THE LOCUST. 269

singular, and it was confirmed by the inhabitants of the
lower part of the colony. All the full-fledged insects were
driven by a tempestuous north-west wind into the sea, and
afterwards thrown back upon the beach, where they formed
a bank three or four feet high, between the mouths of the
Bosjemans river and the Becha.”

St. Augustine mentions a visitation of this nature in Nu-
midia and the adjacent countries, which produced so direful
a pestilence as to destroy 800,000 people, Plinytells us,
that in some parts of Greece there were laws compelling
the inhabitants to destroy these insects in the three states
of egg, larva, and imago, or perfect insect, and in the isle
of Lemnos each citizen was bound to supply a certain num-
ber of locusts annually, to keep down their numbers.

The first mention of the locust in the Bible is found in
Exodus x., as one of the plagues inflicted on the land of
Egypt: ‘And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine
hand over the land of Egypt, for the locusts, that they may
come up upon the land of Egypt, and eat every herb of the
land ;” and the terrible nature of this visitation may be
gathered from numerous sources, both ancient and modern.

One example has already been given from a modern tra-
veller; and, turning to the prophet Joel, the reader will