Although the animals which produce this drug are inhabitants of hot climates, they are kept in great numbers, and with a commercial view, at Amsterdam. They are fed with boiled meat, eggs, birds, small quadrupeds, and fish; and, as soon as the receptacle of any of them is supposed to be nearly full, the animal is put into a long cage, so narrow that it is unable to turn round. This cage has a door behind, through which a small spoon or spatula is introduced into the pouch. This is carefully scraped, and its contents are deposited in a proper vessel. The operation is usually performed twice or thrice a week. In many parts of the Levant and the East Indies, civets are reared and fed, as domestic animals are with us: but as, in the Levant particularly, they are few in number, and brought from a great distance, the perfume is increased by introducing into the bag a small quantity of butter or other fat. The people then shake the animal violently, and, by beating, irritate and enrage it as much as possible. This accelerates the secretion; and the fat, after having imbibed a great portion of the perfume, is used in place of the genuine drug. Civet is adulterated by mixing it with storax and other balsamic and odoriferous substances. That which is procured from Amsterdam is said to be less adulterated, and consequently is held in higher estimation than the civet which is imported from the Levant and the East Indies; but, notwithstanding the apparent care to sell it genuine, as would appear by the sealed bottles in which it is purchased, there is reason to suppose that very little indeed of it is free from adulteration. It must be remarked, that the drug called civet is not only produced by this animal, but by some others of the same tribe, though in smaller quantity, and of less value. Civet is more pleasant than musk (65), to which it has some resemblance, and with which, by ignorant persons, it is sometimes confounded. 53. _The GENET_ (Viverra genetta) _is a quadruped belonging to the ichneumon tribe, and nearly allied to the civet, but is distinguished by its tail having seven or eight black rings, and the body being of tawny red colour, spotted with black._ _It is an inhabitant of some parts of Asia, and is also found in France and Spain. Its length is about seventeen inches._ Like the civet (52) this animal produces, and in similar manner, an agreeable _perfume_. It is not, however, so powerful as that of the civet, and its scent much sooner evaporates. The _skin_ of the genet is capable of being made into a light and handsome fur. This was formerly a fashionable substance for muffs, particularly on the Continent; and, as the animals are by no means numerous, was sold at high prices. After a while, however, the art of counterfeiting it, by staining the skins of grey rabbits with black spots, having been discovered, its value gradually abated, and, at length, it has ceased to be in request.