351 
CiVET, 
on the following morning, gnawed his .w ay 
through the cage in which he was kept, came into 
the room where M. Barbot was writing, and, 
staring about with his sparkling eyes for a few 
seconds, made a leap of five or six feet at a fine 
American parrot, that was perched on a piece of 
wood put into the wall for the purpose. Before 
his master could run to the relief of the bird, the 
civet had torn oft' its head, and begun to feast him- 
self on his prey. Though the civet is naturally 
savage, it is capable of being tamed, and rendered 
tolerably familiar. Its voice is stronger than that 
of a cat, and somewhat resembles the cry of an en- 
raged dog. 
This animal is remarkable for the production of 
the drug called civet, sometimes erroneously con- 
founded with musk. This substance is a secretion, 
formed in a large double glandular receptacle, 
situated at some little distance beneath the tail, and 
which the creature empties spontaneously. The 
Dutch keep great numbers alive at Amsterdam, for 
the purpose of collecting the drug from them. 
When a sufficient time for the secretion has been 
allow ed, the animal is put into a long wooden cage, 
so narrow that it cannot turn itself round. The 
cage being opened by a door behind, a small spoon, 
or spatula, is introduced through the orifice of 
the pouch, which is carefully scraped and its con- 
tents put into a proper vessel. This operation is 
performed twice or thrice a week ; and the animal 
is said always to produce the most civet after 
being irritated. The quantity depends in a great 
measure also on the quality of the nourishment 
w hich it takes, and the appetite with which it eats. 
In confinement, its favorite food is boiled meat, 
eggs, birds, and small animals, and particularly 
fish. 
While the French army was in Egypt, the king 
