H
Cap. XXIV.  The Caribby J Hands.
155
tary, affirms, that thefe peftilent creatures being extreamly
numerous in thofe parts commit very great fpoils, ranfacking
"the places through which they pafs, making the Fields defo-
late and gnawing the Fruits even to the ftalks, and roots of
the Trees.
The Inhabitants of the Iflands have an invention which they
call Balan, to keep the Rats from eating their Caffava, and
other Provifions. This Balan is a kind of round hurdle, or
haply (quare, confiding of feveral (lakes, on which they place
the Caffava after it hath been dried in the Sun .• It is faften'd at
thetopof the Hut, hanging down by a Witth or Cord ; and
that the Rats may not come down along the Cord, and foget
to the Balan, they put the Cord through a fmooth gourd which
hangs loofe in the midft of it, fo that the Rats being come to
that place, being not able to faften their feet in it, and fearing
the motion of the Gourd, are afraid to venture any further:
Were it not for this fecret, the Inhabitants would find it a hard
talk to keep their provifions.
Thus hath the wife Author of Nature been pleas'd, by an
admirable equipollence of perfedions and imperfedions, that
thofe Countries which have fome advantages above others
fhould alfo be fubjed to thofe inconveniences that are not to be
found elfewhere. Thus hath the Divine Providence, whofe
bufinefs it is liberally to fupply the exigencies of his Creatures,
plac'd the prefervative neer the poyfon, the Remedy walking
as it were hand in hand with the Difeafe, and fo laid open to
Man the inexhauftible Treafures of Grace and Nature, to fe-
cure him againft the injuries of Air, the outrages of the Sea-
fons, the violence of Poyfons, and whatever the Earth pro-
duces that is moft dangerous, fince it became envenomed by
the firft Tranfgreffion.
The End of the Firft Bool^
X 7
THE