* * * * *
VENERATION OF CATS IN ANCIENT DAYS, AND VALUE OF KITTENS, &c.
_(For the Mirror.)_
The cat was held in high veneration by the ancient Egyptians. When a cat
died in a house, the owner of the house shaved his eye-brows; they
carried the cats when dead into consecrated houses to be embalmed, and
interred them at Bubastis, a considerable city of Lower Egypt. If any
killed a cat, though by accident, he could not escape death. Even in the
present day they are treated with the utmost care in that country, on
account of their destroying the rats and mice. They are trained in some
of the Grecian islands to attack and destroy serpents, with which those
islands abound.
In the time of Howel Dha, _Howel the Good_, Prince of Wales, who died in
the year 948, laws were made both to preserve and fix the prices of
different animals; among which the cat was included, as being at that
early period of great importance, on account of its scarcity and
utility. The price of a kitten before it could see, was fixed at one
penny; till proof could be given of its having caught a mouse,
two-pence; after which it was rated at four-pence, a great sum in those
days, when the value of specie was extremely high. It was likewise
required, that the animal should be perfect in its senses of hearing and
seeing, should be a good mouser, have its claws whole, and if a female,
be a careful nurse. If it failed in any of these qualifications, the
seller was to forfeit to the buyer the third part of its value. If any
one should steal or kill the cat that guarded the prince's granary, the
offender was to forfeit either a milch ewe, her fleece, and lamb, or as
much wheat as when poured on the cat suspended by its tail, (its head
touching the floor) would form a heap high enough to cover the tip of
the tail. From these circumstances (says Pennant) we may conclude that
cats were not originally natives of these islands, and from the great
care taken to improve and preserve the breed of this prolific creature,
we may with propriety suppose that they were but little known at that
period.
When Mr. Baumgarten was at Damascus, he saw there a kind of hospital for
cats; the house in which they were kept was very large, walled round,
and was said to be quite full of them. On inquiring into the origin of
this singular institution, he was told that Mahomet, when he once lived
there, brought with him a cat, which he kept in the sleeve of his gown,
and carefully fed with his own hands. His followers in this place,
therefore, ever afterwards paid a superstitious respect to these
animals; and supported them in this manner by public alms, which were
very adequate to the purpose. Browne, in his _History of Jamaica_, tells
us, "A cat is a very dainty dish among the negroes."