As for my cats, they multiplied, as I have observed, to that degree that I was obliged to shoot several of them at first, to keep them from devouring me and all I had; but at length, when the two old ones I brought with me were gone, and after some time continually driving them from me, and letting them have no provision with me, they all ran wild into the woods, except two or three favourites, which I kept tame, and whose young, when they had any, I always drowned; and these were part of my family.
Mijne katten vermenigvuldigden zoo, gelijk ik gezegd heb, dat ik er in den beginne verscheidene van moest dood schieten, ten einde zij niet mij en al wat ik had opvraten; maar toen eindelijk de ouden dood waren, en ik ze gestadig verjoeg en niets binnen haar bereik liet, verwilderden zij en liepen het bosch in, behalve twee of drie, die ik tam hield, en wier jongen ik altijd verdronk.