THE JAVA CAT. 419 



therefore, he is not to be recommended to that 

 variety of the human species called a "maiden 

 lady, of a certain age." 



At last I let the creature ramble about where 

 it pleased in the after part of the ship ; it re- 

 posed in the cabins, or any other place it liked. 

 It used to wander about like a cat, and come 

 at meal time for food, until the 14th of June, 

 when it was missing, and search being made 

 about its usual haunts, the animal w^as dis- 

 covered dead among some oakum in one of the 

 cabins. 



When at Pedir, on the north-east coast of Su- 

 matra, I procured another young but larger speci- 

 men than the preceding ; it was purchased for half 

 a rupee. Although wild with strangers, with the 

 native from whom the animal was purchased it 

 was exceedingly domesticated. I have seen it 

 follow him like a cat along the pathway for some 

 distance, when he placed it out of his arms upon 

 the ground ; the natives gave it the same name 

 here as at Java, Mussong. 



These animals attain the size of our domestic 

 cats, living in their wild state upon the sum- 

 mits of trees, eating the fruit, and also birds, 

 when they have caught them. 



They eat sugar-cane, plantain, rice, and also 

 those troublesome insects the cockroaches. 



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