The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-07-14
4" 1T is THE cAT.v
History of Cats-dow they Migrated
from Egyps Through Syria aud
Rome. Ia Europe, and Thence 10


from Egyps Through Syria and
America.
from the London Saturday Review.l
In the Gentteman's Magazine Mr..
'Ihistleton Dyer tells us a few things
about the history and folklore of the
harmless, prosecuted cat. He remarks
that the chariot of the Goddess Freya,
1.-THE Teutonic Venus" was drawn by
cats, and for his authority he refers us
to keily's Indo-European Folk
Lore. But this does not advance us
much, as we wish To know where Kelly
derived his information. But he who
asks for first hand references is born to
be disappointed. 1t is not easy to see
Row Freya's car came to be drawn by
cats, II cats were not introduced into
Europe until the Middle Ages, by which
time F'reya had ceased TO be adored.
Perhaps Freya's were the tall, brindled
wild eats which thirty years ago were
common enough In West Highlands.
This wild cat, NJ. Lenormant says, was
hunted and even eaten 1--WE regret to
learn) by the dwellers in the Swiss lake.
cities III the age of stone. M. Leror-
mant Is convinced that not Egypt, but
Africa further south, is the cradle of the
cat as a domesticated animal. The
Egyptian wild-fowl hunter in the monu
ments takes his cat with him in his boat
and the cat acted as retriever. Cats,
as rule, dislike cold water, but they
are fond of fish, and there used to be
cat in a mill on the YarTow or Ettrick
1--WE forget which, which would dive after
trout and seize them, even in deep pools.
This cat did not illustrate the
Latin proverb, Catus aDaat pisces
Sed dQttas i,atrare recusat The Egypt
ian cats fondness for birds doubtless
enabled him to overcome his aversion to
wetting his feet. All the world knows
through Herodotus how the Egyptians
worshiped the cat, though, indeed, there
was scarcely any animal which some of
them did not ignorantly worship. The
remarks of Herodotus about the personal
habits of the cat seem to prove almost
to demonstration that the domesticated
animal was no more known in Greece in
his time than III the country where Dick
Wilmington introduced it, On this
topic, some years ago, Mr.. Mahafley en-
tered into controversy; Mr.. Mahaffey
believing IN Greek cats, while Mr.. A. s.
Murray was skeptical about their exist
epce. If any Egyptian voluntarily slew
a sacred animal, death was his punish
ment; and Doodorus tells us that a
Roman soldier who had accidentally
killed cat scarcely escaped the fury of
the people. Yet the Egyptians had
probably a still higher respect for dogs.
When cat died in house the people
oh tInafr h,,A
died they shaved the whole head and
all the body. Dead cats were embalmed
and buried in the city of Bubastis, the
the sacred city of Bast, or Pasht, the
divine cat. NJ. Lenormant finds that
the Egyptians still respect cats, and in
Cairo serve up q cOpiOus banquet every
day to the cats of each quarter Gin the
court of the house of the Cadi." In one
of the picture galleries was lately exhib-
tied study OF cats on pilgrimage in
Egypt they had camel all to them
selves, under the direction of an old
pilgrim, and were perched most COM
fortablv on the animals shoulders.
The cat, like so many other animals,
played considerable part in Egyptian
religion. But, if NJ. Lenormant is right,
cat-worship is comparatively late in
Egypt. He finds no trace of the animal
among all the many monuments Of the
ancient empire. Under those early dy-
nasties the at-goddess, Bast or Pasht,
was a lioness-goddess. Not till the
twelfth dynasty, and the conquests in lie
pays de kousch, does the cat come to
the front in Egypt. We may, therefore,
regard the cat as Cushite animal, de-
rived from the felis maniculata, found
wild III Upper Nubia and the Soudan
Our cat, on the other hand, is thought TO
be descended from the felis catus, the
wild cat which gave a name to Clan
Chattan, and to the Duchess of Suther-
land Gaelic title, said to mean "The
Great Lady OF the Cat. The Spanish
cat is regarded as ny brid, dating from
the Arab invasions.
The late introduction of domesticated
cats among Semitic people seems to be
proved by the absence of cats in the
Bible. We do not remember a single
mention of cats in Holy Writ The AS
syrians and the Babylonians are laid to
have been equally ignorant of this
charming animal. There appear to be no
Greek or Roman pictures or other repre-
sensations of the mau, or mew-cat,"
of the Egyptians. Perhaps one excep-
ton should be made; for M. Longperier
has encountered cat on a Tarantine
coin, struck shortly before the wars of
Pyrrhus. Another archaologist mentions
q Roman tombstone, that of CAL
purnia Felicula pussy, on which q
cat was engraved; but the monument is
lost, and its date post Christian. Orelli
thinks that felicula Qittle cat or KITTEN
is late name for women. The Byzan-
tine writers, in the latest days of Greece,
are thought to have been the first who
gave the name gale to the modern cat.
The Greek gale was polecat, or fou-
mart though there was an old fable Of
a cat changed into a woman, which
seems more naturally interpreted of q
modern cat. The names of the cat in
European languages are interesting. M.
Pictet, the author of Lies Origines
o-Europeennes, thinks that none of
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