ith him. The police interfered and tried to keep me from going
aboard the ship, but after long discussions I was permitted to take my
place in the launch that the captain had sent for the consul.

Captain Decker was interested in what I had to say, and at his request I
dictated my story to his stenographer. What became of my report I do not
know,--whether it was transmitted to the Department of State or whether
Captain Decker communicated with Ambassador Morgenthau,--but at all
events we soon began to see certain reforms inaugurated in parts of the
country, and these reforms could have been effected only through
pressure from Constantinople. The presence of the two American cruisers
in the Mediterranean waters has without any doubt been instrumental in
the saving of many lives.

CHAPTER VII

FIGHTING THE LOCUSTS

While I was traveling in the south, another menace to our people's
welfare had appeared: the locusts. From the Soudan they came in
tremendous hosts--black clouds of them that obscured the sun. It seemed
as if Nature had joined in the conspiracy against us. These locusts were
of the species known as the pilgrim, or wandering, locust; for forty
years they had not come to Palestine, but now their visitation was like
that of which the prophet Joel speaks in the Old Testament. They came
full-grown, ripe for breeding; the ground was covered with the females
digging in the soil and depositing their egg-packets, and we knew that
when they hatched we should be overwhelmed, for there was not a foot of
ground in which these eggs were not to be found.

The menace was so great that even the military authorities were obliged
to take notice of it. They realized that if it were allowed to fulfill
itself, there would be famine in the land, and the army would suffer
with the rest. Djemal Pasha summoned my brother (the President of the
Agricultural Experiment Station at Athlit) and intrusted him with the
organization of a campaign against the insects. It was a hard enough
task. The Arabs are lazy, and fatalistic besides; they cannot understand
why men should attempt to fight the _Djesh Allah_ ("God's Army"), as
they call the locusts. In addition, my brother was seriously handicapped
by lack of petroleum, galvanized iron, and other articles which could
not be obtained because of the Allies' blockade.

In spite of these drawbacks, however, he attempted to work up a
scientific campaign. Djemal Pasha put some thousands