CASSELI/S POPULAR NATURAL HISTORY. 



one died a natural death, it was lamented with certain appointed symbols of grief; if killed, the 

 murderer was given up to the rabble to be buffeted to death, while the feline remains were embalmed 

 and deposited in niches of the catacombs. It seems, from Egyptian paintings tha: sportsmen, when out 

 in boat* for the purpose of taking water-fowl, were sometimes attended by a favourite cat, and from the 

 readiness with which it is represented to have seized the game, the artist intended to show that these 

 animals must have acted as retrievers, or were trained to catch the birds, b.-iug let out of the boats into the 

 thickets which grew at the water's edga Making every allowance for the great skill attributed to the 

 Egyptians in taming and training animals, it is difficult to believe, Sir J. G. Wilkinson remarks, 

 that the cat could, on any consideration, be induced to take the water in quest of the fallen bird. 



An insult offered to a cat by a Roman was the cause of an insurrection among the Egyptians, 

 even when the fact of their own subjugation could not excite them to rebel ; and it is also related 

 that Cambvses, availing himself of this regard for the animal, made himself master of Pelusis, which 

 had hitherto successfully resisted his arms, by an ingenious stratagem. This was the gift to each 

 soldier employed in the attack of a live cat instead of a buckler, and the Egyptian garrison preferred 

 yielding to the conqueror to allowing the objects of their veneration to be injured. 



: lie present day the cat is as much liked by the Moslems of Egypt and Syria as the dog is 

 despised. They are sensible, indeed, that the dog is capable of superior virtues and services ; but the 

 cleanliness, the delicacy, and the luxurious softness of the cat recommend it to higher favour and 

 attention. There are cats in almost all houses in the abodes of the rich they are much indulged ; 

 they are admitted to the best apartments, and partake in the indolent repose of their owners, who 

 delight in stroking their soft down. In short, the cats are much more favourably treated than the 

 mass of the race in this and other European countries ; even the boys do not molest them, and the 

 dogs are at peace with them ; one consequence of which is that they are commonly more gentle and 

 familiar than they are with us. 



In many eastern towns there are large numbers of unowned cats, which at night prowl about over the 

 house-tops, and descend from them into the areas of houses, and by day shelter in various obscure retreats. 

 In towns where there are Franks, who believe the plague to be contagious, such cats as appear during 

 that calamity are shot without mercy, as it is believed that by access from the house-tops, from which 

 they cannot be excluded, they introduce the contagion in their fur. As the kittens are not destroyed, 

 these animals are simply the refuse of the house-cat, abandoned to their own resources. For the 

 support of these cats funds have sometimes been bequeathed by charitable persons, in consequence of 

 which large numbers are, in the great cities, daily fed in certain public places, well known to the cats 

 themselves. 



Cecco maintained that nature was more potent than art, while Dante asserted the contrary. To 

 prove his principle the great Italian . bard referred to his cat, which, by repeated practice, he had 

 taught to hold a candle in its paw, while he supped or read. Cecco desired to witness the experiment^ 

 and went to Dante's house not unprepared to see his own views confirmed as the result. When 

 Dante's cat was performing its part, Cecco, lifting up the lid of a pot which he had filled with mice, 

 the creature of art dropped the candle, and sprang on its prey with all its instinctive propensity. 

 Dante was disconcerted, and felt that vision favoured the opinion which was opposed to his own. 



THE AXGORA CAT. 



animal is a very beautiful variety, with silvery hair of fine silken texture, generally longest on the 

 neck, but also long OR the tail Some are yellowish, and others of an olive hue, approaching to the 

 colour of the lion ; but all are delicate creatures, and of gentle dispositions. 



- M. Sonnini was in Egypt he had an Angora cat, which remained, for a long time, in his 



possession. It was one of the most beautiful of its kind, and its manners rendered it equally 



In Sonnini's solitary moments it chiefly kept by his side; it interrupted him 



:i'ly in the midst of his labours or meditations, by little affecting caresses, and generally 



d him in his walks. During his absence, it sought and called for him incessantly, with the 



* Felia Angola. 



