THE CAT O 



introduced to the west from tlie east. The ancient 

 Egyptians reverenced cats and embahned their bodies 

 when they died. They probably obtained their cats 

 from Persia and Babylonia, and put them to various 

 uses, one of which you may see in a remarkable 

 fresco in the Egyptian Gallery at the British 



Fig. 4. — Cat liunting- Pheasant. Cretan fresco of the first late 

 Minoan period (about 1600 b.c.) 



Museum, showing the cat used for hunting (frontis- 

 piece). We are also able to reproduce a very inter- 

 esting fresco found at Phaistos of a cat stalking a 

 pheasant (Fig. 4). The Egyptians worshipped a cat 

 goddess and made sacred statues and emblems of the 

 cat. Some of these you will also see in the British 

 Museum, and you will notice that the Egyptian cat 



