408 / 1070
Royal
Commentarier.
BooK,lX.
C H A P. XXII. ·
Of Rat~, and to what Multitudes ·,héy have
increafed.
'WE
muíl: fpeak fomething of the Rats which carne over with the
Spaniard1,
for before their time there were none in the Countrey.
Francú Lope;:, de
Gomara
in his General Hiíl:ory of the
Jndies,
(which was not very faithfully wrote) ·
fays, that untill che time of
B!afco Nunne;:, Vela,
Raes were not known in
Pcru
;
but now they are in great numbers, and of fo great a proportion and fize, that no
Cat dares
.to '
contend or deal with them : Howfoever they are not as yet come fo
high
as
to the Hilly Coumries, by reaíbn of che cold, and Snows , nor can they
find covert, or fhdter, under which cbey may convey themfelves thither.
.
. Howfoever, chey have great numbers of Mice, which they call
Vcucha,
In
Nombre de Dios, Panama,
and other Cities on the Coaíl: of
Pmt,
they have füch
an infinite number ofRats, chat they are forced to deíl:roy chem with Poifon of
Rats-bane, which rhey lay for chem ac a certain tirne of che year by agreement of
all che Neighbourhood ; when proclamarion is made thac every Houfe /bould lay
its Arfitck for deíl:ruél:ion of che Raes , chac
fo
at chis nocice every perfon fhould
be warned ro cover their Proviíions of rneac and drink from che R~ts, and efpe–
cially che water for
fo
foon as che Rae harh raken his dofe, he pre1endy runs ro
the water, and ~herewirl
uríl:s and dyes; and chen every Houfe lays its baits
o[
Fruirs, of fuch things as
Raes
commonly eat, which being ernpoifoned with Arf–
nick, deíl:roy them in infinite numbers.
When
I
arrived at
P,mama
from
Spain,
prefently after tl~e time that che poifon
had beenlaid,
I
remember rhat one Evening as
I
walked by che Sea-fide,
I
found
juíl: at the brink of che water fuch quantities of dead Raes, rhar chey covered rhe
ground for above a hundred Paces in length, and above rhree or four in breadrh.
And now upon occafion of chis difcourfe, concerning che infinite numbers of
Rats, I /hall adventure to tell a íl:range Story of chis kind, upon che credit of a
Noble Gei1cleman, call'd
Hernan Bravo de Laguna,
one who was Lord of
Jndian1
in
Co'<-co,
and had che honour
to
be memioned in che Hillory of
Peru
.-
the rela–
tion he made, which he attefl:s to have fq:en, was this: A Ship failing from
Pann–
ma
to
Los Reyes,
touched in the way upon che Coaíl: at a Pon called
Trugilto,
where che whole Ships company agreed one day to go afhore, and be merry, lea–
ving onely one fick Man aboard , who, by reafon of bis indifpoútion, was noc
able
ro
walk fo far as from che Sea-fide
to
che Ciry, wbich was cwo Leagues.
Nor need we here to
~
onder, that chey Ü1ou,ld leave their Ship fo ill provided,
for in chofe Seas ílorms and rempefl:s do feldorn arife, nor was there any
fear
of
Pyrates, or Enemies, for as yec Sir
Francú Dnrk!
had nocopened che Navigarion
inro thofe Seas. Now fo foon as che Raes perceived chat the Ship , as freed of
its company, they ali fallied ouc to p~rrake freely of che fpoil , where finding che
fick Man upon che Deck, they ali joined to give him batee!, chac they mighr
kill
and eac him : che which hach oftemimes happened in chefe Voyages, in which
fick Men have over nighc been alive, and next morning have been found dead in
their bed , wich the
fleíh
of cheit Faces, Armes, Legs and Thighs, gnawn
and
corn
from che bones.
In
chis manner chis hungry crew would have dealt
wich our fickMan, againíl: whom chey fonned their A.rmy, , and carne to com–
bar him, .vho finding himfelf
fo
hardly befer, goc up, and taking a Spic from
the Cook-room, rerurned ro his bed, not to íleep, bue
to
watch, and íl:and upon
· bis guard; which he did rhat whole day, and che nighc following,, and che day
· afcer, umill lace in the Evening, when his Companions·returned
co
che Ship;
vvho having heard che Story,·gave credit
to
ir, vvhen they found behind his Bed,
and