The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1892-12-02
PEDIGREED CATS AND DOGS.
Siamese Animals with Strange Peculiari-
tie--FeIine Fight with n Boa-

Siamese Animals with Strange PecuIiari-
tie--FeIine Fight with n Boa
United States Minister Boyd was
recently home on a leave of absence
from Bangkok. The American lega-
ton At Siam was composed of very
curious members" said he to a san
Francisco Examiner man as he stroked
the tawny coat of his three hundred
dollar a pair SiameSe cats in the Occi-
dental basement. You see the gov
ernment makes me no allowance for a
corps of secretaries and under digni-
taries like the tony missions receive,
and / had To force little style with the
best native material on hand. So
drafted into the service of Uncle Sam
an assortment of cheap but sagacious
assistants, who helped to furnish
! dignity to the establishment without
any severe strain on its eNchequer. You
can do this sort of thing readily in
Siam, where the freest sociability
prevails between the people and the
gifted menagerie that inhabits the
island. For a watchdog, in ease l
wanted to leave the house for awhile, l
had an intellectual little dog from the
kings kennel. lie comes of family
trained for untold generations to play
this role, and when placed on sentinel
duty he could be fully trusted, night or
day. to cover his charge with entire
success. Nobody but myself or wife
could approach my desk or anything
that he was left to guard without hav-
! ing 4 severe attack of remorse. Then
came Il marvellous pair of cats. They,
too, came OF lofty pedigree and are eX-
tremcly rare. but their most practical
value in Siam comes from their
merciless warfare on snakes. Bangkok
Is a crowded capital, a sort of Venice,
largely built over the water.
The entire country back of ii is in
! tested with enormous bOas, from fifteen
to twenty-five feet in length. When
their country board gets unpalatable
these monsters stroll down into the
bangkok in search of supplies. Their
pet dainties are pigs, chickens, geese
and eats. No, their bite is not venom
Gus. but they do swift and deadly eX-
cution with their giant coils. Instinc-
lively, therefore. the cat recognizes his
arch enemy, but you don't know what
a ferocious prize fight is until you can
seen one of these small, tawny felines
make an unerring spring and fasten
himself To the back of the boa's neck.
To this vulnerable point he holds like
grim death, scratching meanwhile with
the widest tiger-lille fury, till the huge
monster throws up the sponge. They
are gentle and good natured, these am
ber-cyed beauties, until Mr.. Boa comes
around, when they suddenly develop
the ferocity of ten devils. II was a
reptile seventeen feet long that one of
this fighting species laid out in my lcga-
tion yard one day. You must under
stand that Siam is an outdoor and open
window cline, and this leads to socia-
bility on n very democratic scale. You
never can tell the mixed character of
angels, four footed and otherwise, you
are liable to entertain at night. For
instance, we had pair of baby sun
bears, gentle as kittens, on the legation
pay roll in some position of honor.
They passed the day in the banyan
trees and dropped down about mid
night to call on their friends. We
found them under our bed one morning,
and then Mrs. Boyd thought the hour
had arrived to draw the line on beasts.
We had To dismiss our pelican, too, in
disgrace, in spite of the dignity he main
tanned on the front porch, for the royal
dog made open war on his tail feathers
until he resembled a sllirtless ballet
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