J 74 TRAVELS IN UM'ER 



I was presented by the chief of the inihsion for 

 the propagation of the faith, with the skin of an 

 hyena *, very largo and well preserved. The ani- 

 mal to which it had belonged was killed in the vici- 

 nity of iW^-'/W/it&elf; its Arabian name is dahba ; it 

 is often found in the mountains and woods of Up- 

 per Egypt. This animal is not gregarious, like the 

 jackal ; it, too, prowls in the night-time, and ap- 

 proaches the habitations of man, like the other ani- 

 mal, but it is generally alone, and never in com- 

 panies. The hyena, fully as carnivorous as the 

 jackal, feeds in like manner on the most disgusting 

 prey; yet bolder, because stronger, it knows better 

 than the other how to attack and carry off living 

 animals. At times it fears not to seize on man 

 himself, and not unfrequently devours children. 



Considering Egypt as only that proportion of 

 ground which has been cultivated alonrr the banks 

 of the Nile, and which lies, more or less, enclosed 

 between two chains of mountains, it may be said 

 with sufficient truth, that it contains no species of 

 carnivorous animals. But, although those parclied 

 ocks, as well as the scorching and immense plains 

 which border upon them, are uninhabited and un- 

 inhabitable, and seem consequently to belong io 

 no country whatever, it is nevertheless agreed upon 

 to include, under the name of Egypt, that ex- 



* Canh lyrena. Lin, 



tent 



1" 



