The rats are a numerous race in Antigua, and feed most lusciously upon the sugar-cane, to the grief and loss of the planter. The present race are said to have been introduced into the West Indies by Sir Charles Price, in hopes of exterminating the Creole rat. The emigrants’ tribe fulfilled their duty with great fidelity in this respect, and waged a vigorous war with their brothers of the _furry coat;_ but while thus employed, they multiplied so fast themselves, that they overran the whole island, and proved a more troublesome and dangerous foe to the planters, than their predecessors. These quadrupeds are so fat and sleek, from feeding upon the juice of the sugar-cane, that some of the country negroes find them an object of value, and with addition of pepper and similar spiceries, prepare from them a delicate _fricassé,_ not to be surpassed by a dish of French frogs! The horned cattle of Antigua, as well as beasts of burden, and domestic animals, are all of Lilliputian dimensions. Agricultural labour is generally carried on by help of oxen, and upon this account, each plantation is provided with a large herd of these animals, whose patient drudgery often calls for an expression of sympathy. The horses bred upon the island are, in most instances, but a very sorry race; still there are some handsome Creole ponies to be met with, whose slender limbs and bright wild eye give them the appearance of “sons of the desert.” The donkeys and mules are of diminutive sizes, but retain their asinary qualities in as great a degree as their patient brethren in the other parts of the world. Sheep, like “Miss Cowslip,” are as tall and slender as a poplar. Their wool falls off as they gain maturity, and is succeeded by short stiff hairs, like a goat. Many of them are so spotted and marked, that they might be taken for spaniel dogs, were it not for their length of legs, and _sheepish_ visage. The sheep, however, at Long Island, are very deservedly admired. Their backs are of a deep warm brown colour, and the underneath part of the body, with the breast, feet, legs, and head, of a glossy coal black. Their eyes are also black, and very piercing, very much like the eyes of the stag; and as they raise their long necks, throw back their well-formed heads, and gaze earnestly at the stranger who intrudes upon their haunts, they display a higher degree of animation in their features than any of their species I ever saw.