bandman. Not a blade of grass had escaped to reward the most careful search; the pastures had disappeared, and the herds of cattle and flocks of sheep were left absolutely without food.

The rustling noise made by these busy multitudes, when marching and foraging, is compared to the sound of a heavy rainfall in a forest, when myriad raindrops are pattering on the green leaves, or, to use the image of the prophet Joel, it is like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble.

the inhabitants are at once to apply to Constantinople for the services of officials skilled in setting up locust-traps, and ar ranging the whole process of destruction.

The particulars given in this vizierial circular are extremely interesting. First, as regards the eggs. Such is the instinct of the mother locust, that in no case has she been known to deposit her eggs in cultivated ground. A million locusts may alight on a field, but not one egg will there be laid. But should there be a barren spot, where the rocky soil has defied the plough, there each mother will deposit her ninety-nine eggs, piercing the hard soil to secure for them a safe nest underground. The more barren and lonely the situation, the better is it suited to her purpose, and the less fear is there of her family treasures being disturbed.

Our interest in the destructive powers of this insect foe becomes more keenly awakened when we hear of their recent ravages in a British colony; and from the official reports of the high commissioner of Cyprus (Sir Robert Biddulph) are enabled to form some idea of the magnitude of the task he has undertaken in endeavoring to exterminate these destructive in-panses of uncultivated land, admirably

sects.

Cyprus unfortunately offers wide ex

adapted for locust breeding grounds. Á This is by no means the first time that belt of bare, low foot-hills, thirty-seven such a crusade has been attempted in Cy- miles in length by about four in width, prus. In the year 1867, the Turkish au- stretches along the base of the northern thorities decided that the voracious range of mountains, forming a rocky, barlocusts must be stamped out, once and ren desert, peculiarly suited to the locust forever, and enacted most stringent meas- nurseries. It is said that the eggs will ures to that effect, commanding that every not hatch at above a given altitude, conman in the island who was subject to tax-sequently the breeding-grounds are conation should collect one kilo (ie., a large fined to a comparatively low level. measure upwards of sixteen pounds weight) of locusts' eggs. Saïd Pasha, who was at that time governor of Cyprus, and a most energetic ruler, was determined to enforce these regulations to the

uttermost.

He accordingly made a tour of the island from village to village, taking in his company the archbishop, bishops, and all the leading inhabitants, to add weight to his presence. Lest the people should grow weary in their search and fail in the work of total extermination, he threatened them that should they fail to collect the full weight required, he would turn out all the locust eggs again, and let them hatch; and, to prove himself in earnest, he kept all that were brought to him safely stored in locked magazines, and none were destroyed until this strange tax had been paid in full.

So excellent was the result, that in January, 1870, the imperial government at Constantinople issued a circular, announcing that, owing to the success of the measures adopted, the locusts in the island had been completely destroyed. The said measures are then related in detail, with an intimation that should locusts appear in any part of the empire

It seems that in most lands the locust pays periodical visits, flying in swarms from one country to another. The Cyprian locust is, however, indigenous to the isle. No evil wind brings him from Asia Minor or from the Syrian deserts; no blessed breeze wafts him from the shore to a wat ery grave in the Mediterranean. He is born and bred on the island, where he provides an abundant generation for the coming year, and dies, leaving his dust to fertilize his native soil.

The eggs are deposited in the months of May and June, and remain safely buried till the month of February; or, should the season be cold, they are not hatched till March, when the earth grows warmer.

In the month of July the task of collecting the eggs was commenced in obedience to the imperal edict. Each man was required to produce his kilo of locusts' eggs, which were duly weighed in presence of the members of the Council, and then deposited in a great pit, which was filled with earth and heavily trodden down to ensure the destruction of all this embryo life.

But as from the very nature of the ground it was impossible to find all the eggs, and a vast multitude were hatched

notwithstanding all precautions, it was decreed that every twentieth man on the island should be appointed locust-destroyer for the other nineteen, who were bound to support him during his term of work. Thus a body of eighteen hundred workmen was raised, and sent to every district in which locusts appeared, under the orders of special officers and of the Cypriote chiefs, both Ottoman and Chris tian.

only benefits the public, and that fresh hordes of locusts will speedily come from other estates to replace those killed, and so they are wasting their individual labor for the general weal -a truly patriotic spirit!

The measures thus stringently carried out by Saïd Pacha resulted in the appar. ent extermination of the evil. Certainly, when a strong-headed Oriental does determine to carry out a measure dependent on the labor of his subjects, his total dis regard of their individual will or rights does give him an immense advantage.

They were provided with special tools for the destruction of locusts- axes, shovels, pieces of coarse woollen cloth fifty yard in length and a yard wide, While English officials have, since the bound at the upper edge with a strong annexation of Cyprus, been cudgelling strip of oil-cloth six inches in width; also their brains how best to conquer this strings, poles, and planks of wood edged resuscitated and hydra-headed plague with smooth zinc. Wherever the presence without unduly burdening the unhappy of locusts was detected, the locality was Cypriotes, the official journal of the provto be surrounded by these strips of cloth,ince of Broussa contains the following which were tied to wooden poles, erected curt announcement from headquarters at about one yard apart, so as to form a cloth wall, the base of which should be buried six inches in the earth. Near these cloth walls long pits were to be dug, along the rim of which were laid the planks with the edging of smooth zinc, so that the locusts which hopped into the pits should be unable to crawl up again. The band of oil-cloth upon the top of the screens served the same purpose. In case any should be so energetic as to hop over the screens, a second row of pitfalls was to be prepared on the other side.

