The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1884-04-23
Cat Lore.

e.origiu Of domestic cats is obscure, but
seems by all accounts TO fall somewhere within
historic times All the histories of ancient
nations seem TO 20 back TO a time when they
had 10 cats NJ Lenormani says that a wild
cat was hunted and eaten by the Swiss lake
dwellers IN the age Of stone; but Africa,
south OF Egypt, appears to have been the era
die Of the cat as dOmssticated animal. Pussy
appears in the middle-empire Egyptian monu-
ments in the character Of a retriever seated IN
the boat Of a wild fowl hunter, circumstance
Indicating that those people had strain that
did not have as unconqueTable an aversion TO
tue water as our cats: and there have been cats
even in modern times, that could bring them
selves up to diving after fish. The cat, like
everything else, whether agreeable or horrible,
was raised to the odor Of sanetity in Egypt and
became the emblem Of the goddess Pasht, the
Egyptian Diana. NJ. Lenormant believes, how
ever, that this worship was comparatively
late, and finds no trace Of the animal among
the monuments Of the ancient empire. Under
the earlier dynastes, Pasht was lioness-
goddess, and not till the twelfth dynasty, and
the conquests in the land OF Cush, did the cat
come to the front. We may therefore regard
the cat as 4 Cushite animal, derived from the
Fsiis GaHiciiaia, which was found wild in up
carried their reverence for cats to what seems
to US a ridiculous excess. If any Of them VOL
unfairly slew one of the sacred animals. he
was punished with death; and Diodorus relates
that a Roman soldier who had killed cat
could hardly escape the fury of the people
When a cat died in a house, the people shaved
their eyebrows; and dead cats were embalmed
and buried 10 the city Of Bubastis, which was
sacred TO Pasht According TO Lencrmant,
the Egyptians still respect cats, and in Cairo
serve up copiOus banquet every day to the
cats Of each quarter, "in the court OF the house
Of the cadi." The late introduction of domes
tcated cats among Semitic peoples seem to
be proved by the absence OF mention of them
IN the Bible the Assyrians and Babylonians
arc said TO have been equally ignorant OF tue
animal. lively discussion between Mr.. \.
:. Murray and Professor Mahaffy few years
ago, as to whether tie Greeks had cats, seems
to have resulted in an understanding that they
had not. Their cat was a pole cat or some
| thing else, and the byzantine writers of later
days seem 10 have been the first who gave its
name 10 the modern cat. No Greek or Roman
pictures or representations of the HldH or
"mow cat Of the Egyptians are known, ex-
cept one that NJ. Longperier has found on a
Tarantine coin struck shortly before the wars
| Of BNTThus, and on lost post-C hTistlan tOmb-
stone. The IndU-Aryans of the Vedic age
seem to have lived and died ignorant of cats.
! The Sanskrit names Of tue animal mean 'the
animal Of tile house," 'the house-wolf, "the
rat-eater," 'thc enemy OF mice" Pictet
/ thinks that none of the European names for
the cat belong to the old Aryan tongue. The
Roman name, cItiS, signifies sly, cunning,
crafty, but is traced by him back to the Syrisc
CATO and the Arabic giH, and thence back TO
/ African words Of which the Nubian kddiSka is
an example. This gives more evidence, such
as it is, Of the African origin of the animal.
1 Some Of the names, such as the Persian phs-
1bak ard its varieuts, appear related to our
pHSt, aud are connected by NJ. Pictet with the
Sanskrit puiciLd, tail-the creature with the
waving tail Our cat is supposed to be de-
rived from the wildcat, an animal which gave
the name to the clan Chattan, and title to
| the Duchess Of Sutherland, which is said to
mean ''ihe Great Lady Of the Cat" Finally,
the Saturday Rcristr, from which We derive
this gossip, expresses its admiration at the
sagaCity with which the cat passes double
life-"a sleek domestic favorite all day, wild
animal Of unbrfdled impulse in the darkness
of night.-P0puLB- Science.