CAT KIND. 387 



They are in general fierce, rapacious, subtle, 

 and cruel, unfit for society among each other, and 

 incapable of adding to human happiness. How- 

 ever, it is probable that even the fiercest could 

 be rendered domestic, if man thought the con- 

 quest worth the trouble. Lions have been yoked 

 to the chariots of conquerors, and tigers have been 

 taught to tend those herds which they are known 

 at present to destroy ; but these services are not 

 sufficient to recompense for the trouble of their 

 keeping ; so that ceasing to be useful, they con- 

 tinue to be noxious, and become rebellious sub- 

 jects because not taken under equal protection 

 with the rest of the brute creation. 



Other tribes of animals are classed with diffi- 

 culty, having often but few points of resemblance, 

 and though alike in form, have different disposi- 

 tions, and different appetites. But all those of the 

 cat kind, although differing in size or in colour, 

 are yet nearly allied to each other, being equally 

 fierce, rapacious, and artful, and he that has seen 

 one has seen all. In other creatures there are 

 many changes wrought by human assiduity ; the 

 dog, the hog, or the sheep, are altered in their 

 natures and forms, just as the necessities or the 

 caprice of mankind have found fitting ; but all of 

 this kind are inflexible in their forms, and wear the 

 print of their natural wildness strong upon them. 

 The dogs or cows vary in different countries, but 

 lions or tigers are still found the same ; the very 

 colour is nearly alike in all, and the slightest al- 

 terations are sufficient to make a difference in the 



