CATS. 203 



me to be one of the most striking of them, and quoted 

 from a letter : c When living at Four Paths, Clarendon, 

 Jamaica, I wanted a cat, and had one given to me, which 

 was nearly full grown. It was brought from Morgan's 

 Valley Estate, where it was bred, and had never been 

 removed from that place before. The distance was five 

 miles. It was put into a canvas bag, and carried by a 

 man on horseback. Between the two places there are 

 two rivers, one of them about eighty feet broad and two 

 feet and a half deep, running strong ; the other is wider 

 and more rapid, but less deep. Over these rivers are no 

 bridges. The cat was shut up at Eour Paths for some 

 days, and when considered to be reconciled to her new 

 dwelling, she was allowed to go about the house. The 

 day after obtaining her liberty, she was missing ; and 

 upon my next visiting the estate she was brought from, 

 I was quite amazed to learn that the cat had come back 

 again. Did she swim over the rivers at the ford where 

 the horse came through with her, or did she ascend the 

 banks for a considerable distance, in search of a more 

 shallow place, and where the stream was less powerful I 

 At all events she must have crossed the rivers, in 

 opposition to her natural habits.' 



The following anecdote has been forwarded to me, 

 and supplied by a lady who, to my regret, will not 

 allow me to publish her name : 



An old woman of the village has a pet cat, who is 

 affirmed to be ; as sensible as a Christian ' by her ad- 

 miring mistress. One night the old lady felt very ill, 

 and left the candle burning to enable her to take a 

 certain medicine, if necessary. She was awake, and 

 saw her cat fidget about the candle, as if she thought 

 it wrong that it should be left alight ; and at last, not 



