teeee @ie [be 
     
    
   
   
    
     OF MEN AND MICE 
     
    
   
   
    
     Now that the fall is upon us, the 
     
     annual migration is in full swing. 
     
     I am not referring to the migration 
     
     of birds but rather the "migration" 
     
     of mice. {Having spent the summer 
     
     months in a field or forest, many 
     
     mice are now seeking food and 
     
     shelter for the winter months in 
     
     our houses and barns. Living in 
     
    

    
     an old farm house, I have cohabited 
     
     with mice of various descriptions. 
     
     But the experience I have had and 
     
     am having with mice is nothing 
     
     compared with the confrontation 
     
     Islanders in the fall of 1738 
     
     experienced. 
     
    
   
   
    
     An insight to what occured in the 
     
     fall of 1738 can be gained from 
     
     excerpts of John Caven's article 
     
     "A Plague of Mice". This article 
     
     'appeared in The Prince Edward 
     
     Island Ma azifie volume 6, No.1, 
     
     August {899. 
     
    

    
     "For ten years the mice had 
     
     confined themselves to their 
     
     forest haunts, multiplying in 
     
     their abodes with their wonted_ 
     
     prolificacy. In the summer of l738, 
     
     however, the enormously increased 
     
     population had exhausted in all 
     
     their vicinities the means of 
     
     subsistence. The manner in which 
     
     these famished creatures swarmed 
     
     from the woods and rushed upon 
     
     the cultivated lands resembled 
     
     more the action of some savage tribe 
     
     carrying out some preconcerted scheme 
     
     of vengeance, than the doings of 
     
     irrational animals. Every field of 
     
     grain from Three Rivers (Georgetown) 
     
     to Malpeque, was made desolate by 
     
     their ravages,and the settlers all 
     
     of a sudden found themselves face 
     
     to face with starvation. Animated 
     
     with a spirit of destruction keener 
     
     than thev had ever been known to 
     
     exhibit in former inroads. these 
     
     invaders when the cultivated fields 
     
     were laid waste swarmed down upon 
     
     the grassy flats that lay along the 
     
     estuaries and_afterm devouring the .7 ._ 
     
    
   
   
    
     5. 
     
    
   
   
    
     food of the cattle, as they had de- 
     
     voured the food of man, hurried on- 
     
     ward, as was their wont over the 
     
     protecting dykes in search of further 
     
     spoliation and so found a watery 
     
     grave. So numerous were these 
     
     destrovers. that vessels-sailing ‘ 
     
     along the Island shores, encountered, 
     
     more especially off the mouths oflarge 
     
     inlets, hugh masses of drowned mice." 
     
    
   
   
    
     The actual assult of these "four-footed 
     
     Hreapersfl'must have been awesome indeed. 
     
    
   
   
    
     ..... the march in quest for food 
     
    

    
     was conducted in_a_long narrow column 
     
     which, turning aside for no obstacle, 
     
     went onward in a direct line, until 
     
    

    
     the cultivated field was reached. The 
     
     column of march then became a line of 
     
     attack, and in a incredibaly short 
     
     time energetic voracity converted 
     
    

    
     rich harvest fields into barren wastes. 
     
     This accomplished, the marauders re— 
     
     sumed their route in quest of fresh 
     
     pastures. Should a river, or the sea 
     
     itself, cross the line of march, the 
     
     intrepid leaders plunged confidently 
     
     in, followed by their devoted_adherents 
     
     who fought to the death with the waves 
     
    
   
   
    
     .and currents. This in the early days 
     
    
   
   
    
     of settlement was the usual termination 
     
     of such incursions.” 
     
    
   
   
    
     The settlers used many devices to 
     
    

    
     reduce the mice population. The most 
     
     effective device involved destruction 
     
    

    
     of their habitat by ploughing fields 
     
    

    
     and clearing woodlands. The descendants 
     
     of the mice in the l738 invasion are 
     
     with us today "but the damage they 
     
    

    
     cause is trifling compared with the 
     
     havoc inflicted by their ancestors." 
     
    
   
   
    
     The conflict between men and mice has 
     
     been on-going since early times. Not 
     
     only has it been a long fight, but it 
     
     has been one of the few fights in which 
     
     man has not been able to wipe out 
     
    

    
     his opponent before the third round. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Clare Martin 
     
     Stanhope, P.E.I. 
     
    
   
   
    
     +—