acter; and persons who have been bitten by them, if properly
treated, generally recover. The lizards are of various sizes, some quite
small, others more than three feet long, and covered with a coarse rough
skin like that of a toad. They have the character of being venomous, and
even dangerous to life; but it may be doubted whether they are not, like
our toads and newts, in reality perfectly harmless.

The traveller in Persia suffers less from reptiles than from insects.
Scorpions abound in all parts of the country, and, infesting houses,
furniture, and clothes, cause perpetual annoyance. Mosquitoes swarm
in certain places and seasons, preventing sleep and irritating the
traveller almost beyond endurance. A poisonous spider, a sort of
tarantula, is said to occur in some localities; and Chardin further
mentions a kind of centipede, the bite of which, according to him, is
fatal. To the sufferings which these creatures cause, must be added a
constant annoyance from those more vulgar forms of insect life which
detract from the delights of travel even in Europe.

Persia, moreover, suffers no less than Babylonia and Media, from the
ravages of locusts. Constantly, when the wind is from the south-east,
there cross from the Arabian coast clouds of these destructive insects,
whose numbers darken the air as they move, in flight after flight,
across the desert to the spots where nature or cultivation has clothed
the earth with verdure. The Deshtistan, or low country, is, of course,
most exposed to their attacks, but they are far from being confined to
that region. The interior, as far as Shiraz itself, suffers terribly
from this scourge, which produces scarcity, or even famine, when (as
often happens) it is repeated year after year. The natives at such times
are reduced to feeding on the locusts themselves; a diet which they do
not relish, but to which necessity compels them.

The locusts of Persia Proper are said to be of two kinds. One, which
is regarded as bred in the country, bears the name of _missri_, being
identified with the locust of Egypt. The other, which is thought to
be blown over from Arabia, and thus to cross the sea, is known as the
_melelch deriai_, or "sea-locust." The former is regarded as especially
destructive to the crops, the latter to the shrubs and trees.

The domestic animals in use at the present day within the provinces of
Fars and Kerman are identical with those employed in the neighboring
country of