Beauplan.
more lying on the ground, which is tuck'd in under the Quilt or Bed for fear the Flys whould get in: thus two Persons lie very well. Only principal Officers use this, for all. People have not the little Tent or Pavilion. When they see it will rain, they cover themselves as in the following Draught, which will better demonstrate it than all I can say. In short, they are so persecuted in that Country, that they are fain to make a fire continually, that the smoke may drive away the Insects.
A B C D E F G is the Polene cover'd with Cloth, H I and L M are two Forks on which a cross Pole I L rests, which supports the Turky Carpet made of twisted thred, which the Rain cannot pierce, and serves as a Roof to the Polene.
After the Flies, let us talk of the Grashoppers, or Locusts, which are there so numerous that they put me in mind of the Scourge God sent upon Egypt, when he would punish Pharaoh. I have seen this Plague for several years one after another, particularly in 1645, and 1646: those Creatures do not only come in Legions, but in whole Clouds, five or six Leagues in length, and two or three in breadth, and generally come from towards Tartary, which happens in a dry Spring; for Tartary and the Countrys East of it, as Circassia, Bazza, and Mingrelia, are seldom free from them. These Vermine being drove by an East, or South-East Wind, come into Ukrain, where they do much mischief, eating up all sorts of Grain and Grass: so that wheresoever they come, in less than two hours they crop all they find, which causes great scarcity of Provisions; and if the Locusts remain there in Autumn, and the Month of October, which is the time when they die after laying at least 300 Eggs apiece, which hatch next Spring if it be dry, then the Country is 300 times worse pester'd. But if it rains when they begin to hatch, they all die, and the Country escapes that year, unless they come from other parts. It is not easie to express their numbers, for all the Air is full and darkned; and I cannot better represent their flight to you than by comparing it to the fleaks of Snow in cloudy weather drove about by the Wind: and when they alight upon the Ground to feed, the Plains are all cover'd, and they make a murmuring noise as they eat, where in less than two hours they devour all close to the Ground; then rising, they suffer themselves to be carry'd away by the Wind; and when they fly, tho the Sun shines never so bright, it is no lighter than when most clouded.
In June 1646, having stay'd two Months in a new Town call'd Novogrod, where I was building a Citadel, I was astonish'd to see so vast a multitude, for it was prodigious to behold them, because they were hatch'd there that Spring; and being as yet scarce able to fly, the Ground was all cover'd, and the Air so full of them, that I could not eat in my Chamber without a Candle, all the Houses being full of them, even the Stables, Barns, Chambers, Garrets, and Cellars. I caus'd Cannon-powder and Sulphur to be burnt to expel them, but all to no purpose; for when the door was open'd, an infinite number came in, and the others went out fluttering about, and it was a troublesome thing when a Man went abroad to be hit on the Face by those Creatures, sometimes on the Nose, sometimes the Eyes, and sometimes the Cheeks; so that there was no opening ones Mouth, but some would get in. Yet all this was nothing, for when we were to eat, those Creatures gave us no respite; and when we went to cut a bit of Meat, we cut a Locust with it; and when a Man open'd his mouth to put in a morsel, he was sure to chew one of them. In short, the wisest Men were confounded to see such innumerable multitudes, which were such as cannot be express'd; and they that would conceive it, should have seen it, as I did.
After they had destroy'd all that grew in the Country for a Fortnight together, and having gather'd strength to fly further, the Wind took them up and carry'd them away to do as much mischief in some other place. I have seen them at night when they sit to rest them, that the Roads were four Inches thick of them one upon another; so that the Hor-ses
