The Book of Cats. ^7 



coverlet, under which a whole native family were 

 lying, and fell asleep. His purring awoke the man, 

 in the hospitality of whose night-cloth he had taken 

 refuge, and who, supposing that some other monster 

 had come to disturb his household, closed the door- 

 ways, awoke the inmates, and procured lights to 

 search for the intruder. Poor Tom, fatigued with 

 the two previous engagements of the day, lay 

 quietly asleep, when the warriors, attacking him 

 with their clubs and spears, thought themselves 

 models of bravery in putting an end to him. 



But Cats, though thus misunderstood at first, 

 seem in the end to have proved a welcome and 

 valuable introduction to the country. One of Mr. 

 Williams's means of proselytism was, the exercise 

 of a useful handicraft — he turned blacksmith ; but 

 he found unusual difficulties in the way of his 

 working a forge. Rarotonga was devastated by a 

 plague of rats, which congregated at night in his 

 blacksmith's shop, and devoured every particle of 

 leather, so that, in the morning, nothing remained 

 of his bellows but the bare boards. The rats, how- 

 ever, were not permitted to have everything their 

 own way. The missionaries imported a singular 

 cargo, consisting of pigs, cocoa-nuts, and Cats. 

 The Cats proved a real blessing to the island, but 



