QUEER CALIFORNIAN TRADERS.
Reading edition
The queerest "traders" in all vast California are the odd little animals known as "trade rats."
They never steal, but give miscellaneous articles in exchange for what they take.
A paste-pot left overnight in an assay office was found in the morning filled with the oddest collection of rubbish.
This was the work of trade rats. They had stolen the paste, and left in exchange a piece of stick, a length of rope, some odds and ends of wire, and an unbroken glass funnel.
A trade rat's nest, found in an unoccupied house, was composed of iron spikes laid in perfect symmetry, with the points outward. Interlaced with the spikes were two dozen forks and spoons and three large butcher-knives.
There were also a quantity of small carpenters' tools, and a watch, of which the outside casing, the glass, and the works were all distributed separately—to make a good show!
We are unable to state what this particular trade rat left in exchange for all this "loot."