Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-10-24


HA1s AND rHHTR QUEER wAra
Isssss Dsasss Os.ssdersd Uap,sas..s, but
worth stadyins.
vHAf THEM fArfs ARE GOOD Yun-crorHrs or
fHxn sxIxs-rRAcRue THEN rnIcxs-aArs
- A. AlTicLE OF pxxI-fauHPxT RATs H.
nuTlD n souAvDs.
A RATS TAIL Is A WONDERFUL THING.
"A The great naturalist, Cuvier. ays that
there are more muscles in this curious append
age than are to be found in that part Of the
human anatomy which is most admired for its
ingenious structure-namely, the hand To
the rat in fact its tail serves % Q sort OF hand,
BY means Of which the animal is enabled to
crawl along narrow lodges or other difficult
passages. using IL 10 balance with or 70 gain
hold. 1t is prehensile, like the tails Of some
monkey By means Of it the little beast can
jump up heights otherwise inaccessible, en-
pioying. it as , projsctile spring.
1t has often been said that the glovemakers
OF Paris make use in their trade of the skins of
rats which are caught in the sewers, bu. this is
denied Certainly the material would not be
strong enough to successfully counterfeis the
kid. unless il were for the thumb parts only,
which are generally Of a thinner and different
KIND OF leather from the rest. Suggestion has
been made that a trade might be opened with
the Chinese for the skins Of the rats which
they eat A thrifty welshman ct one time ex-
hibitsd himself publicly in England at
tired in . costume composed from top
TO too OF ratskins, which he had spent
three years and 9 half in collect
Ing. The dress was made entirely by himself.
1t consisted Of hat, neckerchief, coat, waist
coat trousers, tippNt. CATERS and shoes. The
number OF rats required to complete the suit
was go. Most curious Of the garments WAS
the tippet. composed entirely of rats tails. At
ono time batch Of several thousand ratskins
was imported from France into England for
manufacturing purposes, but they were found
too small and too fne in texture to be useful.
RATS AND ELEPHANTS rusxs.
DR.. auckland says that many Of the elephants
tusks brought to London for the use Of workers
in ivory are observed TO have their surfaces
grooved into small burrows Of unequal depth
as though cut out by a very sharp-edged in
strument- This is done by rats. which are
fond Of the gelatine animal glue in the sub
stance. The ivory cutter selects for his pur-
poses by preference those tusks which have
been gnawed in this way. because they are the
ores which contain the most gelatine and are
therefore the best in material Curiously
enough, the trade. while giving this much
nized them as the authors Of ii, the common
belief in the business being that the ivory has
beer thus gnawed by alligators How it is i'm
agined that alligators get a chance to chew ele-
plants tusks lie a problem.
How many people have ever eaten jelly made
from elephants tusks? Yet it is very good in
deed. In the English factories where many
tons OF ivory are sawn up annually TO make
handles for knives and forks, great quantities
OF ivory dust are obtained. This dust is sold at
IN nj ~.
erly boiled and prepared it makes the finest,
purest and most nutritious animal jelly known.
Years ago ivory jelly was q very fashionable
remedy and much sought after.
Rats are remarkably intelligent animals, as
may be perceived from the difficulty that is ex-
perienced in catching them. They can be
taught many tricks. Among other things it is
possible to make them learn how to beg, to
jump through hoop, to drag a little cart in
harness and to carry sticks or money.
RATS As AN ARTICLE OF DIET.
Rats have never found favor as Q delicacy for
the table in Europe or in this country, but in
many lands they are relished as an article of
diet. The negro slaves Of Jamaica used to re-
gard them as a dainty, their masters not pro-
viding them with any other meat Their
method Of cooking the toothsome rodents was
to impale each one on long wooden skewer,
after cleaning the animal and cutting of the
tail, turning it briskly around over fire until
the hair was all burnt off. Then it was scraped
until free from fur, and finally the end of the
skewer was struck into the ground, inclined to-
ward the fire, until it was toasted dry and
crisp, thus being made ready for the meal.
Rats may commonly be soen for sale in the
markets Of any Chinese town, split and pressed
under heavy weight, so as to look somewhat
like dried fish. In this shape tho pig-tailed
oriental buy them, soaks them in water and
then boilJ, roasts or fries them.
STORY OF THE TRUMPET RAT.
When the French zouaves were first in Africa
a new sort of rat made its appearance there.
It was called the trumpet rat" having q long
proboscis. The sale Of specimen by one of
the soldiers to an enthusiastic naturalist gave
rise to an action at law. Said the plaintiff in
court:
"This zouave has cheated me out Of 100
francs He knows that 1 am much interested
in natural sciences have collection, Of fos-
sils, of shells, of animals, of curious plants
One day he called upon me and said: Sir. l
have a kind OF animal which has never been
mentioned by any naturalist 1t is q trumpe.
rat, ana has trunk like an elephants. It is
alive and well; If you wish to see it, you have
only to come to my house.
Il was very anxious to behold this strange
animal. We arrived at his house and he showed
me in a cage an enormous rat, very lively and
in good condition, which really had on its nose
a slender excrescence more than an inch in
like the body OF the animal. with vertebr@ in
it, and "a most extraordinary thing) larger at
the summit than at the base-the contrary to
what it ought to be in the usual course of
things. To convince myself that it was not a
dupe and mystiication stuck pin into the
trumpet The animal cried out and a drop of
blood came from the prick. The experiment
was conclusive. 1t was really trumpet form
ing part of the rat.
II was amazed. I asked this man il he
would sell his rat. He said yes, and paid him
SO francs for it. My friends and servants all
admired it, and enchanted. My rat was
q male. Some one said to me that ought to
procure female. l asked the zouave if he
could procure for me a female, and he said
he had two. l saw them and bought one
Of them for so francs. Some months afterward
the female had young. I looked at them and
they had no trumpets. said to myself, They
will sprout.' / waited one month, two months,
six months; every day looked at the noses Of
my rats, but the trumpets never appeared.
sin house where 60 frequently made the
acquaintance Of an officer who had served O
long time in Africa. told him about nv
trumpet rats and he laughed as though his
sides would split When he was calm again he
told me that the trumpet rat was not 9 freak
Of nature, but an invention due to the leisure
moments of the zouaves. This is how thew
make them: You take two rats and festen their
paws firmly to q board, the nose Of one close to
the end of the tail Of the other. Then with a
penknife or q lancet you make an incision into
the nose Of the rat which is hindermost and
you graft tho tail OF the first into the nose; You
tie firmly the muzzle to the tail and you leave