In a short time the lice would swell up and burst open, like pop-corn.

This method was a favorite one for another reason than its efficacy: it gave one a keener sense of revenge upon his rascally little tormentors than he could get in any other way.
As the weather grew warmer and the number in the prison increased, the lice became more unendurable.

They even filled the hot sand under our feet, and voracious troops would climb up on one like streams of ants swarming up a tree.

We began to have a full comprehension of the third plague with which the Lord visited the Egyptians: And the Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice through all the land of Egypt.
And they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust of the earth, and it became lice in man and in beast; all the dust of the land became lice throughout all the land of Egypt.
The total number of deaths in April, according to the official report, was five hundred and seventy-six, or an average of over nineteen a day.
There was an average of five thousand prisoner's in the pen during all but the last few days of the month, when the number was increased by the arrival of the captured garrison of Plymouth.

This would make the loss over eleven per cent., and so worse than decimation.