Our Cats and All About Them

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Harrison Weir. Our Cats and All About Them

PREFACE

PREFACE TO NEW EDITION

INTRODUCTORY

THE FIRST CAT SHOW

HABITS

TRAINED CATS

LONG-HAIRED CATS

THE ANGORA

THE PERSIAN CAT

THE RUSSIAN LONG-HAIRED CAT

THE TORTOISESHELL CAT

THE TORTOISESHELL-AND-WHITE CAT

THE BROWN TABBY CAT

SPOTTED TABBY CAT

THE ABYSSINIAN

THE SHORT-HAIRED WHITE CAT

THE BLACK CAT

THE BLUE CAT

THE BLACK-AND-WHITE CAT

THE WHITE-AND-BLACK CAT

SIAMESE CAT

THE MANX CAT

VARIOUS COLOURS

USEFULNESS OF CATS

GENERAL MANAGEMENT

CAT AND KITTENS

KITTENS

OF KITTENS IN GENERAL

MANAGEMENT OF KITTENS AND CATS

POINTS BY WHICH CATS ARE JUDGED,

DISEASES OF CATS

THE WILD CAT OF BRITAIN

CONCERNING CATS

CAT

THE CAT OF SHAKESPEARE

SUPERSTITION AND WITCHCRAFT

WEATHER NOTIONS

A CAT-CLOCK

"PUSS IN BOOTS" (Le Chat Botté)

SIGNS

THE LAW ON CAT KILLING

DEAD CATS

THE CAT AS A TORMENTOR

HERALDRY, ETC

PERFORMING CATS

CAT-RACING IN BELGIUM

CAT IMAGES

LOVERS OF CATS

GAMES

NURSERY RHYMES AND STORIES

FISHING CATS

CATS AND HORSES

"GRAMMER'S CAT AND OURS."

LOST

Отрывок из книги

Some time has passed since I published my book, "Our Cats and all about them," in 1889, and much has taken place regarding these household pets. All know as well as myself that each and everything about us changes, nothing stands still; that which is of to-day is past, and that which was hidden often revealed, sometimes by mere accident, at others by scientific research; but one was scarcely prepared in any way for so wonderful "a find" as that of the large number of "mummy" Cats at Beni Hassan, Central Egypt. They were discovered by an Egyptian fellah, employed in husbandry, who tumbled into a pit which, on further examination, proved to be a large subterranean cave completely filled with mummy Cats, every one of which had been separately embalmed and wrapped in cloth, after the manner of the Egyptian human mummies, all being laid out carefully in rows; and here they had lain probably about three or four thousand years. The "totem" of a section of the ancients, as is well known, was the Cat; hence when a Cat died it was buried with due honours, being embalmed, and often decorated in various ways, and, in short, had as much attention paid to it as a human being. It had long been believed that a Cat cemetery existed on the east bank of the Nile, and in the autumn of 1889 the lucky Egyptian, about 100 miles from Cairo, came unexpectedly upon it.

Immediately on "the find" becoming known, "specimen" mummy Cats were written for to agents in Egypt, one friend of mine sending for four, and it appeared for a while that much money would be realised by the owner of the cave or land in this way; but the number was too great, and the prices and the interest gave way, and, sad to relate, these former "Deities" were dug out of their resting-place by hundreds of thousands, and quickly sold to local farmers, being used for enriching the land. Other lots found their way to an Alexandrian merchant, and were by him sent to Liverpool on board the steamer Pharos and Thebes.

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"He is a young Cat (under a year old, we thought, by the teeth). He was seen one moonlight night in company with my 'stalker's' small lean black Cat, right away in my deer forest. We caught the papa in a trap after he had killed a number of grouse, and not being badly hurt, I sent him to Bartlett at the Zoo. We are thoroughly up to real wild Cats here. I have caught them forty-three inches from nose to tail-end; tails as thick at the point as at the root; the ears are also differently set on. Martin Cats, Polecats, and Badgers are all extinct here, and it is ten years since we got the last wild Cat, but three have been killed in this district this winter."

I insert the foregoing as being of much interest, it having been frequently stated that the wild Cat will not mate with the domestic Cat. The kitten offered to me is now at Fawley Court, Bucks.

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