IHE CAT. 



Bcribe, " In Egypt the cat was held in the greatest veneration, 

 and when it died a natural death it was actually mourned for 

 with demonstrations of grief appointed for the event, and that 

 if the death were caused by malice the murderers were con- 

 demned to be given over to the rabble to be biiffetted to death." 

 And elsewhere we read that " Cambyses, who succeeded his 

 father Cyrus as king of Persia, about the year 530, avaiUng 

 himself of the regard of the people for their favourite animals, 

 when he invaded Egypt to punish Amasis for an affront, made 

 himself master of Pelasis which had before successfully resisted 

 his arms. The stratagem he adopted was certainly an ingenious 

 one; he gave a live cat to each of his soldiers instead of a 

 buckler, and the Egyptian soldiers rather than destroy these 

 objects of their veneration suffered themselves to be conquered." 

 Mourief mentions that an insult offered to a cat by a Bomau 

 was once the cause of an insurrection among the Egyptians, 

 even when the fact of their own vanquishment could not excite 

 them to rebel. If other evidence were wanting, the enormous 

 quantity of cat relics discovered in Egypt, buried with as much 

 care as though they had been grandees of the laifd, or pre- 

 served by the tedious and expensive process of embalming, 

 would afford ample proof of the esteem in which the Egyptian 

 cat was held. • 



The Turks are great admirers of cat . kind. When Baum- 

 garten visited Damascus he found a spacious hospital whose 

 sole inmates were sick cats and their nurses; and when he 

 inquired as to the origin of the institution he was informed 

 that Mahomed, when he had once hved there, brought with 

 him a favourite cat which he kept in the sleeve of his garment 

 and carefolly fed with his own hands, taking off his sleeve 

 rather than disturb the repose of his pet ; therefore his fol- 

 lowers paid superstitious respect to these animals, and 

 supported them in this manner by pubHo alms, which were 

 found to be sufficient. 



In this and the sister kingdom^the cat has been held in high 

 respect since a very early age. " Our ancestors," says Pennant, 

 " seem to have had a high sense of the utility of this animal. 

 That excellent prince Howel Dda, or Howel the Good, did not 

 think it beneath him, among his laws relating to the prices, 

 &c., of animals, to include that of the cat, and to describe the 

 qualities it ought to have. The price of a kitling before it 

 could see was to be a penny ; tiU it caught a mouse, twopence. 

 It was required besides that it should be perfect in its senses of 



