The Portland daily press., 1882-06-08
Cat Records in History.
Nations Without Cats and Cats in ok
Lore.

| A mans sentiments with regard to cats are a
kind of token of his age. In boyhood we are
apt to hate cats, regarding them as 'sthe higher
| vermin.'' A dog which, like poor dog Tray in
| the poem, sis uncommon good at CATS" is our
favorite companion. We do not weary of con-
trasting the sterling merits and straightforward
character OF the dog with the sly and Sinking
habits of the cat. But as age draws on we be-
gin to see redeeming features in the quiet, I'M
demonstrative cat We admire the sagacty
with which it passes double life-a sleek do
nestle fayorite all day, wild animal of I'M
bridled impulse in the darkness of night. If
the cat is not a robustious animal like the New
foundland or bull-terrier, it is an unaffected
one. 1t does not wag its tail at every chance
conner, but purrs only when it has good reason
to be pleased. The undemonstrative cat takes
a human interest in her own comfort, disturbs
no one, Except occasionally at night, and re-
ally deserves protection from the worse than
Bulgarian atrocities of fends in the shape of
boys This animal, SO essentially hypocritcal
and civilized, has history and a folklore of
her own, which we now propose to examine.
In the new number of the Gentleman's Mag
about the history and folklore of the harmless,
prosecuted cat. He remarks that the chariot
of the Goddess Freya, "the Teutonic Venus"
was drawn by cats, and for his authority refers
us to Kelly's "Indo-E1ropean Folklore But
this does not advance us much, as we wish to
know whence Kelly derived his information.
But he who asks for first-hand references is
born to be disappointed. 1t is not easy to see
how Freya's Car came to be drawn by cats if
cats were not introduced into Europe till the
Middle Ages, by which time Freya had ceased
to be adored Probably Freya's were the tall,
brindled wild cats, which, 80 wears ago, were
common enough in the West Highlands. This
wild cat, M. Lenormant says, was hunted and
even eaten 1--WE regret to learD) by the jewellers
in the ISIS lake cities in the age of stone. M.
Lenormapt is convinced that not Egypt, but
Africa, further south, is the cradle OF the cat
as a donesticated animal. The Egyptian wild
fowl hunter in the monuments takes his cat
with him in his boat and the cat acted as re-
trleyer. Cats, as a rule, dislike cold water but
they are fond of fish, and there used to be
cat in mill on the Yarrow or Ettrick 1--WE for
get which) which would dive after trout and
seize them even in deep pools. This cat did
not illustrate the Latin preverb "Catus amat
pisces sed aquas intrare recuSat." The Egyp-
tian cats fondness for birds doubtless enabled
him to overcome his aversion to wetting his
IeeI All the WORM hno"s tiEoosn iAoiouoeuo
how the Egyptians revered the cat, though, in
deed, 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 the demonstra-
ton that the domesticated animal was no more
known in Greece in his time than in the coun-
try where Dick Wilmington introduced it. On
this topic, some years ago, Mr.. Mahaffy entered
into controversy; Mr.. Mahaffy believing in
Greek cats, while Mr.. A. S. Murray was skep-
teal about their existence If any Egyptian
voluntarily slew sacred animal death was his
Punishment and Diodorus tells us that Ro
man soldier who had accidentally killed a cat
scarcely escaped the fury of the people Yet
the Egyptians had probably still higher re-
spect for dogs. When a cat died in house
the people shaved their eyebrows, but when
dog died they shaved the whole head and all