OF THE HY2ENA. 2 



tion.* It lives by depredation like the wolf, but is 

 much stronger and more courageous. It sometimes 

 attacks men, carries off cattle, follows the flocl:, 

 breaks open sheep-cotes by night, and ravages with 

 insatiable voracity : its eyes shine by night, and it is 

 asserted not without great appearance of truth, 

 that it sees better by night than by day. When 

 destitute of other provision, it scrapes open graves, 

 and devours dead bodies. To these dispositions 

 which are sufficiently noxious and formidable, the 

 ancients have added numberless others, which have 

 long since been known to be fabulous ; some have 

 said that it has no joints in the neck, which how- 

 ever all quadrupeds are known to possess ; that in- 

 stead of teeth, it has one continued bone in the jaw ; 

 and some have asserted the shadow of the Hyaena 

 prevented the barking of dogs : these and other ab- 

 surdities have been asserted of it, which shews the 

 natural disposition of mankind, to load those who 

 are already too guilty with accumulated reproach. 

 Some very curious and authentic particulars re- 

 specting the Hyaena, in the country of Abyssinia^ 



* We are here reminded of that sacred authority, 

 which asserts that " every kind of beasts, and of birds, 

 and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and 

 hath been tamed of mankind." Jam. iii. 7. A learned 

 critic, however, thinks the word rendered " tamed" 

 might have been translated " subdued," that it may in- 

 clude the conquering great and mighty fishes of the sea, 

 such as sharks and whales ; of which it seems less pro- 

 per, to say they are tamed, as that generally imports a 

 kind of harmless familiarity to which some savage beasts 

 are indeed brought ; but of which large fishes are ia 

 their nature incapable. Dr. Doddridge, Note in loo. 

 L) &* 