Meanwhile the workmen in attendance were to watch patiently, ever on the alert to beat the shrubs and bushes with branches of palm:trees, as for the first ten or twelve days after they are hatched the locusts cannot hop. Even when their wings are developed, they are unable to fly at night, their gauze like texture being unable to support the weight of dew. It is therefore possible, before the sun rises, for men with bags and baskets to collect great quantities, which can either be burnt or buried in pits.

Constantinople: "If the governor of Koutahiyah does not completely destroy all the locusts' eggs in the Caza of Ouchak within a week, and report the fact to the government in conformity to orders, he will be dismissed from office." Just im agine the pressure that must have been put on all the inhabitants of the district to ensure the extermination thus imperatively required!

And all this time, Sir Robert Biddulph and the home authorities have been striv ing to solve the problem of how to subdue the pest without oppressing any man.

That strong and immediate measures were necessary was evident, for the few survivors of Saïd Pacha's raid increased and multiplied in so frightful a ratio that by the summer of 1880 their vast swarms threatened calamity to the island. Wheat, barley and oats, maize and millet, fruittrees and vegetables of every description, were alike subject to their ravages. In a few hours after they settled on a field or garden they had stripped it of every green thing, leaving only bare, brown stalks rising from the earth, scathed as though fire had passed over the land.

To ensure this work being faithfully performed, an officer was appointed over every ten workmen, and "a trustworthy Accordingly, in the month of July, the man "for every fifty. In each locality British high commissioner resolved to put where locusts were found a superinten-in force a considerably modified form of dent was appointed, and an inspector over the existing Ottoman regulations with every four or five superintendents. A truly Oriental system of supervision, and doubtless most necessary, as although all the people complain bitterly of the ravages of the locusts, none like the trouble of killing them, even on their own land, from a selfish conviction that such labor

regard to the destruction of the foe. Whereas these required that every male between the ages of eighteen and sixty should contribute his quota of about sixteen okes of locust eggs, the quantity now required was only eight okes per head, to be furnished by January 1, 1881, a dis

count of one oke being allowed to such | important fishing industry might be depersons as brought in their quota before veloped. In the same way, the locusts November 1. It was further intimated which are captured are generally burnt in that the government would hire the labor great quantities, whereas on the Bay of requisite for working the locust-traps, in- Biscay and the shores of Algeria their stead of as heretofore requiring the com- bodies are pounded into a paste, which is pulsory work of every twentieth man. highly prized by the sardine fishers, and it is thought that it might prove equally useful to the fishers of Cyprus. Indeed, if locusts are themselves good for human food, there appears to be no reason why their eggs should not be also utilized.

It was stipulated that the eggs must be delivered quite free from any admixture of earth, and should be brought to the commissioners either at Famagusta, Larnaca, or Nicosia, where they should be weighed and destroyed.

Some hesitation seems to have at first been felt as to whether the liberty of the Cypriote in his new character of British subject would not be more fully recognized by allowing the people to collect the locusts' eggs of their own accord, on the assurance that the government would purchase all eggs brought in for sale. It was, however, decided that the necessity of producing a compulsory fixed quantity would compel a more thorough search, and the man who failed to collect his full weight must buy from the surplus of his more diligent neighbors. He who failed so to do was declared subject to a pecuniary penalty.

As the only persons exempted from this tax were the police, the military, and the households of foreign consuls, and as multitudes of men had no inclination to go out egg-hunting in person, a brisk trade was carried on in this commodity, which fetched about a shilling per oke, rising in value towards the close of the season, when seven okes sold for ten shillings.

Admirable as was the result obtained by this vast destruction of eggs, the collecting question was one by no means devoid of difficulty. One danger which presented itself was that of establishing a trade in locusts' eggs, which might induce the egg-hunters wilfully to preserve a sufficient number to keep up the supply for the following season. Another difficulty was so to regulate the price at which the eggs should sell as to induce people really to search for them in the island, but to prevent its reaching such a figure as should tempt speculators to import the eggs from the mainland.

Then, again, arose the British love of fair play, and it seemed unfair that the poorest laboring man who had nothing at stake, should be required to furnish the same quota as the large landowner who might suffer damage to the value of hundreds of pounds from the ravages of the locusts in a single day. It was, therefore, proposed that in the following year the personal tax should be reduced to one oke per man, and that the landowners should be required to pay an additional tax in The advantage of the compulsory col-proportion to their acreage (one oke of lection was very evident, for whereas in eggs for every fifteen donums). the autumn of 1879, when the people had been invited to bring in eggs for sale, only twenty-nine thousand, nine hundred and thirty-three okes were collected, the tax in the following autumn amounted to one hundred and eighty nine thousand okes; in other words, TWO HUNDRED AND THIRTY-SIX TONS!! It seems difficult to realize the possibility of collecting insects' eggs in such vast quantities.

