THE WILD CAT. 109 



THE WILD CAT. 



Louisiana and North and South Carolina are 

 the States in -which wikl cats most abound. The 

 marshes on the banks of the Mississippi, the dense 

 forests, which are flooded by the overflow of the 

 Pamlico and Santee, harbour these brutes, Avhich 

 are so destructive to game of every kind. The 

 worst of the matter is that, although they are pretty 

 hotly pursued, the wild cat is as numerous as ever. 

 The destruction of the race seems to be impossible. 

 The Americans themselves consider that hunting 

 the wild cat is . one of the best kinds of sport they 

 have. With them, it rivals the English fox-hunt. 

 The planters, indeed, do not dress so smartly as the 

 fox-hunter, and the only mechanical appliance wdiich 

 they copy is the horn which fox-hunters use. 



The wild cat of the States is an enormous animal, 

 resembling the tame animal only by the markings 

 on the fur. I never saw larger tom-cats than those 

 of Carolina. The reddish fur, diagonally striped 

 with dark shades, the tail, brushed like that of a 

 fox, their pointed ears (closely- resembling those of 

 the lynx), all combine to make the brute resemble a 

 kind of tiger, — the negroes of the Southern States 

 describe the wild cat, according to the genius of 

 their picturesque language : " As greedy as a pawn- 



