XAYMACA; THE ISLAND OF MANY RIVERS 311 



For two hundred years numerous suggestions 

 have been made to mitigate the havoc caused by 

 rats upon the cane crops of Jamaica, and rat- 

 catching has always figured as an important item 

 of expense on all sugar estates. The brown and 

 black rats of Europe were, no doubt, introduced 

 by ships, for they are common and occur gener- 

 ally. However, the rat which Gosse has described 

 under the name of Mus saccharivorus is appar- 

 ently a different species, and is distinguished by 

 its lighter under parts and larger size, specimens 

 often measuring from the tip of the nose to the 

 tip of the tail as much as twenty inches. Ferrets 

 were introduced, but proved inadequate; and it 

 is hardly necessary to say that cats and dogs could 

 not cope with the enemy. 



At one time Sir Charles Price, an Englishman 

 connected with the government of the island, con- 

 ceived the idea of bringing from South America 

 some species of weasel which he thought might 

 prove efficacious, but his efforts were in vain. In 

 1762 it is said that Thomas Raffles introduced 

 from the island of Cuba the native ants. These 

 proved of some benefit, and are regarded by the 

 sugar-planter of to-day as valuable allies. In 

 1844 Mr. Anthony Davis brought from South 

 America a gigantic toad which had proved effi- 

 cacious in the islands of Martinique and Barba- 

 does in destroying young rats. They had been 



