402 / 1060
:f.\.oyal
Commentaries.
BooK
IX.
6 H A .
P.
XXII.
Of Rats
,
and to what Multitudes they have increafed.
·
'9T7E
mufi:
fpeak
fomething
of the
Rats
which came over with the
Spaniard!
VV
for
befpre their time there were none in the Coumrey.
Francu
Lop~
J;
Gomara
in
his
General Hiftory of the
Indies,
(which~
as
not very faithfully wrote)
fays, that untill the time of
Blafao
Nunnez. Vela,
Rats were not known
in
Peru
•
but now they are
in
great numbers, and of fo great a proportion and
fize,
that
0
~
Cat dares
to
contend or deal with them : Howfoever they are not
as
yet come
fo
high
as
to the Hilly Countries, by reafon of the cold, and Snows
1
nor
can they
find covert, or fbelter, under which they may convey themfelves thither.
Howfoever,, they have great numbers of Mice, which they call
Vcucha.
In
Nomhre de
Diof,
Panama,
and other
Cities
on the Coafr of
Peru,
they have
fuch
an infinite number of Rats, that they are forced to defrroy them with Poifon of
Rats-bane, which they lay
for
them at
a
certain time of the year by agreement
of
all
the Neighbourhood ; when proclamation
is
made that every Hou e fhould
lay
its
Arfnick
for
defuuCl:ion of the Rats , that
fo
at
this
notice every perfon
fhould
be warned to cover their Provifions of meat and drink from he
Rats,
and
efpe·
!=ially the water, for
fo
foon
as
the Rat hath taken
his
dofe, he prefently runs
co
che water, and therewith burfis and dyes; and then every Houfe
lay
ics
baics
of
F!1Jits,
of fuch things
as
Rats commonly eat, which being empoifoned
wich
Ar£.
ruck,
defuoy them in infinite numbers.
When
I
arrived at
Panama
from
Spain,
ptefent1y after the time that the
poifon
had been laid,
I
remember that one Evening as
I
walked by the Sea-fide,
I found
jufr
at the brink of. the water fuch quantities of dead Rats, chat they covered the
ground for above a hundred Paces
in
length, and above three or
four
in breadrh.
. And now upon occafion of this difcourfe, concerning
the
infinite numbers
of
Rats,
I fhall
adventure to tell a frrange Story of this kind, upon the credit of
a
No
ble Gentleman, caJrd
Hernan Bravo de L aguna,
one who
was
Lord of
Indians
in
Caz.co,and had the honour to be mentioned
in
the Hifiory of
Peru :
the rela–
tio
nhe made, which he actefis
to
have een,'
as this:
A
Ship failing from
Pana–
ma
co
Los Reyes,
touched
in
the way upon the Coafr at
a
Port called
Tr11gilla,
where the \vhole Ships company agreed one day to go afuore, and be merry, lea–
ving onely one
fick
Man aboard, ' ho, by reafon of.his indifpofition,
was not
able
to
walk
fo
far as
from the Sea fide to the City, which
~as
two Leagues.
or
n
ed we here
to
wonder, that they fhould leave their Ship
Co
ill
provided,
for in thofe eas fiorms and rempefis do feldom arife, nor
\Vas
there any
fear
of
yrates, or Enemies, for
as
yet Sir
Francu
Dr11k!
had not opened the Navigation
int
t
fe Seas.
ow fo foon as the
Rats
perceived that the
Ship~
as freed
of
its c
1
any, they all fallied out to partake freely of the [poi], where finding the
fi
1
an upon the D eck they alt joined to give him batcel
that they might kill
and eat him : the
hich hath oftentimes happened
in
thefe Voyages,
in
which
fick Men ha e ver night been alive, and next morning have been found dead
in
their bed , with the flefh of their Faces, Armes, Legs and Thighs
1
gnawn
and corn from the bones.
In
this manner this hungry crew would have dealt
with our
fi
k Man , again
fl: \
hom they formed their Army, and came
to
com–
bat him, who finding himfelf
fo
hardly befet, got u , and taking a Spit from
the C ok-room, returned
to
his
bed, not
to
lleep, bur
to
watch, and fiand upon
his guard · \
hich
he did that ' hole day, and tne night following, and che
~ay
·
after, untill lace in the Evening, when his Companions returned to the
Ship;
vvho
having
heard the
tory,
gave credit to it, vvlien they found behind
his
Bed,
and