THE HONEY RATEL 



more so, for they will play without resting the 

 entire day. 



Unlike the monkey, the ratel is not a treacherous 

 pet. Once tamed it can be depended upon. Of 

 the many hundreds of animal and bird pets I have 

 had, the ratel has proved the most amusing and 

 lovable. Coming home dispirited, weary, and dis- 

 heartened, the warm welcome given me by my pet 

 ratel, combined with its good-natured, cheerful ways, 

 removed much of the gloom from my mind. 



A farmer friend had a most unenviable experience 

 with a ratel. I was staying with him for a few 

 days and was much interested in his collection of 

 bee-hives, which were all in up-to-date boxes. 

 Awakening one morning and sallying forth I was 

 astonished to find the air full of bees. They soon 

 made their presence manifest to me, and I retreated 

 hastily indoors, smarting from a multitude of stings. 

 Utilising a mosquito bed-net, my friend and I 

 enveloped ourselves and went forth to find that 

 one or more of the rascally ratels had visited the 

 hives during the night and ' overturned about a 

 dozen of them. 



These we fixed up, and eventually the infuriated 

 bees became pacified, but not before much mischief 

 had been done, for they had fiercely assaulted all 

 the stock in the vicinity. A score or more of 

 chickens had been stung to death. One ostrich, 

 to escape the bees, had dashed 'into a fence and 

 broken its neck, and another had snapped its leg in 

 VOL. ii 161 ii 



