  The disposition of the Cat to mouth her words has given the impression to many who have studied her utterances to conclude that most, if not all of her words begin with the sound of the letter "m," and this is an error which cost me months of wasted time while seeking to evolve the Cat language. It is natural for a Cat, as well as a necessary precaution in every animal, including man, to keep the mouth closed and breathe only through the nostrils, excepting while in the act of eating, drinking or speaking. It will be noticed that when the mouth is open the sound that comes most naturally and readily is that of the letter "m." The deception originated in this fact. I will admit a tendency of the feline to anticipate the word with this sound, but to suppose that every word of the Cat language commences with that sound is erroneous. The plaintive cry for food, "aelio," was, for a long time, set down by me with the letter "m" preceding it, and it was not until I had appreciated the uselessness of that letter preceding the word "lae," meaning "milk," that I disregarded the letter "m," and arrived at the true spelling of these and many other words which were uttered singly or at the beginning of a sentence. The word "alieeo," meaning "water," is subject to the same misspelling, there being no "m" at the beginning of it, but the word uttered at the door, when the Cat wants it opened, "parrierre," The utterance of the word "bl" may have been noticed by an observer when the mother-Cat has brought a mouse to her kitten. I have given as close a resemblance to the sound as possible, in the English language, and it signifies "meat," and not "mouse," as one might be led to suppose, "ptleo-bl," meaning "mouse-meat," and "bleeme-bl," cooked meat. The word "pad" means "foot," and "leo" signifies "head." "Pro" is the feline for "nail or claw," and "tut" for "limb," while the body is called "papoo" and the fur "oolie." The most surprising characteristic of the Cat is, undoubtedly, her wonderful appreciation of the passage of time and the invariable correctness with which the feline notes the hour and even the minutes after the hour, without the aid of, or even appearing to comprehend the value of a clock in computing time. This wonderful gift was one of the first of my discoveries, as it was one of the most interesting rewards for my labors. Appreciating that the Cat must have recourse to sounds for the expression of the hours in their conversation, I applied myself to the study of them, and was astonished at the rapidity with which I acquired the Cat-words standing for numbers. In this labor I was materially aided by my knowledge of the tendency of the feline to gesticulate, and when a number was spoken I noticed, regarding the lowest of them, that the Cat would significantly pat her foot, say once for one; twice for two and so on, even to seven times occasionally. The highest numbers were not difficult of attainment by the Cat language, because of the lack of gesticulations
The word "hoo" means "hundred." The word "milli" stands for "thousands" in the English language. The word "zule" means "millions," and a millionaire in the Cat language is a "zuluaim." Concerning the sense of the arrangement of sounds for the numbers I have nothing to say, for I cannot account for their selection, but the musical sweetness of the sounds in conjunction is wonderfully striking. Mark the euphony of the language in the expression of numbers conjunctively, for instance, in expressing the amount ninety-nine millions, seven hundred and forty-three thousands, two hundred and thirty-four—"nole-no zulus, el hoo sule-zah millis, ki hoo zahle-su." Again, let the ear catch the music as I give you, in the Cat language, the expression of one hundred and fifty-seven millions, six hundred and fifty-four thousands, eight hundred and thirty-nine—"aim hoo imle-el zulus, lah hoo imle-su millis, ic hoo zahle-no." Once more, let me express the euphony in the interpretation into the Cat language of eight hundred and eighty-eight millions, four hundred and ninety-one thousands, seven hundred and sixty-five—"ic hoo icle-ic zulus, su hoo The expression of the time of day by the man on the tramway, is the expression of the time of day in the Cat language by the feline as, for instance, in telling that the time was eight-eighteen, the Cat would say "ic ic-doo;" twelve forty-five would be "ro sule-im;" nine thirty-seven, "no zahle-el;" three thirty-three, "zah zahle-zah;" eight thirty-eight, "ic zahle-ic;" two twenty-two, "ki kile-ki;" four thirty-nine, "su zahle-no;" five fifty-five, "im imle-im;" six twenty-three, "lah kile-zah," and so forth. |
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