CAT. 
S27 
it a few times, it followed him like a tame favour- 
ite cat. It was fond of being stroked and ca- 
ressed, rubbed its' bead and back against the per- 
son’s clothes who fed -it, and seemed very desirous 
of being noticed It purred as our domestic cats 
do when they are pleased. At this time it was 
about nine months old, and bad been taken when 
quite young in the woods. 
Cat. 
The cat,” says Buffon, may be considered 
as a faithless friend, brought to oppose a still more 
insidious enemy. It is, in fact, the only animal of 
this tribe whose services can more than recom- 
pense the trouble of their education, and whose 
strength is not sufficient to make its anger formi- 
dable. The. lion, or the tiger, may easily be 
tamed, and rendered subservient to human com- 
mand ; but even in their humblest and most fami- 
liar moments, they are still dangerous ; since 
their strength is such, that the smallest fit of anger 
or caprice may have dreadful consequences. But 
the cat, though easily offended, and often caprici- 
ous in her resentments, is not endowed with power 
sufficient to do any great mischief. Of all animals 
when young, there is none more prettily playful 
than the kitten ; but it seems to lose this disposi- 
tion as it grows old, and the innate treachery of its 
kind is then seen to prevail. From being naturally 
ravenous, education teaches it to disguise its ap- 
petites, and to watch the favourable moment of 
plunder ; supple, insinuating, and artful, it has 
learned the arts of concealing its intentions till it 
can put them into execution ; when the opportu- 
nity offers, it at once seizes upon whatever it hods, 
flies off with it, and continues at a distance till it 
supposes its offence forgotten. The cat has only 
