212 RATS AND MICE. [1696. 



Eats^ and Mice swarm here, and do a great deal of damage 

 to the Company and Inhabitants, by gnawing their Sngar- 

 •Canes, and devouring their Pulse. If they would make use 

 of the same means we did at Bodrigo, they might get rid of 

 the greatest part of them ; yet some few Eegiments of Cats 

 would make the shortest work with them, and soon exter- 

 minate those mischievous Vermin. 



Small and green Caterpillars^ reign here for three or four 

 Months in the year, and eat up almost every thing. 



climbs along the walls, and even along the glass ; lives upon flies and 

 other insects, and watches with great patience for an opportunity of 

 catching them. It lays eggs that are small and round like peas, having 

 a white and yellow shell, as the eggs of pullets. I have seen some 

 of these lizards so tame that they would come and take sugar out of a 

 person's hand. Far from being mischievous, they are, on the contrary, 

 very useful. Some very beautiful ones are to be seen in the woods, of 

 an azure and changeable green, marked with crimson on the back, like 

 Arabic characters." [B. de St. Pierre, p. 73.) 



1 " The rat seems a native of this island. There are prodigious num- 

 bers of them, and it is said that the place was abandoned by the Dutch 

 because of this creature. In some houses they are so numerous that 

 30,000 are killed in a year. They make large hoards under ground, both 

 of corn and fruits, and climb up to the tops of trees to eat the young 

 birds. They will pierce the very thickest rafters. One may see them 

 at sunset, running about in all parts, and in one night they will destroy 

 an entire crop. I have seen a field of maize in which they have not left 

 one single ear. They are exactly like the rats of Europe, and have, very 

 possibly, come from thence in ships. Mice are very common here ; the 

 havoc they make is incredible." (St. Pierre, op. cit., pp. 67-8.) 



" The breed of cats degenerate greatly on this island ; they grow lean 

 and thin-flanked. The rats scarcely fear them ; the dogs are, therefore, 

 the rat-catchers, and my Favourite has often distinguished himself in 

 this service. I have seen him strangle the largest rat in the Southern 

 hemisphere. The dogs, in the long run, lose their hair and their sense 

 of smelling, but it is said they never go mad here". {B. de St. Pierre, 

 p. 135.) 



^ " In the trunks of the trees there is found a large worm, with paws, 

 that picks the trees ; they call it Maniac. The blacks, and even the 

 white people, eat them greedily." (Ihid., I. c, -p. 72.) "The centi- 

 pedes are frequently found in damp places. This insect seems 

 destined to drive mankind from the unwholesome air they breed 



