d its vicinity.  His death occurred at the
commencement of the present century.

These details I either gathered at the time or on subsequent occasions.
On the north side of the _soc_, close by the town, is a wall with a gate.
“Come,” said the old _mahasni_, giving a flourish with his hand; “come,
and I will show you the garden of a Nazarene consul.”  I followed him
through the gate, and found myself in a spacious garden laid out in the
European taste, and planted with lemon and pear trees, and various kinds
of aromatic shrubs.  It was, however, evident that the owner chiefly
prided himself on his flowers, of which there were numerous beds.  There
was a handsome summer-house, and art seemed to have exhausted itself in
making the place complete.

One thing was wanting, and its absence was strangely remarkable in a
garden at this time of the year; scarcely a leaf was to be seen.  The
direst of all the plagues which devastated Egypt was now busy in this
part of Africa—the locust was at work, and in no place more fiercely than
in the particular spot where I was now standing.  All around looked
blasted.  The trees were brown and bald as in winter.  Nothing green save
the fruits, especially the grapes, huge clusters of which were depending
from the _parras_; for the locust touches not the fruit whilst a single
leaf remains to be devoured.  As we passed along the walks, these
horrible insects flew against us in every direction, and perished by
hundreds beneath our feet.  “See the _ayanas_,” said the old _mahasni_,
“and hear them eating.  Powerful is the _ayana_, more powerful than the
sultan or the consul.  Should the sultan send all his _makhasniah_
against the _ayana_, should he send me with them, the _ayana_ would say,
‘Ha! ha!’  Powerful is the _ayana_!  He fears not the consul.  A few
weeks ago the consul said, ‘I am stronger than the _ayana_, and I will
extirpate him from the land.’  So he shouted through the city, ‘O
Tangerines! speed forth to fight the _ayana_,—destroy him in the egg;