162 MAMMALIA— HYAENA. 



natural aversion to close confinement, and when exhioited, as he generally 

 is, in a narrow cage, he is miserable, and consequently irritable. In a man, 

 similarly situated, the expression of anger would be praised as a generous 

 hatred of slavery. 



The hyaena was undoubtedly once an inhabitant not only of the European 

 continent, but also of the British islands. His bones have been found in 

 various parts of England and Wales, and particularly in a cave at Kirby 

 Moorside, in Yorkshire. 



The depredations of the hyaena are not confined to the remains of the 

 dead. There are periods when they become bold from extreme hunger, and 

 will carry off very large animals, and even human beings, with the most 

 daring ferocity. Major • Denham says, " at this season of the year," 

 (August,) " there are other reasons, besides the falls of rain, which induce 

 people to remain in their habitations. When the great lake overflows the 

 immense district which, in the dry season, affords cover and food, by its 

 coarse grass and jungle, to the numerous savage animals with which Bornou 

 abounds, they are driven from these wilds, and take refuge in the standing 

 corn, and sometimes in the immediate neighborhood of the towns. Ele- 

 phants had already been seen at Dowergoo, scarcely six miles from Kouka , 

 and a female slave, while she was returning home, from weeding the corn, 

 to Kowa, not more than ten miles distant, had been carried off by a lioness. 

 The hyaenas, which are every where in legions, grew now so extremely 

 ravenous, that a good large village, where I sometimes procured a draught 

 of sour milk on my duck-shooting excursions, had been attacked the night 

 before my last visit, the town absolutely carried by storm, notwithstanding 

 defences nearly six feet high of branches of the prickly tulloh, and two 

 donkies, whose flesh these animals are particularly fond of, carried off, in 

 spite of the efforts of the people. We constantly heard them close to the 

 walls of our town at night ; and on a gate being left partly open, they 

 would enter and carry off any unfortunate animal that they could find in 

 the streets." 



With this strong desire for food, approaching to the boldness of the mos« 

 desperate craving, the hyaena, although generally fearful of the presence 

 of man, is an object of natural terror to the African traveller. Bruce relates, 

 that one night in Maibsha, in Abyssinia, he heard a noise in his 'ent, una, 

 getting up from his bed, saw two large blue eyes glaring upon him. It 

 was a powerful hyaena, who had been attracted to the tent by a quantity of 

 candles, which he had seized upon, and was bearing off in his mouth. He 

 had a desperate encounter with the beast, but succeeded in killing him. In 

 ihe neighborhood of the ruins of those cities on the northern coast of Africa, 

 which, in ancient times, were the abodes of wealth and splendor, and 

 witnessed the power of the Ptolemies and Caesars, the hyaena is a constant 

 resident, and increases the sense of desolation by the gloominess of his 

 habits. At Ptolemeta, where there are many remains of former architectural 



