294 The Book of Cats. 



" I enquired if people were not afraid of such 

 Cats. 



" * No, there is no fear ; they only eat a little of 

 the cookery ; but if you beat them, they tell their 

 parents next day. * So and so beat me in his 

 house last night,' and show their bruises. No, 

 they are not afreets ; they are beni-Adam. Only 

 twins do it, and if you give them a sort of onion 

 broth and some milk, the first thing when they are 

 born, they do not do it at all.' 



" Omar professed never to have heard it, but I 

 am sure he had, only he dreads being laughed at. 

 One of the American missionaries told me some- 

 thing like it, as belonging to the Copts ; but it is 

 entirely Egyptian, and common to both religions. 

 I asked several Copts, who assured me it was true, 

 and told it just the same. Is it a remnant of the 

 doctrine of transmigration .^ However, the notion 

 fully accounts for the horror the people feel at the 

 idea of killing a Cat." 



Ah, heaven help those whom we love and cherish 

 when we are dead and gone ! The soft, delicate 

 hands that never were made to work — the gentle 

 hearts untried — the pretty, thoughtless heads, 

 pillowed so softly, slumbering so placidly, all 

 unconscious that there is a rough, unsympathising 

 crowd surging round the castle gates, whose hoarse 



