its European sister, has much degenerated; but still, on account of
its usefulness in destroying scorpions and other reptiles, it is
treated with some consideration--suffered to eat out of the same
dish with the children, to join with them in their sports, and to be
their constant companion and daily friend. A modern Egyptian would
esteem it a heinous sin indeed, to destroy, or even maltreat a cat;
and we are told by Sir Gardner Wilkinson, that benevolent
individuals have bequeathed funds by which a certain number of these
animals are daily fed at Cairo at the Cadi's court, and the bazaar
of Khan Khaleel.

But a tender regard for the inferior animals is a prevailing
characteristic of the Oriental races, and is inculcated as a duty by
their various religions. At Fez there was, and perhaps is at this
day, a wealthily-endowed hospital, the greater part of the funds of
which was devoted to the support and medical treatment of invalid
cranes and storks, and procuring them a decent sepulture whenever
they chanced to die. The founders are said to have entertained the
poetical notion that these birds are, in truth, human beings,
natives of distant islands, who at certain periods assume a foreign
shape, and after they have satisfied their curiosity with visiting
other lands, return to their own, and resume their original form.

To return, however, not to our sheep, but our cats, we must remark
that, in modern times, in spite of the kindness the cat habitually
receives in Egypt, his _morale_ is not in that country rated very
high--the universal impression being that, although, like Snug the
joiner's lion, he is by nature 'a very gentle beast,' still he is by
no means 'of a good conscience;' that he is, in short, a most
ungrateful beast; and that when, in a future state, it is asked of