THE AARD OR EARTH WOLF 



carry off lambs and kids or break ostrich eggs ? 

 Is it not likely that the statements of the Hottentot 

 and other employees whose powers of imagination 

 are wonderfully developed are accepted as facts 

 without investigation ? After twenty-five years' 

 experience I have come to the conclusion that, 

 while in some of the yarns these natives tell as fact 

 there is just an element of truth, yet in the majority 

 there is no element of truth at all. 



However, I have made extensive inquiries of 

 farmers in different parts of the country on the 

 subject. Some of them declare that the manhaar 

 does no harm at all ; while others are equally positive 

 that it kills lambs and even full-grown sheep and 

 goats. I have statements before me from several 

 well-known farmers who declare they have seen this 

 jackal attack lambs and sheep, and even killed them 

 in the act. Mr. H. R. Wilmot of AHcedale, for 

 instance, writes in the Farmer's Weekly^ nth October 

 191 6: "I myself have seen a manhaar rush into a 

 flock of sheep and catch one, and that in broad 

 daylight too, in sight of the house." 



On the contrary, Mr. John Langdon writes to the 

 Northern News^ 27th November 191 8 : '' The canine 

 teeth of the Manhaar Jackal are not adapted for 

 killing stock or any animal whatever. I have con- 

 ferred with sundry bastards, Bushmen, and Kafirs, 

 and all bear out that the Manhaar Jackal lives on 

 insects, tock-tockies, ants, and suchlike ; and they 

 are never trapped by a carcass unless they come to 



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