NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



gency of the scent of the polecat. A tame baboon 

 is made to tell the story. It is as follows : 



" One day my little friend, the terrier, cornered 

 an animal which you called a Muishond or Stink 

 Cat. Scientific fellows call him Zorilla striata. 

 We both rushed on him together, but the little 

 rascal sent a spray of some vile-smelling fluid over 

 us. I couldn't stand it and retired. My terrier 

 friend, however, rushed in, for his blood was up. 

 After a fight he killed the muishond. But, Great 

 Cicero ! ! didn't he just smell. Have you ever 

 smelt musk ? Well, try to imagine musk and 

 incense, the smell of putrefying cabbages, and a 

 lot of other evil-smelling things all mixed together, 

 and you will have a slight idea of what that Stink 

 Cat's perfume was like. We rolled in the dry dust 

 and the grass, but the smell wouldn't come off. I 

 felt sick, just as you folk feel when you are on a 

 ship and the sea is very rough. My chum seemed 

 quite chirpy and said he didn't mind the smell 

 much. He was used to smells. It was his business 

 in life to smell out things. 



" I thought, however, that my master might like 

 the muishond ; so I seized his tail and dragged 

 his body to the wagon. My master was lying on 

 his back smoking a pipe, and the Kafirs were telling 

 each other very tall yarns about the number of 

 cattle they possessed, and the number of wives 

 they were going to buy when they settled down. 

 With a volley of forcible exclamations the Kafirs 



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