274 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



The word " taming"" means something over 

 and above merely accustoming wild animals to 

 the presence of man and teaching them to take 

 food and to allow themselves to be handled. 

 This is done in every Zoo, and is, after all, no 

 more than any schoolboy does with his "pets." 

 All manner of singular creatures are made pets 

 of, and one of the most curious I ever heard 

 of was an immense South African rat, which 

 Major Herapath saw at the front in the Boer 

 War. He tells me that when he first saw the 

 animal it was sitting on the saddle of one of the 

 drivers of a gun team. The battery was 

 inspanned, in readiness to move at a moment's 

 notice, but the drivers were dismounted. The 

 rat's story was rather pathetic. It had belonged 

 to a Boer who was taken prisoner at Paardeberg, 

 and it had always lived on its owner's saddle. 

 The Boer had been much attached to his pet 

 rat and, not knowing where he might be sent, 

 or what would become of it, he had given it to 

 the driver, begging him to be kind to it. 

 Fortunately the Boer rat took a great fancy to 

 the enemy, and whenever the gun was on the 

 move, even when galloping, it would nestle 

 securely on the inside of the man's leg just above 

 the knee. When, however, he dismounted, the 

 rat stayed on the saddle. Yet it was by no 

 means friendly to anyone but its new owner, 

 and when Major Herapath tried to make 



