this new foe; they drove the marauders into trenches there to be
drowned or burned; men, women and every child that could swing a
stick, were called to the ranks in this insect war; and with all
their fighting, the people forgot not to pray for deliverance,
and they fasted, too, for the best of reasons.

And as they watched, and prayed, and worked, they saw approaching
from the north and west a veritable host of winged creatures of
more formidable proportions still; and these bore down upon the
fields as though coming to complete the devastation. But see!
these are of the color that betokens peace; they are the gulls,
white and beautiful, advancing upon the hosts of the black
destroyers. Falling upon the people's foes, they devoured them
by the thousand, and when filled to repletion, disgorged and
feasted again. And they did not stop till the crickets were
destroyed. Again the skeptic will say this was but chance; but
the people accepted that chance as a providential ruling in their
behalf, and reverently did they give thanks.

Today the wanton killing of a gull in Utah is an offense in law;
but stronger than legal proscription, more powerful than fear of
judicial penalties, is the popular sentiment in favor of these
white-winged deliverers. Every year come these graceful
creatures to spend the springtime in the fields and upon the
lakes of Utah; and right well do they feel their welcome, for
they are habitually so tame and fearless that they may almost be
touched by the hand before they take flight.

By the autumn of 1848, five thousand people had already reached
the valley, and the food problem was a most difficult one. The