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 4 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. 1 161 II 
