KALM'S  TRAVELS   IN  NORTH  AMERICA.                                 465
but they are obliged now and then to rub their nofes in the ground in order to relieve
themfelves.
Clothes which have been wetted by this animal retain the fmell for more than a
month, unlefs they be covered with frefh foil, and fuffered to remain under it for
twenty-four hours together, when it will, in a great meafure, be removed. Thofe
likewife who have got any of this urine upon their face and hands, rub them with loofe
earth ; and fome even hold their hands in the ground for an hour, as wafhing will not
help them fo foon. A certain man of rank, who had by accident been wetted by the
polecat, flunk fo ill, that on going into a houfe, the people either ran away, or, on
his opening the door, rudely denied him entrance. Dogs that have hunted a polecat
are fo offenfive, for fome days .afterwards, that they cannot be borne in the houfe.
At Philadelphia I once faw a great number of people on a market-day, throwing at a
dog that was fo unfortunate as to have been engaged with a polecat juft before, and to
carry about him the tokens of its difpleafure. Perfons when travelling through a foreft,
are often troubled with the flink which this creature makes ; and fometimesthe air is fo
much infected that it is neceffary to hold one's nofe. If the wind blows from the
place where the polecat has been, or if it be quite calm, as at night, the fmell is more
ftrong and difagreeable.
In the winter of 1749, a polecat, tempted by a dead lamb, came one night near
the farm-houfe where I then ilept. Being immediately purfued by fome dogs, it had
recourfe to its ufual expedient in order to get rid of them. The attempt fucceeded,
the dogs not choofing to continue the purfuit : the ftink was fo extremely great, that,
though I was at fome diftance, it affected me in the fame manner as if I had been
ftifled ; and it was fo difagreeable to the cattle, that it made them roar very loudly :
however, by degrees it vanifhed. Towards the end of the fame year one of thefe animals
^ot into our cellar, but no flench was obferved, for it only vents that when it is pur-
fued. The cook, however, found for feveral days together that fome of the meat
which was kept there was eaten ; and fufpecting that it was done by the cat, fhe fhut
up all avenues, in order to prevent their getting at it. But the next night, being
awoke by a noife in the cellar, fhe went down, and, though it was quite dark, faw an
animal with two fhining eyes, which feemed to be all on fire ; fhe however refolutely
killed it, but not before the polecat had filled the cellar with a moft dreadful flench.
The maid was fick of it for feveral days ; and all the bread, flefh, and other provifions
kept in the cellar, were fo penetrated with it, that we could not make the leaft ufe of
them, and were forced to throw them all away.
From an accident that happened at New York to one of my acquaintances, I con-
clude that the polecat either is not always very fhy, or that it fleeps very hard at night.
This man coming home out of a wood in a fummer evening, thought that he faw a
plant Handing before him ; ftooping to pluck it, he was to his coft convinced of his
miftake, by being all on a fudden covered with the urine of a polecat, whofe tail, as it
flood upright, the good man had taken for a plant : the creature had taken its revenge
fo effectually that he was much at a lofs how to get rid of the flench.
However, though thefe animals play fuch difagreeable tricks, yet the Englifh, the
Swedes, the French, and the Indians, in thefe parts, tame them. They follow their
mafters like domeftic animals ; and never make ufe of their urine except they be very
much beaten or terrified. When the Indians kill fuch a polecat, they always eat its
flefh ; but when they pull off its fkin, they take care to cut away the bladder, that the
flefh may not get a tafte from it. I have fpoken with both Englifhmen and French-
men, who affured me that they had eaten of it, and found it very good meat, and
vol. xiii.                                               3 o.                                                     not