STORY OF THE CAFFRE CAT. 
With the caffre, or, as it is frequently termed, the Egyptian cat, we have a 
species which is regarded as the parent stock from which the domestic cat 
has sprung. 
The caffre cat is about the size of a large domestic cat, and is generally 
of a yellowish color, darker on the back, and paler on the under-parts. The 
body is marked with faint pale stripes, which assume, however, on the limbs 
the form of distinct dark horizontal bands; and the tail, which is relatively 
long, is also more or less distinctly ringed towards its tip, where it is com¬ 
pletely black. The sides of the face are marked by two horizontal streaks. 
The caffre cat is found throughout Africa, from the Cape of Algiers -and 
Egypt, and also extending into' Southwestern Asia in Syria and Arabia. In 
past times it also ranged into Southeastern Europe. At the period when the 
caffre cat lived in Gibraltar, Spain was doubtless connected by land with 
Africa. These cats were held sacred by the ancient Egyptians, and enor¬ 
mous numbers of their bodies were embalmed and preserved in tombs and 
pits. 
Darwin considered that the origin of the domestic cat could not be deter¬ 
mined with certainty; and concluded by remarking that whether domestic 
cats have descended from several distinct species, or have only been modified 
by occasional crosses, their fertility, so far as is known, is unimpaired. 
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