[p.238]which they sell on their return to Damascus. They had about a
dozen tents, and as many asses, and I saw a good mare tied before the
tent of the Sheikh, who is a man of consequence among the thieves and
vagabonds of Damascus. His name is El Shuhadein [Arabic]: he invited us
to drink a cup of coffee, and take some refreshment; but my companions,
who knew him, advised me to keep clear of him. At six hours and a
quarter, we passed at a short distance to our left, the village Olma
[Arabic], our route being N.W. About one hour S.W. of Olma lies the
village El Kerek. Eight hours and twenty-five minutes, the village Naeme
[Arabic]. Most of these villages stand upon, or near, low hillocks or
Tels, the only objects which break the monotony of the plain.
It was at Naeme that I saw, for the first time, a swarm of locusts; they
so completely covered the surface of the ground, that my horse killed
numbers of them at every step, whilst I had the greatest difficulty in
keeping from my face those which rose up and flew about. This species is
called in Syria, Djerad Nedjdyat [Arabic] or Djerad Teyar [Arabic], i.e.
the flying locusts, being thus distinguished from the other species,
called Djerad Dsahhaf [Arabic], or devouring locusts. The former have a
yellow body; a gray breast, and wings of a dirty white, with gray spots.
The latter, I was told, have a whitish gray body, and white wings. The
Nedjdyat are much less dreaded than the others, because they feed only
upon the leaves of trees and vegetables, sparing the wheat and barley.
The Dsahhaf, on the contrary, devour whatever vegetation they meet with,
and are the terror of the husbandmen; the Nedjdyat attack only the
produce of the gardener, or the wild herbs of the desert. I was told,
however, that the offspring of the Nedjdyat produced in Syria partake of
the voracity of the Dsahhaf, and like them prey upon the crops of grain.