'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎589] (680/905)

CHAP. XXII.] REPTILES AND AQUATIC ANIMALS.
589
lizards, scorpions, centipedes, wasps, bees, tortoises, and lizards; Locusts,
rats and mice are also numerous, and of various kinds. Myriads
of locusts appear occasionally in every part of Arabia, Persia,
Mesopotamia, &c. When a cloud of those devouring insects
approached Aleppo in 1835, Ibrahim Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. , with his usual
decision, sent out the whole of the garrison, and all the men,
women, and children of Aleppo, to collect them; each indi
vidual being forced, under a penalty, to produce a certain
quantity, amounting to many thousands. Burckhardt observes
that, in Arabia, locusts are known to come invariably from
the east, and the Arabs accordingly say they are produced by
the waters of the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. . The province of Nedjd is
particularly exposed to their ravages; and they sometimes
overwhelm it to such a degree, that having destroyed the
harvest, they penetrate by thousands into the dwellings and Their ravages,
devour whatever they can find, even the leather of the water-
vessels. The Bedawin, as well as the inhabitants in Nedjd,
the Hijas, &c., are accustomed to eat the locusts. The Arabs,
in preparing them as an article of food, throw them alive into
boiling water, with which a good deal of salt has been mixed;
after a few minutes they are taken out and dried in the sun;
the head, feet, and wings are then torn off, the bodies cleansed
from the salt, and perfectly dried in the sun, after which pro
cess whole sacks are filled with them. They are sometimes
broiled in butter : the Arabs of Sinai alone do not eat them. 1
In the rivers are found, as low as Ana, the beaver, the The beaver.
otter, 2 and, as is asserted, the crocodile, or alligator ; 3 also the
tortoise, the turtle, the trionyx or gymnossus, which is
described in the Appendix. The rivers also abound with fish,
especially carp and barbel; and in addition to these are the
eel, and the celebrated black fish called semmak-el-aswad, 4
commonly called the cat-fish, which is about two feet long,
1 Bedawin and Wahhdbl, p. 268.
9 In the Lamlum marshes; see the Travels of Ives, p. 255. They are also
frequently met with in the upper part of the Euphrates.
8 One was seen several times by the officers of the Expedition, but they
failed in obtaining a specimen, notwithstanding their own exertions and those
of the natives; the latter were, however, quite aware of its existence.
4 Macropteronotus.—Ainsworth's Assyria, &c., p. 45.