70 NEIGHBORS WITH OLA WS AND HOOFS. 



moving together. But the curious thing is, how do they 

 know where to go ? Did they send out scouts, or does 

 instinct guide them ? 



10. Bermuda was settled in 1614. With the first set- 

 tlers came the rats. Two years later they had increased 

 at such a rate that they had become a general scourge. 

 They had nests in every tree, and they burrowed in the 

 ground like rabbits. They devoured everything that 

 came in their way, fruits, plants, and even trees. When 

 corn was sown, they would come by troops in the night 

 and scratch it from the ground. 



11. A writer of the time says, " They so devoured 

 the fruits of the earth that the people were destitute of 

 bread for a year or two." Every expedient was tried to 

 destroy them. Dogs were trained to hunt them, who 

 would kill a score or two in an hour. Cats, both wild 

 and tame, were employed for the same purpose. Poisons 

 were employed, and every man was enjoined by law to 

 set twelve traps. Even woods were set on fire to help 

 exterminate them. " Rats are a great judgment of God 

 upon us," wrote a colonist in 1C IT. "At last it pleased 

 God, by what means it is not well known, to take them 

 away, insomuch that the wild cats and many dogs that 

 Jived upon them famished." 



12. A telegraph inspector of England made good use 

 of a rat to help him out of a difficulty. It was necessary 

 to overhaul a cable of wires inclosed in iron tubes. A 

 length of the cable had been taken out of the tube, with- 

 out the precaution of attaching a wire by which it might 

 be drawn back. When the repairs were made, the ques- 

 tion arose, how the cable could be again drawn into the 

 tube. After due reflection the inspector invoked the aid 

 of a rat-catcher, and, provided with a large rat, a ferret, 

 and a ball of string, they repaired to the scene of action. 



