XATUR-\L HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



a desperate drive witJi both heels at the nearest 

 hvaena, which was about to make a grab at him. 

 One hoof struck the creature a severe blow on the 

 chest. 50 severely crippHng it that it was subse- 

 quently captured ahve. Its mate instantly fled 

 when it saw its companion injured. 



The Spotted Hyaena is a useful scavenger to the 

 natives of Africa who Hve in ^-illages. for, during 

 the night, they clear up every particle of fllth de- 

 posited on the outskirts of the \-illage. Pressed by 

 hunger, they sometimes steal amongst the huts 

 under cover of darkness, if there be no stockade 

 surrounding them ; and should a child be unwary 

 enough to be outside a hut, it is instantly seized 

 and carried off into the neighbouring bush, where 

 pursuit would be useless. 



A traveller in Central Africa informed me he met 

 several natives who had been mutilated by Spotted 

 Hyaenas. The beast is too cowardly to attack a 

 man when awake and active, but should it find him 

 asleep it will sometimes screw up its courage suffi- 

 ciently to make a sudden grab, and, tearing away a 

 mouthful of flesh, it instantly bolts away. One 

 man had the whole of his cheek thus torn off, and 

 an eye bhnded ; a second had lost his nose and 

 lips ; a third had a large piece of flesh torn from 

 his thigh. Several travellers have recorded in- 

 stances of natives being similarly mutilated by 

 this beast. 



Some of the natives of Central Africa have a habit 



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