It seems a pity, too, to think that such a mass of material could not be made use of in some manner. It has been suggested that if, instead of burying the eggs in great pits, they had been killed with boiling water, they might then be turned to account in the manufacture of an excellent bait for shore fishing, and so an

In official reports I find the equivalent of oke variously stated at from one to three pounds.

Notwithstanding the enormous destruction of locusts' eggs in the closing months of 1880, the mildness of the winter seems to have favored the hatching of the survivors, and in the early spring of 1881 the foe were once more marshalled in mighty force. Happily, an unusual abundance of wild grass tended to mitigate their onslaught on the green crops, and the harvest was so unusually rich that the locust ravages were less severely felt than usual. Nevertheless, the necessity for vigorous measures was evident, and the locust war was waged with greater determination than ever.

Although a very much smaller price than heretofore was now offered for locusts' eggs, beginning at one piastre per oke (about a halfpenny per pound), and, as the season advanced, rising to three times that value, the amount collected between

July, 1881, and February, 1882, was five | chiefly directed their course towards the times as great as the total for the two points east to south. He took by comprevious years. If the collection of two pass the direction in which fifty-two arhundred and thirty-six tons had seemed startling, what shall we say to so amazing an accumulation as 1,063,555 okes, or in plain English, one thousand three hundred and twenty-nine and a half tons, which was the weight of locusts' eggs destroyed in Cyprus in the spring of 1882!!

This destruction of the yet unhatched foe was but a small portion of the task that had to be accomplished. It was nec essary to organize a scheme for the extermination of the hungry hordes of living locusts, which began to appear in vast numbers, and were not only a present danger, but would inevitably be the progenitors of an ever-increasing multitude.

Preparations for their destruction were therefore made on a very large scale. Upwards of eight thousand locust-traps were manufactured, and fifty-five hundred cloth screens edged with strong oil-cloth like those devised by Saïd Pasha, each fifty yards in length. These, with tools and materials (amounting to five hundred tons' weight) cost of transport, and pay ment of laborers, together with the sum (12,000/.) paid for locusts, involved a total expenditure of 32,000l. for the year ending June, 1882, a heavy item of outlay for an island with so small a revenue, but one which would assuredly be recouped within a twelvemonth, could it but lead to the total extermination of the foe.

mies were marching, and found that two were steering north, five north-east, twelve east, ten south-east, thirteen south, four south-west, five west, and one north-west. As a matter of preference, they seemed to select small ravines or roads.

When two armies marching in opposite directions met, the smaller force turned and joined the larger.

Nothing seemed to stop these columns; they kept on their course through villages and over walls, and even streams did not check them; indeed the streams only increased the labors of the workmen, for, having been filled by the rains they sometimes carried whole regiments of locusts into districts which had been already cleared of their brethren. The advanc ing column on reaching such a stream would endeavor to cross it, and although large numbers were invariably drowned, a multitude would keep afloat till they had been carried down stream for a mile or more, reaching some place where they could land in safety.

The rate of progress of the locust army is found to vary with their age. When full-grown they march about two miles a day.

Notwithstanding the enormous destruction of eggs since the last season, the number of locusts in the spring of 1882 To carry out the campaign, the island proved to be very much greater than in was divided into ten locust districts, in the previous year. According to some which fifteen hundred workmen were reports they were ten times as numerous. distributed, under direction of fifty-two The hatching commenced in the beginmemours, i.e., overseers, who were re-ning of March, but as it was found impossponsible to the nazirs or district super-sible to effect an infant massacre, about a intendents, and these in their turn to the fortnight was devoted to discovering the head superintendents of the eastern and nurseries and commencing siege operawestern divisions. As the laborers were required to keep watch day and night wherever operations were being carried on, it was necessary to provide tents for their shelter, and to form camps and organize a regular commissariat.

The first duty of the overseers was to go over the district allotted to them in search of those places where newly hatched locusts were numerous, and to have these enclosed by cloth screens, or, if the extent and nature of the ground rendered this impossible, then to set up the screens in the direction in which the foe might be expected to march.

tions. The actual work of destruction began on March 21, and was continued till May 7. It was, however, greatly hindered by the rains in the first half of April, as the locusts object to march in cloudy or cold weather, so they lie still, and obstinately refuse to approach the pitfalls so invitingly prepared for them. So the laborers watched in vain, and the canvas screens were considerably injured by exposure to weather.

But if the locusts remained at rest on rainy days, they must have marched to their doom with double zest on those which intervened, for out of 32,220 pits Mr. Arthur Young, the commissioner which were filled in the district of Famaof the Famagusta district, reports that the gusta, 4,280 were the tale for the last ten locusts in the eastern division of Cyprus | days of March, 11,188 for the first half of

April, 14,741 for the latter half, and 2,011 | Aya Serghi figures as dismally as that of