ENGLISH FURS. 23 



beautiful fur which catches the eye, but which at first the 

 visitor cannot identify. Its stripes are familiar, and not 

 unlike the tiger's, but the colour is not that of the forest 

 tyrant. She explains that this rug comes within her 

 special sphere. It is a carriage-rug of cat-skin ; the skins 

 carefully selected to match exactly, and cured and pre- 

 pared in the same way as other more famous furs. They 

 have only just been sewn together, and the rug is now 

 spread on the sofa to dry. She has made rugs, she will 

 tell you, entirely of black cat skins, and very handsome 

 they looked ; but net equal to this, which is wholly of the 

 tabby. Certainly the gloss and stripe, the soft warmth 

 and feel to the hand, seem to rival many foreign and 

 costly importations. Besides carriage -rugs, the game- 

 keeper's wife has made others for the feet some many- 

 coloured, like Joseph's coat. 



All the cats to which these skins belonged were shot 

 or caught in the traps set for vermin by her husband and 

 his assistants. The majority were wild that is, had 

 taken up their residence in the woods, reverting to their 

 natural state, and causing great havoc among the game. 

 Feasting like this and in the joys of freedom, many had 

 grown to a truly enormous size, not in fat, as the domestic 

 animal does, but in length of back and limb. These 

 afforded the best skins ; perhaps out of eight or nine 

 killed but two would be available or worth preserving. 



This gives an idea of the extraordinary number of cats 



