202 THE MANX AND ANGOLA CATS. 
been placed in a little basket, she licked it affectionately, and seemed to take a formal 
farewell of her child. When next I visited the house, Minnie would have nothing to do 
with me, and when her mistress brought her to me, she hid her face in her mistress’ 
arms. So I remonstrated with her, telling her that her little one would be better off with 
me than if it had gone to a stranger, but all to no purpose. At last I said :— 
“ Minnie, I apologize, and I will not so offend again.” 
Whereupon, Minnie lifted up her head, looked me straight in the face, and voluntarily 
came on my knee. Anything more humanly appreciative could not be imagined. For 
many days after the abstraction of her offspring, Minnie would not approach the various 
spots which had been sanctified by the presence of her lost child, and would not even 
repose on a certain shawl, knitted from scarlet wool, which was the favourite resting 
place. 
She is a compassionate pussy, and is mightily distressed at any illness that falls on any 
of the household. When her mistress has been suffermeg from a severe cough, I have 
seen Minnie jump on the sofa, and put her paw sympathetically on the lips of the 
sufferer. Sneezing seems to excite Minnie’s compassion even more than coughing, and 
causes her to display even a greater amount of sympathy. 
There are many varieties of the Domestic Cat, of which the most conspicuous are the 
Manx Cat and the ANGoLA. In the accompanying engraving, the upper figure represents 
the former animal, and the lower the latter. These two Cats present the strongest contrast 
to each other that can be imagined, the Angola Cat being gorgeous in its superb clothing 
of long silky hair and bushy tail, and the Manx Cat being covered with close-set fur, and 
possessing hardly a vestige of a tail. 
A fine Angola Cat is as handsome an animal as can be imagined, and seems quite 
conscious of its own magnificence. It is a very dignified animal, and moves about with a 
erave solemnity that bears a great resemblance to the stately march of a full-plumed 
peacock conscious of admiring spectators. It is one of the largest of domestic Cats, and 
in its own superb manner will consume a considerable amount of food. One of these 
animals, nearly the finest that I ever saw, made friends with me in a café at Paris, and used 
to sit on the table and eat my biscuits. In order to test the creature’s appetite, I once 
ordered two successive plates of almond biscuits, every crumb of which “Minette” 
consumed with a deliberate and refined air, and would probably have eaten as much more 
if it had been offered to her. It must be considered, that she had plenty of friends who 
visited the same café, and that she was quietly levymg contributions during the whole 
day and a considerable portion of the night, so that these two plates of biscuits were only 
taken in the usual course of events. 
The Manx Cat is a curious variety, on account of the entire absence of tail, the place 
of which member is only indicated by a rather wide protuberance. This want of the usual 
caudal appendage is most conspicuous when the animal, after the manner of domestic 
Cats, clambers on the tops of houses, and walks along the parapets. How this singular 
variation of form came to be perpetuated is extremely doubtful, and at present is an 
enigma to which a correct answer has yet to be given. Ut is by no means a pretty animal, 
for it has an unpleasant weird-like aspect about it, and by reason of its tailless condition 
is wanting in that undulating grace of movement which is so fascinating in the feline 
race. A black Manx Cat, with its glaring eyes and its stump of a tail, is a most unearthly 
looking beast, which would find a more appropriate resting place at Kirk Alloway or the 
Blocksberg, than at the fireside of a respectable household. Or it might fitly be the 
quadrupedal form in which the ancient sorcerers were wont to clothe themselves on their 
nocturnal excursions. 
The prescience with which all animals seem to be in some measure gifted, has often 
excited the admiration of those who have witnessed its effects. The Cat appears to possess 
an extremely large share of this gift, as has been frequently shown. An instance of this 
previsional capacity occurred just before the burning of Peebles mill, in 1853. A long 
account of this oceurrence has been kindly sent to me, authenticated by the names of the 
various persons concerned in the matter, as well as by that of the writer. 
