THE HYENAS. 24I 



These burrows differ from those of the fox and other animals, in being 

 the habitations of several individuals. Several deep tunnels are dug 

 which converge to one small chamber where three or four Aard-wolves 

 take up their residence. Verreaux, the companion of Lalande, who first 

 described the animal, drove some from their abode ; he remarked that 

 one in place of running away began to burrow in a new spot with remark- 

 able dexterity. The same observer states tnat the favorite food of the 

 Aard-wolf consists of lambs, but that at times it kills a sheep, of which, 

 however, it devours only the tail ; carrion seems to form its staple article 

 of diet ; it sometimes makes a meal of the white ants. 



It is probable that the Aard-wolf is more widely distributed than is 

 commonly assumed. A traveler in Nubia reports that he found there 

 a civet-hytena, wnich had been killed by some natives, and which seemed 

 to resemble perfectly the Aard-wolf of the Cape. 



THE HYAENAS. 



The Hy^niD^ constitute another small family of one genus and three 

 species, of which one only is found out of Africa. 



The Hyaena is one of the animals which the showmen of menageries 

 love to dilate upon ; blood-thirstiness, rapacity and cunning are the 

 least crimes laid to its charge ; it is accused of beguiling travelers 

 by imitating the laughter of human revellers, and then falling upon 

 them and devouring them ; and represented as digging human corpses 

 out of their graves to gratify its loathsome hunger. Some ancient 

 authors give the hyasna three rows of teeth like the shark {des Mccres 

 Hydne), and prickly darts at the end of its tail ; some affirm that its 

 eyes become stone after death. The Arabs regard the animal as a 

 disguised magician who, by day, assumes a human form, but, by 

 night, appears as the hyaena, and they warn travelers from shooting 

 them. " These bewitched men," said an Arab, " who are cursed by 

 God, the most High, can, by the mere glance of their evil eye, stop the 

 blood in the veins of the righteous and make his heart cease to beat. 

 Our Lord, Kurshid Pacha — may God be gracious to him ! — burned 

 several villages in which these magicians dwelt, but he died suddenly — 

 the glance of the evil eye slew him. Listen to their cries ! are those the 

 cries of a beast? Assuredly not; they are the lamentations of a human 

 being, Dr rather this voice is the laughter of the devil. I knew a young 



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