each apprehensive lest their own lands should be overspread by them. For their strength is unfailing; and, as if it were a small thing to have crossed oceans, they pervade immense tracts of land, and cover the harvests with a dreadful cloud; their very touch destroying many of the fruits of the earth, but their bite utterly consuming all its products, and even the houses.'

The account which Volney gives of these insects, and of their devastations, is a wonderful illustration of this passage of the prophet. Syria, as well as Egypt, Persia, and almost all the South of Asia, is subject to a calamity no less dreadful than that of the volcanoes and earthquakes I have mentioned: I mean those clouds of locusts so often mentioned by travellers. The quantity of these insects is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astonishing numbers: the whole earth is covered with them, for the

space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage, may be heard at a great distance, and resembles that of an army in secret. The Tartars themselves are a less destructive enemy than these little animals. One would imagine that fire had followed their progress. Wherever their myriads spread, the verdure of the country disappears; trees and plants stripped of their leaves, and reduced to their naked boughs and stems, cause the dreary image of winter to succeed in an instant to the rich scenery of the spring. When these clouds of locusts take their flight, to surmount any obstacles, or to traverse more rapidly a desert soil, the heavens may literally be said to be obscured with them. Happily this calamity is not frequently repeated, for it is the inevitable forerunner of famine, and the maladies it occasions.

The locust is employed in the Book of Revelation, to symbolize the countless and savage hordes that fought under the banners of the Saracen princes: And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth, and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man ;-and the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were, as it were, crowns of gold, and their faces were as the faces of men. And they had hair as the hair of women: and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. And they had breast-plates, as it were breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle. And they had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails,-and they had a king over them,' Rev. ix. 1-12. This remarkable comparison, says Paxton, is almost, in every particular, quite familiar to the Arabs. Niebuhr, in his description of Arabia, informs us, that an Arab of the desert near Bassorah, mentioned to him a singular comparison of the locust with other animals. The terrible locust of this passage not then occurring to him, he regarded the comparison as a jest of the Arab, and paid no attention to it, till it was repeated by another from Bagdad. He compared the head of the locust to that of the horse; its breast to that of the lion; its feet to those of the camel; its body to that of the serpent; its tail to that of the scorpion; its horns to the locks of hair of a virgin; and so of the other parts.

We have already remarked, that almost all writers on natural history notice that the head of a locust bears a striking resemblance to that of a horse. The Greeks called it the horse of the earth. Accoutred for war, and mounted by a stern and bearded warrior, the Arabian charger has a majestic and terrible appearance: not less dreadful to the inhabitants of the east is the locust, in all the vigor of youth, ready to commence his destructive march. The Saracen furnished his horse with a silver bridle, and gilt trappings, and covered his neck and breast with plates of iron: it is, therefore, not improbable, that he adorned his head with some ornament resembling a crown, to which the horns or antennæ of the locust may not

improperly be compared. The neck of this formidable irsect is also defended by a hard scaly substance, in the same manner as the neck of the Arabian war-horse was defended by plates of iron. The Arabian horse is carefully taught to recognise his enemy in the field of battle, which he no sooner does, than he rushes upon him with the utmost violence, and attempts to tear him in pieces with his teeth. The teeth of the locust are very sharp and strong. With what astonishing rapidity this insect devours every green thing, and scatters desolation over the fairest regions of the earth, has already been described; from whence it appears, that the comparison of the Saracen horse to the locust, is by no means inapplicable. Nor is the sound of their wings less remarkable: the inspired writer says, 'The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle;' and travellers have stated, that 'the passage of the locust over their heads was like the noise of a great cataract.'

A great deal has been written on the nature of the food adopted by John the Baptist, one article of which is stated to have been 'locusts,' Matt. iii. 4. The dispute has been as to whether these were the insects so called, or the fruit of a certain tree designated by the same name. That locusts properly so called were allowed to the Jews as an article of food, is certain from Lev. xi. 22; and that they are actually used for this purpose in many parts of the East, we have the testimony of several unexceptionable writers. But notwithstanding this, we are of opinion that the insect, which required curing and cooking, and which is deemed by the Arabs a great delicacy, formed no part of the plain and simple, and as it would appear both from the testimony of scripture, and from the customs of the pseudo disciples of John, still existing in Syria, the exclusively vegetable diet of the holy Baptist.