96 WILD LIFE AMONGST BEASTIES Wakening from a siesta in late middle day, when nearly all creatures indulge in like fashion, I saw a small animal 20 feet above my head, lying curled up round an uncomfortable twig. It proved to be a genet cat taking a rest, opening her eyes occasionally, but taking no notice of proceedings underneath. These little things feed on birds and small animals, and are quite as much at home amongst the twigs as the former. It is rather unfair to the small bird or animal that there should exist no night refuge whatever where sleep may be without danger, that no hour of the twenty-four should be free from the fear of a painful death. So I felt mean to take advantage of her innocence or trust, and took care that she dropped dead without knowledge of danger or pain.

Dull yellow in colour, with brown spots, a long, ferret-like head, and a prehensile tail as long as the body, the genet is a member of the civet family, but diiFers from them, inasmuch as its claws can be completely retracted, and the slit of the eye is vertical.

I often noticed that the boys were fond of picking certain solitary sticks of grass, and they once drew my attention to the smell of a substance adhering to them, which excited my abomination ratlier than pleasure. They informed me that it was much in request by their sweethearts, who regarded it as a precious perfume. The ladies of the Sudan became even less perfect in my eyes on hearing this. The practice of fumigating tliemselves with the sweet-