CAT KIND. 397 



sider the difficulty as inextricable. We must 

 leave it, therefore, as one of those difficulties 

 which future observation or accident are most 

 likely to discover." 



This animal is one of those few which are 

 common to the new continent as well as the old. 

 When Christopher Columbus first discovered that 

 country, a hunter brought him one which he had 

 discovered in the woods, which was of the ordi- 

 nary size, the tail very long and thick. They 

 were common also in Peru, although they were 

 not rendered domestic. They are well known 

 also in several parts of Africa, and many parts of 

 Asia. In some of these countries they are of a 

 peculiar colour, and inclining to blue. In Per- 

 sia, Pietro della Valle informs us, that there is a 

 kind of cat, particularly in the province of Cho- 

 razan, of the figure and form of the ordinary one, 

 but infinitely more beautiful in the lustre and co- 

 lour of its skin. It is of a grey blue, without 

 mixture, and as soft and shining as silk. The 

 tail is very long, and covered with hair six inches 

 long, which the animal throws upon its back, like 

 the squirrel. These cats are well known in 

 France ; and have been brought over into Eng- 

 land, under the name of the blue cat, which, how- 

 ever, is not their colour. 



Another variety of this animal is called by us 

 the lion cat, or, as others more properly term it, 

 the Cat of Angora. These are larger than the 

 common cat, and even than the wild one. Their 

 hair is much longer, and hangs about their head 

 and neck, giving this creature the appearance of 



