MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 265 



useless purpose) from Grimsby, were found to be 

 infested with these rats, and as it was anticipated 

 these vessels might be sent to sea, endeavours were 

 made to exterminate them. For this purpose iron 

 trays, covered with red hot ashes and certain com- 

 bustibles, were placed in the holds and cabins of two 

 or three vessels at a time ; above these fires was shot 

 a considerable amount of pepper. The "smokers" 

 immediately repaired to the decks and shut down 

 every avenue of escape, plastering soft clay or mud 

 over every crevice through which the fumes could 

 escape. In the morning the hatches were taken off 

 and the cabins ventilated. Here and there laid rats 

 of all ages and sizes dead from suffocation in the 

 bunks, in cupboards, everywhere ; but the majority 

 were found in the neighbourhood of the trays, as if 

 the poor brutes, gathering to see what strange burn- 

 ings these were, had been overcome as they discussed 

 the situation. On 12th June I went down a " fresh- 

 opened " smack with the " smoker " and saw quite a 

 "pedful" of dead rats, amongst them some fine 

 examples of Miis alexandrinus. I filled my hand- 

 kerchief with them; but very few were preserved, 

 for the baking process had made them so susceptible 

 to decomposition that in an hour or two they 



