Mijbil the Otter

Early in 1956 Maxwell travelled to southern Iraq. He wanted to keep an otter instead of a dog at Camusfearna, his home ringed by water in the Scottish Highlands. A friend told him otters were common in the Tigris marshes near Basra and were often tamed by Arabs.

Early in the New Year of 1956 Maxwell went to southern Iraq. It had crossed his mind that he would like to keep an otter instead of a dog, and that Camusfearna - ringed by water a stone's throw from its door - would be an eminently suitable spot for this experiment. When he mentioned this casually to a friend, the friend replied that he had better get one in the Tigris marshes, where they were as common as mosquitoes and were often tamed by the Arabs.

Maxwell and a friend went to Basra to collect mail. His friend's mail arrived but his did not. He cabled England, tried to telephone, and faced delays - a broken line, a religious holiday, another breakdown. His friend left; five days later Maxwell's mail finally arrived.

They were going to Basra to the Consulate-General to collect and answer their mail from Europe. At the Consulate-General, Maxwell found that his friend's mail had arrived but his had not. He cabled to England, and when three days later nothing had happened, he tried to telephone - but the call had to be booked twenty-four hours in advance. On the first day the line was out of order; on the second the exchange was closed for a religious holiday; on the third there was another breakdown. His friend left, and he arranged to meet him in a week's time. Five days later, his mail arrived.

As Maxwell read his mail in his bedroom, two Arabs waited with a sack that squirmed from time to time. They handed him a note from his friend: 'Here is your otter...' With that began a phase of life that Maxwell called a thraldom to otters - an otter fixation shared by most who have owned one.

He carried the mail to his bedroom to read, and there, squatting on the floor, were two Arabs; beside them lay a sack that squirmed from time to time. They handed him a note from his friend: 'Here is your otter...' With the opening of that sack began a phase of his life that has not yet ended - in effect, a thraldom to otters, an otter fixation that he has since found to be shared by most other people who have ever owned one.

The otter looked like a tiny medieval dragon coated in pointed scales of mud, with soft velvet fur between them. Maxwell named him Mijbil. The creature was of a race unknown to science, later named Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli - Maxwell's otter. For the first day Mij was aloof and indifferent, sleeping far from the bed.

The creature that emerged resembled most of all a very small, medievally-conceived dragon, coated with symmetrical pointed scales of mud armour, between whose tips was visible a soft velvet fur like that of a chocolate-brown mole. Maxwell called him Mijbil. He was, in fact, of a race previously unknown to science, and was at length christened by zoologists Lutrogale perspicillata maxwelli, or Maxwell's otter. For the first twenty-four hours Mijbil was neither hostile nor friendly; he was simply aloof and indifferent, choosing to sleep on the floor as far from Maxwell's bed as possible.

On the second night Mij slept in the crook of Maxwell's knees. By day he grew lively. Maxwell took him to the bathroom on a lead, and Mij went wild with joy - plunging, rolling, shooting underwater, and splashing enough for a hippo. Otters, Maxwell learned, must spread every drop of water about the place.

The second night Mijbil came on to Maxwell's bed in the small hours and remained asleep in the crook of his knees until morning. During the day he began to lose his apathy and take a keen interest in his surroundings. Maxwell made a body-belt for him and took him on a lead to the bathroom, where for half an hour he went wild with joy in the water, plunging and rolling, shooting up and down the length of the bathtub underwater, and making enough slosh and splash for a hippo. This, Maxwell was to learn, is characteristic of otters: every drop of water must be extended and spread about the place.

Two days later Mij escaped to the bathroom and fumbled at the chromium taps with his paws. In less than a minute he turned on a trickle, then the full flow. Soon he followed Maxwell without a lead, played with a rubber ball like a soccer player, and juggled marbles on his back - his favourite game.

Two days later, Mijbil escaped from the bedroom and Maxwell turned to see his tail disappearing round the bend of the corridor that led to the bathroom. By the time Maxwell got there, Mij was up on the end of the bathtub fumbling at the chromium taps with his paws. In less than a minute he had turned the tap far enough to produce a trickle of water, and after a moment or two achieved the full flow. Very soon Mij would follow Maxwell without a lead and come when called. He spent hours shuffling a rubber ball round the room like a four-footed soccer player, and juggled marbles on his wide, flat belly without ever dropping one.

Maxwell dreaded flying Mij to England. The British airline refused animals, so he booked via Paris. Mij had to travel in a box eighteen inches square. When Maxwell returned from a meal, blood trickled from the airholes - Mij had torn the lining to shreds. With ten minutes to flight time, Maxwell put the miserable otter back in the box.

Maxwell dreaded transporting Mij to England. The British airline to London would not fly animals, so he booked a flight to Paris on another airline, and from there to London. The airline insisted that Mij should be packed into a box not more than eighteen inches square. An hour before departure he put Mij into the box. When he returned from a hurried meal, there was an appalling spectacle: blood had trickled and dried from the airholes. Mij, exhausted and blood-spattered, had torn the lining to shreds. With only ten minutes until the flight and the airport five miles away, Maxwell put the miserable Mij back into the box, holding down the lid with his hand.

On the plane Mij burst out of the box at high speed. A woman screamed 'A rat! A rat!' Maxwell dove after him, missed, and got curry on his face. The air hostess calmly asked him to sit down while she found the animal. Soon Mij bounded onto Maxwell's knee and nuzzled his face.

Mij was out of the box in a flash and disappeared at high speed down the aircraft. There were squawks and shrieks, and a woman stood on her seat screaming, 'A rat! A rat!' Maxwell caught sight of Mij's tail disappearing beneath the legs of a portly white-turbaned Indian; diving for it, he missed, but found his face covered in curry. The air hostess, with the most charming smile, suggested that Maxwell might prefer to resume his seat while she found the animal. Suddenly Mij bounded onto his knee and began to nuzzle his face and neck.

In London Mij played with ping-pong balls, marbles, and a terrapin shell. He invented a game on a sloping suitcase lid, racing the ball from end to end. On walks he developed compulsive habits - galloping thirty yards along a school wall on the way home. Londoners guessed Mij was a seal, squirrel, walrus, hippo, beaver, or even a brontosaur, but rarely an otter.

Mij and Maxwell remained in London for nearly a month. Mij invented a game with a ping-pong ball on a sloping suitcase lid, dashing to ambush it at the other end. Outside, Maxwell exercised him on a lead like a dog. Mij developed compulsive habits on London streets, galloping the full length of a low school wall on his way home. Otters belong to the Mustellines, but the average Londoner did not recognise one. Guesses ranged from 'a baby seal' and 'a squirrel' to 'a walrus', 'a hippo', and 'a brontosaur' - anything but an otter.