H4 HUNTING ADVENTURES. 



STRIPED HYAENA. 



shambles of their refuse. The common notion that they teai 

 newly-buried bodies out of graves is not inconsistent with theji 

 extraordinary voracity, and the peculiar strength of their claws. 

 It is well ascertained that hyaenas devour the dead carcases ot 

 their own species. 



But the depredations of the hyaena are not confined to the 

 remains of the dead. There are periods when they become bcid 

 from extreme hunger, and will carry off very large animals, nnd 

 even human beings, with the most daring ferocity. Major Den- 

 ham says, "At this season of the year," (August,) " there are 

 other reasons, besides the falls of rain, which induce people to 

 remain in their habitations. When the great lake overflows the 

 immense district which, in the dry season, affords cover and food, 

 by its coarse grass and jungle, to the numerous savage animals 

 with which Bornou abounds, they are driven from these wilds, 

 and take refuge in the standing corn, and sometimes in the imme- 

 diate neighborhood of the towns. Elephants had already been 

 seen at Dowergoo, scarcely six miles from Kouka ; and a female 

 slave, while she was returning home from weeding the corn, to 

 Kowa, not more than ten miles distant, had been carried off by a 

 lioness. The hyaenas, which are everywhere in legions, grew 

 now so extremely ravenous, that a good, large village, where 1 

 sometimes procured a draught of sour milk on my duck-shouting 



