WEASEL KIND. 101 



skill in spying out and destroying vermin. Natu- 

 ralists pretend that it inhabits only the moister 

 grounds, and chiefly resides along the banks of 

 rivers, having never been found in mountains nor 

 dry places. The species is not much diffused : 

 it is not to be found in any part of Europe, ex- 

 cept Spain and Turkey ; it requires a warm cli- 

 mate to subsist and multiply in ; and yet it is not 

 to be found in the warmer regions either of India 

 or Africa. From such as have seen its uses at 

 Constantinople, I learn, that it is one of the most 

 beautiful, cleanly, and industrious animals in the 

 world ; that it keeps whatever house it is in per- 

 fectly free from mice and rats, which cannot en- 

 dure its smell. Add to this, its nature is mild 

 and gentle, its colour various and glossy, its fur 

 valuable ; and, upon the whole, it seems to be 

 one of those animals that, with proper care, might 

 be propagated among us, and might become one 

 of the most serviceable of our domestics. 



THE CIVET. 



PROCEEDING from the smaller to the greater 

 of this kind, we come, in the last place, to the 

 Civet, which is much larger than any of the former; 

 for as the martin is not above sixteen inches long, 

 the civet is found to be above thirty. M. Buffon 

 distinguishes this species into two kinds j one of 

 which he calls the Civet, and the other the Zibet. 

 The latter principally differs from the former in 



