<A JOURNEY IN THE EAST: 335 



country life the whole year round, devoting himself to serious 

 studies and charitable deeds. His servant, Ferdinand Nico- 

 demus, a Syrian Christian, and a very well educated young 

 man, does good service in the hospice as a skilled apothecary. 

 He is also a very smart fellow, an excellent horseman, and 

 sharp and adroit in dealing with the natives. He accom- 

 panied us throughout our tour in Palestine and won our 

 universal esteem. 



As soon as we entered the courtyard a number of fine large 

 Arab dogs, very like our Hungarian wolf-dogs, sprang out on 

 all sides, and welcomed their master with joyful whimpers. 

 Count Caboga is a great lover of animals, and tames the most 

 varied kinds. He long had a perfectly tame Hyaena, and now 

 a handsome Asiatic Sheep ran about the house after him, 

 while a Cockatoo, that lived wild among the pigeons in the 

 tower of the castle, flew lightly down on its master's 

 shoulder. 



After inspecting the comfortably arranged castle I went 

 out with Ferdinand and my jager to the place where Hysenas 

 are generally shot at night. 



"We walked a little way back along the Jerusalem road 

 until we were a few hundred yards below the Monastery of 

 Mar-Elyas, where there were some old walls constructed of 

 large loose stones. In one of these an ambush had been so 

 cleverly made as to be quite invisible, while before it lay a 

 dead donkey in the very unsavoury condition that the Hyaena 

 loves. 



There was now unfortunately no moonlight, and the nights 

 were so dark that one could hardly expect to see the wild 

 animals, much less to shoot them, so in order to get hold of 

 a hyaena I had brought plenty of poison with me in the 

 form of strong strychnine. We therefore put on thick leather 

 gloves and artistically prepared the leg of the jackass, laying, 

 according to old usage, some poisoned fragments round the 



