FEBRUARY 12.
A Sir Charles price, who had an estate in this island infested
by rats, imported, with much trouble, a very large and strong
species for the purpose of extirpating the others. the newcomers answered
his purpose to a
miracle ; they attacked the
native rats with such spirit, that in a short time they had the
whole property to themselves ; but no sooner had they done
their duty upon the rats, than they extended their exertions to
the cats, of whom their strength and size at length enabled them
completely to get the better ; and since that last victory, Sir
Charles Price's rats, as they are called, have since increased so
prodigiously, that this single
species is now a greater nuisance to
the island than all the others before them were together. The
best mode of destroying rats here is with terrier. Those imported from
England soon grow
useless, being blinded by the
sun ; but their puppoes, born in Jamaica, are provided by nature
with a protecting film over their eyes, which effectually secures
them against that calamity.
