BOOK OF NATURE LAID OPEN. 55 



judice excited against her for those very habits and 

 propensities which render her valuable, and were 

 implanted in her nature for the fTest of purposes, 

 often becomes the victim of unfeeling boys, and of- 

 ten, too often, alas ! is made the sport of more un- 

 feeling barbarians, who deserve not the name of 

 men. The Ichneumon is to the Egyptians, in se- 

 veral respects, what the Cat is to us ; but far from 

 thinking of hanging her up in a barrel, and amusing 

 themselves with her sufferings, that more grateful 

 people have worshipped the Ichneumon as an ema- 

 nation of the Deity ! Cannot our more sober- 

 minded countrymen adopt a conduct between the 

 two extremes, and at least treat the purring race 

 with kindness? Animals of the Weasel kind fur- 

 nish us with a number of rich and valuable furs ; 

 the Civet, the Genet, and the Musk, with a supply 

 of perfumes ; the tusks of the Elephant, arid the 

 Seahorse with ivory ; the beautiful skin of the Tiger 

 decorates the seats of justice of the mandarins of 

 the East ; the flesh of the White Bear is eaten by 

 the Greenlancler, that of the Leopard is much re- 

 lished by the African ; and the Lion, even the Lion, 

 the living tomb of so many creatures, is frequently 

 eaten by the Negroes at the last ! 



We have reason to be thankful that in our happy 

 country we are abundantly supplied with food of a 

 more harmless nature, and much easier to be ob- 

 tained than those formidable monsters of the desert, 

 and that when taking a solitary ramble through 

 our peaceful fields, we have no occasion to adopt 



