38 TllK CAT 



to be easily handled, and sensible enough to 

 become reasonably sociable when it has good 

 care and plenty of food, we can readily imagine 

 that even in the earliest of times the young 

 of the Wildcat was caught and brought home 

 to the caves or tents of the first of mankind, 

 to be a companion and pet of the children. Its 

 thrifty, useful habits of mousing and killing 

 vermin made it useful, so that it was probably 

 protected and cared for at a period when man- 

 kind first laid up storehouses of grain for 

 winter or future use. I doubt if to-day the cat 

 in the largest city of Europe or the United 

 States is any more of a domestic animal than 

 it was when the nomad Aryan traveled from 

 Asia to the west of Europe. 



We have seen from the foregoing that the 

 Domestic Cat probably comes from several 

 sources. The Long-haired Cats derived their 

 origin from the Indian, Bengalese, and various 

 smaller Wildcats of Asia and southern Russia, 

 and are known as the Asiatic, Eastern, or Long- 

 haired Cats. 



