152 THE ANCIENT EGYPTIANS. CHAP. XIV 



kept by the modern, as by the ancient Egyptians, 

 to protect their houses from rats. But from its 

 great predilection for eggs and poultry, they gene- 

 rally find the injury it does far outbalances the good 

 derived from its services, as a substitute for the cat. 

 In form it partakes of the weasel ; with which it 

 was formerly classed, under the head of Viverra. 

 It is the Mangousta of BufFon, and the Nims, 

 Tiffeh, and Kot Pharaoon (or " Pharaoh's Cat") 

 of the Arabs. Its length is two feet seven inches, 

 measuring from the end of the tail to the tip of the 

 nose, the tail being one foot four inches, and it is 

 covered with long bristly hair. 



Though easily tamed. Ichneumons are seldom 

 used by the modern Egyptians, for the reasons al- 

 ready given. Unless taken veiy young, and ac- 

 customed to the habits of a domestic life, they 

 always prefer the fields to the confinement of the 

 house ; and those I kept at Cairo, though perfectly 

 tame and approachable, were ever ready to escape 

 to the garden, when an opportunity offered. And, 

 whether from a jealousy common to two of the 

 same profession, or from some natural hostility, I 

 always found an irreconcileable hatred to exist be- 

 tween the Ichneumons and^the cats of the menage, 

 which last generally avoided a second rencontre 

 with a full-grown Ichneumon. 



Much controversy has existed on the question, 

 whether Iclmeumons were tamed, and used in tlie 

 houses of modern Egypt. Some have affirmed 

 that they were frequently domesticated, others 

 that this was inconipatibic with tlieir nature. The 



