The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1894-08-21
THE BIoNGoosE.

several mongooses among the other
eonsignments to Mr.. w. X. Vanderbilt,
and that the owner proposed to turn
these oriental rat killers and serpent
externinators at large upon his south
ern acres, the question Immediately
suggested itself: Does he know the
responsibilities he is assuming?"
In India and in Egypt the fierce
1chneumons (Pharaoh's rats. or mon
goose, as they are variously called. are
held in the greatest esteem for their
services IN Kidding the fields of ven
emous serpents and destructive rodents,
and in the latter country have been
classed with sacred croeodiles, cows
and scarabae. That is a good record,
as far as it goes. Nothing can exceed
the certainty and celebrity with which
enc of these gray, ruddy-headed, broad
.awed. short-legged, ferret-like, fierce
little cyclones in fur viii master an
enraged reptile, lodging with the ra-
pidity of light, and selling the vulner-
able point with unerring accuracy. No
small creature that knows the mon
goose viii stand against him if he can
help it; a rat Is powerlesS in his strong
grip: it is even said that larger ami
mails viii flee before his 9emoniacal at
tack, and vet
Has not Mr.. Belmont made a mis-
take in sending those mOngooses to
Mr.. Vanderbilt; and viii not sir. VAN
derbilt make greater mistake in Civ
ing them 4 roaming commission in the
United States?
The introduction of the mild and
timid rabbit into Australia and the ire
mendous factor which Sir Bunny has
become in Australian agricultural al
fairs should be warning to the i'm
porter Of foreign animals. They some
times develop singular habits and
traits under peculiar circumstances.
The English sparrow is even now pip
Ing an amen to this statement.
But il is not necessary to go afieId
for examples which may prove the pos
sibility of danger in this direction.
Mr.. Nanderbilt's is not the first at
tempt which has been made to induce
the mongoOse TO transfer the scene OF
his labors and usefulness to other
scenes, and the result Of q former ex-
pertinent was distinctly disastrous.
Several years ago n prominent citizen
and popular member Of the government
OF jamaica, in the West indies. was
filed with the idea Of performing a
wise and meritoriouS service to his
country. He was a gentleman of more
than ordinary culture and ability, 4
faI- 10 TOW Il cTr #
encc. q fellow Of several societies. He
was. besides, a traveller ard an en-
thusiast. To him was due the intro
ductiOn Of Indian coolie labor into Ja-
maica, to the great benefit and comfort
OF many of the planters.
But in an evil hour he imported a
pair of Indian mongooses and set them
free IN one of his canefields in a valley
of that beautiful. mountainous island.
The producers Of sugar cane had lost
thousands Of pounds sterling annually
through the depredations of the cane
rat. whose destructive inroads upon the
plantations they had hitherto been I'M
able to stop. In an incredibly short
time the first mongoose had a progeny
numbering ds-tens-.undreds
of thousands. Tho cane rat was prac-
tically thing of the past. 1t was like
magic.
There never was a moro enthusiastic
appreciation of great mans benefi-
cent thought and work than was al
fOrded TO Mr.. E. Throughout the
fifteen thousand or twenty thousand
square miles of the island populat ton
of more than five hundred thousand
people praised the public-epirited citi-
zen who had so materially advanced
the insular interests.
Unfortunately, a standing army
needs a commisariat The cane rats
having disappeared from the face
of the earth. the other varieties -
rodents suffered diminution. There
were, besides these, a number of