of the Brown, or Grey, Rat. 3 



dog, the owl, the weasel, the ferret, and the foumart, he is 

 enabled, in some degree, to thin its numbers, and to check its 

 depredations. 



There are some localities, however, from which it may 

 be effectually ousted, provided you go the right way to work. 

 My own house, than which none in Great Britain can have 

 suffered more from the plundering propensities of the Ha- 

 noverian rats, is now completely free from their unwelcome 

 presence. On my return to it in 1813, they absolutely seemed 

 to consider it their own property. They had gnawed through 

 thirty-two doors ; and many of the oaken window frames 

 were irreparably injured by them. While I was in Guiana, 

 a Dutch lady named Vandenheuvil had given me a young 

 tiger-cat, which one of her negroes had taken that day in a 

 coffee field. It was the marjay, which, by the by, Buffon 

 considers untamable. I raised it with great care; and it 

 grew so fond of me, that it would follow my steps like a dog. 

 Nothing could surpass the dexterity with which this little 

 feline favourite destroyed the rats on our reaching home. 

 Towards the close of day it would ascend the staircase ; and 

 no sooner did a rat make its appearance from the casements, 

 than it would spring at it with the velocity of an arrow, and 

 never fail to seize it. In 1828, having got, by long ex- 

 perience, a tolerably good insight into the habits of this tor- 

 menting quadruped, and having found that it spoiled or 

 pilfered every thing within its reach, I finally resolved that it 

 should look out for another place of residence. Wherefore 1 

 carefully searched for all its various entrance holes, These I 

 effectually closed with stone and mortar. I then filled up all 

 useless sewers, and paid great attention to the paving and re- 

 newing of those which were absolutely required ; fixing, at the 

 same time, in either end of them a cast-iron grate movable 

 at pleasure. The bottoms of all the outer doors were done 

 with hoop iron; and the pavement which goes round the 

 house was relaid with particular care. By these precautions 

 I barred all access to these greedy intruders; and, as no 

 rubbish or lumber is now allowed to remain in the different 

 nooks and crannies commonly found near ancient dwellings, 

 there is no place of shelter left to conceal any stray individual 

 whose bowels may chance to yearn for one more repast on 

 cheese or bacon. In the meantime, the cat and the owl meet 

 with no obstructions, while prowling for those which may still 

 linger in the environs. The mice, too, seem to have taken 

 the alarm. In a word, not a single mouse or rat is to be 

 found in any part of the house, from the cellars to the attic 

 stories. 



B 2 



