THE KAT. 
17 
ago to help to kill the plantation rats^ which did 
great harm to the crops. Soon, however^ the 
brown rats grew so plentiful that they became a 
pest. 
10. " The mongoose, too, was brought into the 
island to kill off the rats, which did so much harm 
to the sugar-canes. The mongoose did its work 
well, but in another way it did mischief. It 
The Mongoose. 
(I 
killed off so many of the lizards and birds that 
fed upon small insects and grubs, that we now 
have to suffer from swarms of ticks, grass-lice^ 
and other insects. 
n. ''But look at the rat once more." 
^^It has whiskers something like those of a 
cat," said Will. 
" Yes," said Mr. Lane. " Rats burrow in the 
ground, where, of course, they are in the dark, 
(M 357) B 
