THE STRIPED MUISHOND OR STINK CAT 



much damage to the stacked grain and other 

 crops. 



I happened to be camping about a score of years 

 ago out in the wilds in Natal with half a dozen 

 friends. It was a winter's night and bitterly cold, 

 and we were all snugly tucked up in our blankets 

 listening to the interesting experiences of a hardy 

 old Boer hunter. It seems our retriever dog was 

 in a restless mood that night, and went off alone 

 on the prowl. Coming across a polecat, he attacked 

 it and got well sprayed with its perfume. Re- 

 turning in disgust to camp, he thrust his body 

 under the folds of our tent and calmly proceeded 

 to make himself comfortable on my blanket. 

 Like wound-up steel springs suddenly released, 

 we all shot from our blankets and were out in the 

 bitterly cold frosty air in our night garments in 

 less time than it takes to write half a line of this 

 narrative. We howled at the dog, and hurled a 

 sundry assortment of words at him, but he heeded 

 us not. Eventually one of our number unlaced 

 the tent door, gripped his nose with his numbed 

 finger and thumb, and, darting in, drove the odori- 

 ferous creature out. Presently we heard a volley 

 of ejaculations from under the wagon near by, 

 and surmised the dog had endeavoured to seek 

 sanctuary among our Zulu servants. 



In the volume entitled The Monkeyfolk oj South 

 Africa an incident is related which is worth re- 

 peating here to illustrate more forcibly the pun- 



175 



