'A Sir Charles Price, who had an estate in this island [Jamaica]
infested by rats, imported, with much trouble, a very large and
strong species for the purpose of extirpating the others.
'The new-comers answered his purpose to a miracle; they attacked the
native rats with such spirit, that in a short time they had the
whole property to themselves; but no sooner had they done their duty
upon the rats, than they extended their exertions to the cats, of
whom their strength and size at length enabled them completely to
get the better; and since that last victory, Sir Charles Price's
rats, as they are called, have increased so prodigiously, that (like
the man in Scripture, who got rid of one devil, and was taken
possession of by seven others) this single species is now a greater
nuisance to the island than all the others before them were
together.
'The best, mode of destroying rats here is with terriers; but those
imported from England soon grow useless, being blinded by the sun,
while their puppies, born in Jamaica, are provided by nature with a
protecting film over their eyes, which effectually secures them
against incurring that calamity.'