206 LAWSOX'S HISTORY 



that there abides with him a creature like an Eng- 

 lishman's dog, which runs faster than he can, and 

 gets his prey for him. They add that there is no 

 other of that kind that ever they met withal ; and 

 that they have no other way to avoid him but by 

 running up a tree. The certainty of this I can 

 not affirm by my own knowledge, yet they all agree 

 in this story. As for lions, I never saw any in 

 America, neither can I imagine how they should 

 come there. 



Of rats we have two sorts ; the house rat as in 

 Europe; and the marsh rat which differs very 

 much from the other, being more hairy, and has 

 several other distinctions too long here to name. 



Mice are the same here as those in England, 

 that belong to the house. There is one sort that 

 poisons a cat as soon as she eats of them, which 

 has sometimes happened. These mice resort not 

 to houses. 



The dormouse is the same as in England, and 

 so is the weasel, which is very scarce. 



The bat or rear mouse, the same as in England. 

 The Indian children are much addicted to eat dirt, 

 and so are some of the Christians, but roast a bat 

 on a skewer, then pull the skin off, and make the 

 child that eats dirt eat the roasted rearmouse and 

 he will never eat dirt again. This is held as an 

 infallible remedy. I have put this amongst the 

 beasts as partaking of both natures, of the bird 

 and mouse kind. 



