Modern travellers have given accounts of these Locust armies, which exactly correspond with the sacred narrative. One traveller mentions that, after a severe storm, the Locusts were destroyed in such multitudes, that they were heaped in a sort of wall, varying from three to four feet in height, fifty miles in length, and almost unapproachable, on account of the odour of their decomposing bodies.
We now come to the use of Locusts as food.
Very few insects have been recognised as fit for human food, even among uncivilized nations, and it is rather singular that the Israelites, whose dietary was so scrupulously limited, should have been permitted the use of the Locust. These insects are, however, eaten in all parts of the world which they frequent, and in some places form an important article of diet, thus compensating in some way for the amount of vegetable food which they consume.
Herodotus, for example, when describing the various tribes of Libyans, mentions the use of the Locust as an article of diet. "The Nasamones, a very numerous people, adjoin these Auschisæ westward.... When they have caught locusts, they dry them in the sun, reduce them to powder, and, sprinkling them in milk, drink them." (Melpomene, ch. 172.)
This is precisely the plan which is followed at the present day by the Bosjesmans of Southern Africa.
To them the Locusts are a blessing, and not a plague. They till no ground, so that they care nothing for crops, and they breed no cattle, so that they are indifferent about pasture land.
When they see a cloud of Locusts in the distance they light great fires, and heap plenty of green boughs upon them, so as to create a thick smoke. The Locusts have no idea of avoiding these smoke columns, but fly over the fires, and, stifled by the vapour, fall to the ground, where they are caught in vast numbers by the Bosjesmans.
When their captors have roasted and eaten as many as they can manage to devour, they dry the rest over the fires, pulverize them between two stones, and keep the meal for future use, mixing it with water, or, if they can get it, with milk.
We will now take a few accounts given by travellers of the present day, selecting one or two from many. Mr. W. G. Palgrave, in his "Central and Eastern Arabia," gives a description of the custom of eating Locusts. "On a sloping bank, at a short distance in front, we discerned certain large black patches, in strong contrast with the white glisten of the soil around, and at the same time our attention was attracted by a strange whizzing, like that of a flight of hornets, close along the ground, while our dromedaries capered and started as though struck with sudden insanity.