SPORT IN MOZAMBIQUE 



the direction of the flash, I perceive, escaping in 

 haste, illuminated by the moon, a beast to which I 

 quickly address a couple of charges of buck-shot. 



I reload, I enquire, and this is what they relate to 

 me. In order to have softer couches, my servants 

 lie upon the unrolled skins of the specimens I am 

 transporting. One of them, thinking that some 

 one was pulling the skin upon which he was reclining, 

 stretched out his hand in order to give a smack to the 

 stupid joker who was playing him this trick, but it 

 was the head of an animal he encountered. The 

 contact woke him ; he cried out and gave the alarm. 

 Provided with a lantern, I detect on the ground the 

 tracks of the audacious animal ; as I suspected, it 

 is a filthy hyaena. 



At daybreak I go out to see the effects of the shots. 

 At starting I find plenty of blood, and thirty yards 

 further on the dead beast, with seven buck-shot in 

 its carcase. Like all the others I have killed, this 

 hyaena belongs to the spotted species (Hyana crocuta), 

 and although the striped hyaena is asserted to be 

 common on the Zambesi, I have never met with it 

 between Sena and the mouth of the river. 



Of the height of a very large dog, but more muscular 

 and much more powerful, this beast has an arched 

 back, short hind-limbs, a big head on a well-developed 

 neck, fleshy, upright ears, and jaws of enormous 

 power, adapted for crushing bones. The hair of 

 its coat is short, spotted with brown and tawny, 



(46) 



