Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1892-06-09
STORIES ABOUT RATS.
THEY ARE MOST INTERESTING
LITTLE ANIMALS.
Negro Slaves of Jamaica and Cinnamon
Regard Them as Dainties-Ac-
count of How Scientist
Acquired a Trumpet.

A rats tail is wonderful thing.
The great naturalist Culver. says
that there are more muscles in this
curious appendage than are to be
found in that part of the human anat-
omy which ia most admired for its IN
genlous structure-namely, the hand.
10 the rat in fact its tail serves as
sort of hand. by means of which
the animal is enabled to crawl along
narrow lodges using it to balance
with or gain hold. 1t is prehensile,
like the tails of some monkeys. BY
means of it the little beast can jump
up heights otherwise inaccessible,
employing it as projectile spring
Rats have never found favor as
delicacy for the table in Europe or in
this country. the Chicago Herald as.
sures US, but in many lands they are
relished as an article OF diet The
negro slaves in Jamaica used to regard
them as a dainty their masters not
providing them with any other meat
Their method of cooking the tooth
some rodents was to impale each one
on long wooden skewer. after clean
ing the animal and cutting OIL the
tail turning it briskly round over the
fire until the hair was all burned off.
Then it was scraped until it was free
from fur and finally the end OF the
skewer was stuck into the ground, in.
clined toward the fire until it was
toasted dry and crisp. thus being made
ready for the meal.
Rats may commonly be seen 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 the pig
tailed oriental buys them. souks them
in water and then boils, roasts or fries
them.
When the French aouaves were first
in Africa new sort of rat made its
appearance there. 1t was called the
trumpet rat" having long probos-
els. The sale of a specimen by one of
the soldiers to an enthusiastic natural
lst gave rise to an action at law. Said
the plaintiff in court:
This zouave has cheated me out of
100 francs He knows that l am
much interested in natural sciences.
have collections OF fossils, of shells, of
rare animals, OF curious plants. One
day he called upon me and said: Sir
| have kind OF animal which has
never been mentioned by any natural
ist 1t is a trumpet rat aud has a
trunk like an elephants. 1t 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 slender excrescence more than
an inch in length. The excrescence
was covered with hair like the body
OF the animal with vertebrae 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 q dupe
and justification l stuck /; pin into
the trumpet. The animal cried out
and a drop Of blood came from the
prick. The experiment was conclu-
sive. 1t was really a trumpet form
ing part OF the rat
4 was amazed. l asked this man
if he would sell his rat. He said yes.
and paid him 80 francs for it. Nv
friends and servants all admired it
ana | was enchanted. My rat was
male. Some one said to me that
ought to procure female. | asked
the zouave if he could procure me a
female and he said he had two. l
saw them and bought one OF them for
80 francs. Some months after the
female had young. looked at them
| ana they had no trumpets. l said to
myself. They will sprout' l waited
one month, two months six months
Every day looked at the noses OF
the rats. but the trumpets never ap-
peared.
In house where go fire 4uentlv
made the acquaintance of an officer
who had served {; long time in Africa
! told him about my trumpet rats. and
he laughed as though his sides would
split When he was calm again he
told me that the trumpet was not a
freak OF nature. but an invention due
to the leisure moments OF the Zouaves.
This is how they make them:
'You take two rats and iasten their
claws to board the nose OF one close
to the tail Of the other Then with a
penknife or a lancet you make an in
cision into the nose of the rat which
is hindermost and graft the tail OF the
first into the nose; you tie firmly the
mu .zle to the tail and you leave the
two rats in this position for forty
eight hours At the end of that time
the union has taken place and the rats
are grown together: then you cut off
the tail OF the rat which is in front to
the required length and let them 60.
but still keep the other fastened to the
board. with his head loose. and give
him something to eat At the end of
a fortnight the wound is perfectly
healed and the eye OF the curious IN
vestigator would not see trace OF the
grating. This is the way the zou-
ayes make rats with trumpets"