94 SCRIPTURE NATURAL HISTORY. 



nnd about two inches broad. The animal stands seemingly uneasy 

 on the hind legs ; and it is observable, that, when it is at first dis- 

 lodged from cover, it limps so very awkwardly, that it appears as if 

 the hinder legs were broken or dislocated. By running some time, 

 however, this stiffness leaves it, and it sweeps along with great 

 swiftness. Its color is of a yellowish brown, marked with bands 

 of different colors, over its neck and legs. His manner of holding 

 the head is remarkable; somewhat like a dog, pursuing the scent 

 with his nose near to the ground. But no words can give an ade- 

 quate idea of the animal's figure, deformity, and fierceness. More 

 savage and untameable than any other quadruped, it seems to be 

 forever in a state of rage and 'rapacity, forever growling, except 

 when receiving its food. Its eyes then glisten, the bristles of its 

 back all stand upright, its head hangs low, and yet its teeth appear; 

 all which give it a most frightful aspect, which a dreadful howl 

 tends to heighten. As this is loud and frequent, it might, perhaps, 

 have been sometimes mistaken for that of a human voice, in dis- 

 tress, and have given rise to the accounts of the ancients, who tell 

 us, that the hyaena makes its moan, to attract unwary travellers, 

 and then to destroy them ; however this be, it seems the most un- 

 tractable, and, for its size, the most terrible of all other quadrupeds; 

 nor does its courage fall short of its ferocity; it defends itself against 

 the lion, is a match for the panther, attacks the ounce, and seldom 

 fails to conquer. It is an obscure and solitary animal, to be found 

 chiefly in the most desolate and uncultivated parts of the torrid 

 zone, of which it is a native. 



The lion regards the face of man with respect, and, when not 

 oppressed by the force of hunger, venerates that majesty impressed 

 by the Creator on the human form ; but this villain of the desert 

 pays no kind of respect to venerable age, or to the captivating 

 charim of beauty. All fall indiscriminately before his voracious 

 rapacity ; and what is still more extraordinary, the dead of his own 

 species are not exempt from the cravings of his ferocious appetite. 

 Abyssinia, and chiefly about the sources of the Nile, are the prin- 

 ciple scenes of his murders and devastations. In Atbara, the 

 Arabs plough, sow, dig wells, have plenty of water, and the land 

 yields large crops. But when discord arises among the tribes, they 

 commence hostilities by mutually burning down the crops, when 

 nigh ripe, and rendering a country, naturally fertile, one uniform 

 scene of desolation and misery. Famine ensues, for they have no 

 stores left ; the houses are burnt down, their wells filled up, the 

 men slain by the victorious party are left upon the fields, and the 

 remainder, destitute, forlorn, without strength or hope, are assailed 

 by troops of hysenas, who find little or no difference of resistance 

 between slaying the living and devouring the dead. Thus the mis- 

 erable multitude are destroyed, till they leave not a single survivor 

 to announce to some neighboring nation the fatal catastrophe that 

 has befallen their country. The inhuman natives burying neither 

 friend nor foe, the innumerable carcasses of the slain afford ample 



