CASVINI, the name in history of Zacaria ibn Mahomed bin Mahomed al-Kousi al-Kazvini. Ho wrote the Ajaib-al-Makhlukat, or the Wonders of Creation, in the Arabic tongue. It treats of natural history, of the qualities of animals, vegetables, and minerals, as also of waters, aerial spirits, fairies, genii, and talismans ; but all with a view to confute the Jewish rabbins. His work is much esteemed by Mahomedans. It has been translated out of Arabic into the Turkish language, and also into Persian. There seems to have been another Casvini, who is the person meant by Abd-al-Latif, author of the book called Lubb at Tawarikh. Ile is cited by Golius in his Notes on Alfargani, pp. 4, 5, 6, and 22.—History of Genghis Can, p. 418.
CAT, puss, pussy-cat, kitt of the Arabs.
Bunt, ..... • Rm. Simi, . . . Soul,.
Min-khyeng, . . Kasir. Pone, TAM.
Maida, . . . . PERS. Pilli, TEL.
Cats are found throughout the south and east of Asia. The name of the wild cat in many languages seems to be related to puss. The Persian is Puschak ; Afghan, Pischik. Even the Kurd keeps his Psiq, the Lithuanian is attached to his domestic Piije, and the Turk has a kindly feeling for the Puschik. They are mentioned in a Sanskrit writing2000 years old, and thereare figures of them on the monuments of Egypt of a much prior age. Mummy cats have been identified with the Felis chaus, and with F. caligulata, F. bubastes, both still found in Egypt, wild and domesticated. No mention of the cat occurs in the Bible, or in any Assyrian record. Even in India Professor Max Muller is quoted as saying that it was but recently known as a domestic animal. Its Sanskrit name is Marjftra, from a root meaning to clean, from the creature's habit of licking herself at her toilet. Her mousing habits were well known to the Romans, and even to the Etruscans, as shown by antique gems and even wall-paintings. The mouse-killer domesticated among the Greeks, called wail, described by Aristotle, has been shown by Professor Rolleston to have been our white-breasted martin (Martes foina). The wail clypia or i'x•ic was a polecat, a foumart, larger, and a great lover of honey as well as a killer of birds. Pallas, Temminek, and Blyth believe that the do mestic cats arc descendants of several wild species which readily intermingle. F. sylvestris is wild in Scotland. F. lybica is the wild cat of Algiers ; in S. Africa, F. caffra is wild. In India are four
wild species, • of which F. chans has a lynx like tail. F. ornate or torquata occurs at Hand, and F. roam] in Central Asia. In the Isle of Man cats are tailless, and have long hind legs. The domestic Creole cat of Antigua is small, with an elongated head, and that of Paraguay, also small, has a lanky body. In the Malay Archipelago, Siam, Pegu, and Burma, all the cats have truncated tails with a joint at the end. In China a breed has drooping ears. The long silky-furred Angora cats are annually brought to India for sale from Afghanistan, with caravans of camels, even so far as Calcutta. These animals are currently known as Persian eats ; ' but Mountatuart Elphinstone remarks that they are exported in great numbers from Afghanistan, but are not numerous in Persia, whence seldom or never exported.' Lieut. Irwin also notices that 'they are bred in Kabul and some parts of Turkestan, and very improperly called " Persian," for very few are found in Persia, and not any exported. The Kabulis call this cat baruk or burak, and they encourage the growth of its long hair by washing it with soap and combing it.' It is supposed to be tho de scendant of the F. manul of middle Asia. It breeds freely with Indian cats. There is a wild cat in Borneo. In Australia there was no feline animal, no apes, monkeys, cats, tigers, wolves, bears, or hyenas ; no deer or antelopes, sheep or oxen ; and no elephant, horse, squirrel, or rabbit ; but it has marsupials only, kangaroos, opossums, and the duck-billed platypus. In Europe; cats play a considerable part in folklore; they appear and disappear unexpectedly, they haunt the paths of the night, and they are the only friends of old women with a repute for necromancy. Whitting ton, so long the hero of a favourite nursery-tale of England, is rivalled by the story of the Florentine Messer Ansaldo degli Ormanni. In a letter of Conte Lorenzo Magalotti in the Scelta di Lettere Familiari, published by Nardini, London 1802 (p. 139), are described his two cats, due bellissimi gatti, un una femmina,' which soon re lieved the king of an island (Canaria), on which he had been cast by a violent tempest, from the plague of mice, and he was recompensed con richissimo doni.'—Earl, p. 233 ; Darmin's Animals and Plants; Sair-ul-Balad in Ouseley's Tr. i. 171.