THE BOOK OF THE CAT. 



A curious custom, which probably had its 

 origin in these pilgrimages to the sacred shrine. 

 had until recent years survived amongst the 

 Egyptian Moslems, who when they were start- 

 ing on their way to Mecca always set apart 

 one camel for the conveyance of several cats, 

 and some ancient dame was told off to take 



Beni Hasan, one hundred miles from Cairo. 

 A few years ago some excavations were made 

 near this town, and thousands of little mummied 

 bodies were found that had rested peacefully 

 for centuries. Their graves were desecrated, 

 their burying-ground plundered, and tons and 

 tons of mummied forms were carted 'away to 



PUSS AS A RETRIEVER : AN EGYPTIAN WALL PAINTING. 

 (At tilt British Museum.) 



charge of the precious animals. She was 

 honoured with the title of " Mother of Cats." 

 Her office was not an enviable one, and prob- 

 ably it was found that a woman was unable 

 to wrestle satisfactorily with the refractory 

 travellers, for at a later date a man was 

 substituted to carry the pussies to the 

 Holy City. 



Thebes appears to have been a favourite 

 burying-place for cats, and also a place called 



the neighbouring fields to serve the useful, 

 if not romantic, purpose of manure ! Accord- 

 ing to Horopollo, the cat was worshipped in 

 the temple of Heliopolis, because the size of the 

 pupil of the animal's eye is regulated by 

 the rising and waning of the sun. Plutarch, 

 however, states in his treatise on " Isis and 

 Osiris " that the image of a female cat was 

 placed at the top of the sistrum as an emblem 

 of the moon. " This," says the historian, 



