camels seemed to be everywhere, and I 

 coimted 20 half-eaten carcasses in a five- 

 mile stretch. Hyena tracks encircled al- 

 most every one. Gar el Nabi remarked 

 that when a hyena finds a camel car- 

 cass it eats the fatty hump out first. 

 Every camel I saw had the hump miss- 

 ing. Rocks in the vicinity of dead cam- 

 els were smeared with the bleached ex- 

 crement of vultures. Probably these di- 

 urnal scavengers feasted after the hyenas 

 had torn open the dead bodies. 



As we left Umm Shilman via a crooked 

 pass that led down into Wadi Murra, 

 some elongated piles of stone and a great 

 number of camel bones caught our at- 

 tention. Gar el Nabi told us that a year 

 ago five people and thirty camels be- 

 came lost in a sandstorm and died there. 

 He found the bodies partly eaten by hy- 

 enas and put the remains under stones. 



Wadi Murra was a winding, graded 

 bed of coarse gravel 100-200 yards wide, 

 bounded by low, steep hills and cliffs of 

 disintegrating schist that looked like piles 

 of rotting wood . Acacias, the only vege- 

 tation, grew sparingly along the edges of 

 the wadi and on the terraces. Bir Murra 

 was another shallow well and easily en- 

 tered by animals. Hyena, gazelle and 

 fox tracks were all around it. Gar el 

 Nabi mentioned that he had seen a large 

 herd of ostriches here in this wadi 30 

 years before when there was vegetation 

 on the ground. 



We placed five steel traps beside the 

 water and then drove north one mile to 

 another well. There we made our camp 

 by spreading a canvas on the gravel and 

 rolling out our sleeping bags. We were 

 around a big bend in the wadi and 

 out of sight and hearing of Bir Murra. 

 Before sundown we put a large, live trap 

 baited with sardines in a side wadi about 

 50 yards from camp. A few rodent live- 

 traps were put under acacia trees and 

 beside holes in cliffs. As the twilight 

 deepened and evening prayers began, I 

 had a sip of zibib, the Egyptian equiva- 

 lent of the anise-flavored drink of the 

 eastern Mediterranean. 



We ate an early supper and then two 

 of us and Gar el Nabi walked to Bir 

 Murra. We carried shotguns loaded 

 with buckshot and wore headlamps. Gar 

 el Nabi was certain that we would see a 

 hyena with the lights and that it would 



Abdullah baking bread 



stand and let us shoot it. No hyena was 

 in sight, but a sand fox was in one of the 

 traps by the well. 



When we returned to camp tea was 

 ready. We lounged around sipping tea 

 and listening to Gar el Nabi and Abdul- 

 lah talk about hyenas. We learned that 

 the bravest Bishari fears the hyena and 

 considers it to be very dangerous be- 

 cause of the belief that there is one hair 

 from the lion on the back of the hyena. 

 When questioned, Gar el Nabi knew no 

 case of a hyena attacking a man or a liv- 

 ing camel. He told of hyenas being at- 

 tracted by sick or weak camels and hang- 

 ing around while the owner kept guard. 

 He told us that two months before, two 

 hyenas had fought near the well and one 

 was killed and partly eaten. He believed 

 that when there are no dead camels to 

 feed upon, the stronger hyenas kill and 

 eat the weaker ones and the babies. I 

 merely listened without comment. 



I had read the hyena lore in the writ- 

 ings of earlier explorers in Egypt. Guides 

 such as mine had warned them to be 

 careful when sleeping out in the desert 

 not to let a limb protrude from the blan- 

 kets lest a passing hyena snap at it. The 

 hyena was regarded as a wicked en- 

 chanter, metamorphosed by the anger 

 of God. For this reason the hair, teeth, 

 bones and flesh of the hyena were thought 

 to possess miraculous powers and were 

 in great demand. Lying on a hyena skin 

 was supposed to eliminate pains in the 

 back. The skull was believed to bring 

 good luck to the household under whose 

 doorstep it was buried. Certain parts 

 were boiled and swallowed by barren 



women who wished to become fertile. 

 Many were the stories of hyenas preying 

 on dogs, donkeys, men and especially 

 children. No wonder primitive people 

 live in awe of this beast. 



That evening I determined that if we 

 were going to get a hyena we had better 

 drive down to the well and shoot one 

 before it could escape into the hills. Be- 

 fore leaving we checked the live-trap 

 near camp and found that while we were 

 talking a hyena had dragged it about 25 

 yards. Four excited men climbed into 

 the car; two carried shotguns and one, a 

 spotlight. We hugged the eastern side 

 of the wadi until we were around the 

 bend, and then raced in the direction of 

 the well. There was nothing in sight so 

 we drove a few miles on down the wadi, 

 frightening two gazelles that had been 

 feeding in acacia bushes. At 10:30 we 

 made another run down the wadi. As 

 we approached the well, the lights re- 

 flected white from the eyes of a hyena. 



Dead camels. The dry desert air mum- 

 mifies the carcasses, after the hyenas 

 and other scavengers take their toll. 



It stood still for a moment, and when I 

 accelerated, it turned and ran across the 

 wadi. We came within range just be- 

 fore it reached the hills and killed it with 

 three quick shots. This was a long- 

 awaited occasion. Gar el Nabi plucked 

 a whisker from it and tucked it under 

 the thong which held the small leather 

 box of prayers above his right elbow. 

 This charm from a freshly-killed hyena 

 he considered to be very strong protec- 

 tion against the "evil eye." About every 



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