[Found under: “NOTES OF THE WEEK.”]

About Rats.—A correspondent writes us as follows: “In your last issue I have remarked a paragraph on Snakes vs. Rats. It seems wonderful to me that none of our rat-eradicators, nor the inhabitants of these Islands, have ever alluded to a small animal called the Mongoose Cat (Mustela), or Weasel kind. It is of the same size as a ferrit—the only difference between the two is, that the former is brown. This is the great rat-destroyer all over the East Indies, except Ceylon and Java, where the rat-snake rules supreme, and where the planters yearly complain of the depredations of the cursed rats among their coffee. The Mongoose, it is well known, is the only animal that can overcome the fearful Cobra di Capello in combat without suffering from the effects of the contest. They also become so tame and domesticated that no sailor from India, homeward bound for America or England, considers his kit complete unless it contains one of these interesting animals as a pet.”

[It would be 17 more years before the mongoose would be imported to Hawaii.]

(PCA, 10/27/1866, p. 3)

The Pacific Commercial Advertiser, Volume XI, Number 17, Page 3. October 27, 1866.