210 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



These were the brown rats which infest every part of 

 the world, but very much increased in size by their 

 residence in a hot climate. 



Besides these brown rats, a bush rat, as it is called, 

 infests the forests, and is about as large as a young pig. 

 When I first saw this, and felt myself surrounded as it 

 were by familiar animals increased to such magnitude 

 by multitudes previously unknown to me, and others of 

 which I had only heard, and yet none of us were de- 

 voured, I could not but feel with tenfold depth the 

 Creator's command, that man should have the dominion 

 over them all. His own strength alone could never 

 enable him to walk among them unharmed. 



The principal characters which distinguish the rat 

 remain in all countries, but there are several species. 

 The black rat is that which first inhabited this island ; 

 but it has been nearly driven out by the brown, which 

 is, without any foundation, termed the Norway rat. It 

 came from India, Persia, etc., and is said to have ap- 

 peared in Europe after a great earthquake hi 1727. 

 All are so eminently carnivorous that they do not make 

 the least ceremony of devouring each other in times of 

 scarcity ; so that on one occasion, already spoken of, 

 when I and my companions stood a chance of being 

 starved ourselves, we felt sure that the violent screams 

 and struggles we heard going on among the rats behind 

 the planks, arose from the meals which the strong were 

 making upon their more feeble brethren. 



Rats are nocturnal in their habits, and like to live in 

 subterranean or mysterious abodes. They are found in 

 islands lying in the midst of the ocean, till the moment 

 of their discovery to us, supposed not to have been 

 visited by man ; and yet the question still remains un- 



