On the evening of the first of April, we witnessed a most wonderful flight of locusts. They came like a dark cloud, filling the air for a long distance. The greater part of them were above the tops of the houses; but many flew lower, and passed through the tops of the mulberry trees. There had been a strong south-east wind for about twelve hours. They came from the east, and must, of course, have crossed the Lebanon. Their course was west; but as they approached the sea, I thought they varied, and passed more south-west, as if not willing to go out of sight of land. For about half an hour the air was full of them; afterwards their number decreased, but it was a long time before the last straggler had passed. About three days afterwards, we had them again from the south-west; the wind had changed, and now came from that quarter. They now seemed disposed to stop: the gardens and sands were full of them. They did not seem to eat anything, but were employed in depositing their eggs, which they place in the sands or earth. An acquaintance of mine, who has just returned from Tripoli, states, that all the way from Ji-bail to the river Beyroot, a distance of nearly twenty miles, the locusts are thrown out on the shore in such numbers as to lie from eighteen inches to two feet deep--they have been drowned in the sea. The old locusts do not do much injury; it is the young ones, which will come out in a month or six weeks after the eggs are deposited in the sands, that eat so voraciously, and destroy all before them. I understand the Emeer has issued an order for each person to collect about a quart of their eggs, as a means of destroying them, and thus preventing the destruction which the young locusts would make. LETTER XX. _Jaffa, May 21st, 1838._ Having concluded to return during the ensuing summer to the United States, and made my arrangements accordingly, I took passage from Beyroot to this city, in a Greek vessel, April 20th. The families of Rev. Messrs. Thomson and Hebard had preceded us, to attend the annual meeting of the mission, which was to be held at Jerusalem. It was not without feelings of sorrow that I left Beyroot. For about two years I had considered it my home, and excepting while making tours, which I occasionally did, I had remained there and on the adjacent mountains. I had preached a good deal to the English congregation at Beyroot, and aided, in all the ways I could, the mission work. I had become acquainted with many of the natives, more particularly with those who maintained a friendly intercourse with the mission. I had enjoyed the acquaintance and friendship of the consuls and English residents, and could not bid them a final farewell without strong emotion. But circumstances made it indispensable, and we parted, expecting to see each other no more.