ALCHEMY 117 



bats later on. The rats I have already partly discussed ; 

 I will now add a few more words. The rats reside in 

 the thatched roof, and there they have their nests 

 and bring up their families. They descend at night 

 in search of food ; but they do not much enter the 

 rooms of the house, and in the day - time they are 

 only occasionally seen. They are not, therefore, a 

 cause of annoyance, unless food is kept on shelves 

 in the pantry. Then the rats burrow in the walls, 

 unless they are constructed of masonry, and become 

 a veritable nuisance. 



The rats usually descend from the roof by means 

 of the verandah pillars, but I have known them 

 attempt other ways. Once I happened to enter my 

 sleeping-room in the afternoon, and there, to my sur- 

 rise, I found a rat seated calmly on the top of the 

 punkah. There was a hole in the canvas ceiling ; 

 through this he had passed, and then climbed down 

 the punkah rope. The punkah prevented his further 

 progress, for it was too high above the floor for him 

 to leap, and he did not seem to like reascending 

 the rope. 



The house rat, unlike the garden rat, is an excellent 

 climber. Indeed, he ascends a tree with almost the 

 rapidity of the squirrel, but without any of the squirrel's 

 ease and grace. He never leaps, like the squirrel, from 

 bough to bough, and as he runs up the trunk he 

 appears to cling to the bark, as if always in fear lest 

 he should fall. Sometimes a rat will wander through 

 the house, as it were, for mere amusement ; and if he 

 finds anyone lying asleep, he will display an inclination 



