114 Biography of the late Captain Dugald Carmichael. 



lievc, according to the ancient creed, that if any noxious fluid 

 were poured into a cup of this description, it would instantly 

 Jbam and boil over the brim. 



" Of all the quadrupeds that prey upon birds, the Ratel (Fi- 

 verra mellivora), a species of Ursus, according to Mr Burchell, 

 is perhaps the most destructive. When I was at Algoa Bay, 

 Capt. Lawrence and Dr Ingham, my next-door neighbours, 

 amused themselves with breeding poultry. As their hen-roosts 

 happened to stand contiguous, the fowls used to lay their eggs 

 indiscriminately in that which was most convenient. This in- 

 troduced frequent altercations between the owners, respecting 

 the property of the eggs, each of them pretending to discover, 

 by infalhble marks, the produce of his own fowls. The scene 

 of these disputes was usually at my door, which was regarded 

 as a sort of neutral ground ; and as their arguments were usually 

 long and loud, my situation as a listener, and often a referee, 

 was rather an unpleasant one. Hints or entreaties on my part 

 could never prevail on them to move an inch from my threshold, 

 and the subject was becoming every day more harassing, when 

 my good genius, in the shape of a Ratel, came and took up its 

 residence in our neighbourhood. In the course of one night, 

 this destructive vermin put an end to all disputes, by cutting 

 the throats of all the fowls, to the number of two dozen and a- 

 half, most of which were found next morning weltering in their 

 blood. It carried off two or three to its burrow, to which we 

 traced it by means of their feathers, and after a great deal of 

 labour, succeeded in destroying it. 



" The Ratel is also exceedingly fond of honey, and securely 

 plunders the hive, whilst the bees exhaust their fury on its im- 

 penetrable hide. It is, of all animals, perhaps^ the most tena- 

 cious of life ; the skin being so thick and so loosely attached to 

 the carcass, that it is proof against every species of violence."" 



" The Boors and Hottentots in the vicinity of Algoa Bay, 

 collect vast quantities of wild honey, which they find in the hol- 

 low trunks of decayed trees, in the deserted nest of the Termes 

 (or white ants), in the crevices of rocks, and in holes burrowed 

 in the ground by the chacals and hyaenas. The hive is usually 

 revealed to them by a bird, called, on this account, the Honey- 

 Guide (Cucidus Indicator). This feathered informant, though 



