42 MUNGO. 



infirmity. He is as full of fun and as inquisitive 

 as ever, but not so bent upon mischief as in his 

 youthful days. He now has the range of house 

 and garden, and goes wherever he likes without 

 even a collar to remind him of captivity. 



The chief trouble is in connection with my 

 visitors those at least who have a strong objection 

 to "wild animals about the house" ; nothing, how- 

 ever, can possibly be less "wild" than Mungo, for 

 he is just like a tame cat. He does not dream of 

 biting or scratching, and is never so happy as 

 when curled up in the lap of some indulgent friend ; 

 yet, as he unfortunately looks like a ferret, many 

 people find it very hard to believe that he can be 

 perfectly harmless. 



Mungo delights to spend his mornings basking 

 in the sun on the window-sill of my bedroom, 

 where he is sufficiently elevated to watch all that 

 goes on in the garden. He is scarcely ever asleep ; 

 as Mr. Rudyard Kipling says so truly, in the 

 delightful account he gives of an Indian Mon- 

 goose in the Jungle Book, " He is eaten up 

 from nose to tail with curiosity," and whilst 

 seeming to slumber, the active little cinnamon- 



