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; for know that whosoever shall bring me one pound weight of the eggs of the _ayana_, unto him will I give five _reals_ of Spain; there shall be no _ayanas_ this year.’ So all Tangier rushed forth to fight the _ayana_, and to collect the eggs which the _ayana_ had laid to hatch beneath the sand on the sides of the hills, and in the roads, and in the plains. And my own child, who is seven years old, went forth to fight the _ayana_, and he alone collected eggs to the weight of five pounds, eggs which the _ayana_ had placed beneath the sand, and he carried them to the consul, and the consul paid the price. And hundreds carried eggs to the consul, more or less, and the consul paid them the price, and in less than three days the treasure chest of the consul was exhausted. And then he cried, ‘Desist, O Tangerines! perhaps we have destroyed the _ayana_, perhaps we have destroyed them all!’ Ha! ha! Look around you, and beneath you, and above you, and tell me whether the consul has destroyed the _ayana_. Oh, powerful is the _ayana_! More powerful than the consul, more powerful than the sultan and all his armies.” {364} It will be as well to observe here, that within a week from this time all the locusts had disappeared, no one knew how—only a few stragglers remained. But for this providential deliverance, the fields and gardens in the vicinity of Tangier would have been totally devastated. These insects were of an immense size, and of a loathly appearance.