(_For the Mirror_.)
The first couple of these animals which were carried to Cuyaba sold
for a pound of gold. There was a plague of rats in the settlement, and
they were purchased as a speculation, which proved an excellent one.
Their first kittens produced thirty _oilavas_ each; the new generation
were worth twenty; and the price gradually fell as the inhabitants
were stocked with these beautiful and useful creatures. Montengro
presented to the elder Almagro the first cat which was brought to
South America, and was rewarded for it with six hundred _pesos_.
* * * * *