THE CAT: 



The Cat of Egypt 



The number of domestic animals in Egypt is 

 very great, and would be still greater, were it not 

 for what befalls the cats. As the females, when 

 they have kittened, no longer seek the company 

 of the males, these last, to obtain once more their 

 companionship, practise a curious artifice. They 

 seize the kittens, carry them off, and kill them; 

 but do not eat them afterwards. Upon this, the 

 females, being deprived of their young, and long- 

 ing to supply their place, seek the males once 

 more, since they are particularly fond of their off- 

 spring. 



On every occasion of a fire in Egypt, the stran- 

 gest prodigy occurs with the cats. The inhabit- 

 ants allow the fire to rage as it pleases, while they 

 stand about at intervals and watch these animals, 

 which, slipping by the men, or else leaping over 

 them, rush headlong into the flames. When this 

 happens, the Egyptians are in deep affliction. If 

 a cat dies in a private house by a natural death, 

 all the inmates of the house shave their eyebrows. 

 The dead cats are taken to the city of Bubastis, 

 where they are embalmed, after which they are 

 buried in certain sacred repositories. 



.Herodotus. 

 Version of George Rawlinson, M.A. 

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