246 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
forty tons of tamarinds are annually imported into Great 
Britain. — Lib. Ent. Know. 
ANECDOTE OF A CAT. 
A favourite cat, that was accustomed from day to day 
to take her station quietly at my elbow, on the writing 
table, sometimes for hour after hour, whilst I was en- 
gaged in study, became at length less constant in her at- 
tendance, as she had a kitten to take care of. One morn- 
ing she placed herself in the same spot, but seemed un- 
quiet, and, instead of seating herself as usual, continued 
to rub her furry sides against my hand and pen, as though 
resolved to draw my attention, and make me leave off. As 
soon as she had accomplished this point, she leaped down 
on the carpet, and made towards the door, with a look of 
great uneasiness. I opened the door for her, as she seem- 
ed to desire, but, instead of going forward, she turned 
round, and looked earnestly at me, as though she wished 
me to follow her, or had something to communicate. I 
did not fully understand her meaning, and, being much 
engaged at the same time, shut the door upon her, that 
she might go where she liked. In less than an hour after- 
wards, she had again found an entrance into the room, 
and drawn close to me, but, instead of mounting the table, 
and rubbing herself against my hand, as before, she was 
now under the table, and continued to rub herself against 
my feet, on moving which I struck them against a some- 
thing which seemed to be in their way, and, on looking- 
down, beheld, with equal grief and astonishment, the dead 
body of her little kitten, covered over with cinder dust, 
and which I supposed had been alive and in good health. 
I now entered into the entire train of this afflicted cat’s 
feelings. She had suddenly lost the nursling she doated 
on, and was resolved to make me acquainted with it — as- 
suredly that I might know her grief, and probably also 
that I might inquire into the cause, and, finding me too 
dull to understand her expressive motioning that I would 
follow her to the cinder heap on which the dead kitten 
had been thrown, she took the great labour of bringing it 
to me herself, from the area on the basement floor, and 
up a whole flight of stairs, and laid it at my feet. I took 
up the kitten in my hand, the cat still following me, made 
inquiry into the cause of its death, which I found, upon 
summoning the servants, to have been an accident, in 
which no one was much to blame; and the yearning mo- 
ther having thus obtained her object, and gotten her mas- 
ter to enter into her cause, and divide her sorrows with 
her, gradually took comfort, and resumed her former sta- 
tion by my side. — Good's Book of Nature. 
A TAME PANTHER. 
The following interesting notices are from the pen of 
Mr. Bowdich, and prove that the Panther, notwithstand- 
ing all that has been said of his untameable disposition, 
is nevertheless as capable of domestication as any of his 
congeners: — 
“This Panther and another were found, when very 
young, in the forest, apparently deserted by their mother. 
They were taken to the king of Ashantee, in whose 
palace they lived several weeks, when my hero, being 
much larger than his companion, suffocated him in a fit of 
romping, and was then sent to Mr. Hutchison, the resi- 
dent left by Mr. Bowdich at Coomassie. This gentle- 
man, observing that the animal was very docile, took 
pains to tame him, and in a great measure succeeded. 
When he was about a year old, Mr. Hutchison returned 
to Cape Coast, and had him led through the country by a 
chain, occasionally letting him loose when eating was 
going forward, when he would sit by his master’s side, 
and receive his share with comparative gentleness. Once 
or twice he purloined a fowl, but easily gave it up to Mr. 
Hutchison, on being allowed a portion of something else. 
The day of his arrival he was placed in a small court, lead- 
ing to the private rooms of the governor, and, after din- 
ner, was led by a thin cord into the room, where he re- 
ceived our salutations with some degree of roughness, but 
with perfect good humour. On the least encouragement, 
he laid his paws upon our shoulders, rubbed his head upon 
us, and, his teeth and claws having been filed, there was 
no danger of tearing our clothes. He was kept in the 
above court for a week or two, and evinced no ferocity, 
except when one of the servants tried to pull his food 
from him: he then caught the offender by the leg, and tore 
out a piece of flesh, but he never seemed to owe him any 
ill will afterwards. He one morning broke his cord; and, 
the cry being given, the castle gates were shut, and a 
chase commenced. After leading his pursuers two or 
three times round the ramparts, and knocking over a few 
children, by bouncing against them, he suffered himself to 
be caught, and led quietly back to his quarters, under one 
of the guns of the fortress. 
“ By degrees, the fear of him subsided, and, orders 
having been given to the sentinels to prevent his escape 
through the gates, he was left at liberty to go where he 
pleased, and a boy was appointed to prevent him from in- 
truding into the apartments of the officers. His keeper, 
however, generally passed his watch in sleeping: and Sa'i, 
as the Panther was called, after the royal giver, roamed 
at large. On one occasion he found his servant sitting on 
the step of the door, upright, but fast asleep, when he 
