Among Other Creatures Which That Country Produces, There Is A Kind Of Cats
Of A Greyish Colour, As Large As A Small Greyhound, But With A Much Longer
Tail, Which Is So Strong, That Whatever They Clasp With It Is As If Bound
Fast With A Rope.
These animals ran about the trees like squirrels, and
when they leap, they not only hold fast with their claws, but with their
tails also, by which they often hang to the boughs, either to rest
themselves or to sport.
It happened that one Ballaster brought one of
these cats out of a wood, having knocked him from a tree, and not daring
to meddle with it when down because of its fierceness, he cut off one of
its fore paws and brought it on board in that mutilated condition. Even in
that maimed state, it terrified a good dog we had on board, but put one of
the Indian hogs into much greater fear. The hog used to run at every
person, and would not allow the dog to remain on deck; but the moment it
saw the cat it ran away with signs of the utmost terror. The admiral
therefore gave orders that the hog and the cat should be placed close
together; the cat immediately wound her tail around the snout of the hog,
and with its remaining fore-leg fastened on the pole of the hog, which
grunted the while most fearfully. From this we concluded that these cats
hunt like the wolves or dogs of Spain.
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