[<<<Previous page] In the winter of 1749, a polecat, tempted by a dead lamb, came one night near the farm-house where I then slept. Being immediately pursued by some dogs, it had recourse to its usual expedient in order to get rid of them. The attempt succeeded, the dogs not choosing to continue the pursuit: the stink was so extremely great, that, though I was at some distance, it affected me in the same manner as if I had been stifled; and it was so disagreeable to the cattle, that it made them roar very loudly: however, by degrees it vanished. Towards the end of the same year one of these animals got into our cellar, but no stench was observed, for it only vents that when it is pursued. The cook, however, found for several days together that some of the meat which was kept there was eaten; and suspecting that it was done by the cat, she shut up all avenues, in order to prevent their getting at it. But the next night, being awoke by a noise in the cellar, she went down, and, though it was quite dark, saw an animal with two shining eyes, which seemed to be all on fire; she however resolutely killed it, but not before the polecat had filled the cellar with a most dreadful stench. The maid was sick of it for several days; and all the bread, flesh, and other provisions kept in the cellar, were so penetrated with it, that we could not make the least use of them, and were forced to throw them all away.
From an accident that happened at New York to one of my
acquaintances, I conclude that the polecat either is not always very shy, or
that it sleeps very hard at night. This man coming home out of a wood in a summer
evening, thought that he saw a plant standing before him; stooping to pluck it,
he was to his cost convinced of his mistake, by being all on a sudden covered
with the urine of a polecat, whose tail, as it stood upright, the good man had
taken for a plant: the creature had taken its revenge so effectually that he was
much at a loss how to get rid of the stench.
However, though these animals play such disagreeable tricks, yet the English, the Swedes, the French, and the Indians, in these parts, tame them. They follow their masters like domestic animals; and never make use of their urine except they be very much beaten or terrified. When the Indians kill such a polecat, they always eat its flesh; but when they pull off its skin, they take care to cut away the bladder, that the flesh may not get a taste from it. I have spoken with both Englishmen and Frenchmen, who assured me that they had eaten of it, and found it very good meat, and not much unlike the flesh of a pig. The skin, which is pretty coarse, and has longhair, is not made use of by the Europeans; but the Indians prepare it with the hair on, and make tobacco pouches of it, which they carry before them.
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