7HE CAFFRE-CAT 



The Ancestor of the Domestic Cat — A Native of Africa and Asia — Worshipped by the 

 Egyptians. 



Among the other smaller beasts of prey which the American hunting 

 expedition came across in East Africa were also a number of wild-cats. 

 This animal frequents long grass, reeds and bushes, especially in the neighbor- 

 hood of small streams and rivers. It is strictly nocturnal in its habits and 

 very seldom seen in daytime, and then only by chance. 



While hunting elephants on the western side of the Kilimanjaro I saw, 

 says an African traveler, again and again, a shy black cat. From my stand 

 I could often see it far below me, jumping gracefully over the dew-laden 

 grasses and the branches which blocked its wav; but before I could take aim 

 it always disappeared into the thicket. For many nights it avoided the traps 

 I set to catch it. One morning, however, my taxidermist surprised me with 

 the welcome news, "We have got her." Saying this he held out to me a fine 

 serval, or black cat. She appeared to be uniformly black, but, holding her 

 against the light, I could see the darker spots shining through. On the plains 

 of the steppe I met, though very rarely, the grey wild-cats. 



The caffre cat is about the size of a large domestic cat, and is generally 

 of a yellowish color, darker on the back, and paler on the under-parts. The 

 body is marked with faint pale stripes, which assume, however, on the limbs 

 the form oi distinct dark horizontal bands; and the tail, which is relatively 

 long, is alsoi more or less distinctly ringed towards its tip, where it is com- 

 pletely black. The sides of the face are marked by twO' horizontal streaks. 



The caffre cat is found throughout Africa, from the Cape of Algiers and 

 Egypt, and also^ extending intO' Southwestern Asia in Syria and Arabia. In 

 past times it also' ranged intO' Southeastern Europe. At the period when the 

 caffre cat lived in Gibraltar, Spain was doubtless connected by land with 

 Africa. These cats were held sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and enor- 

 mous numbers of their bodies were embalmed and preserved in tombs and 

 pits. 



Darwin considered that the origin of the domestic cat could not be deter- 

 mined with certainty; and concluded by remarking that whether domestic 

 cats have descended from several distinct species, or have only been modified 

 by occasional crosses, their fertility,, so far as is known, is unimpaired. 



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