PROWLERS OF THE PLAINS 15 



With a well-placed bullet I put the poor beast out of 

 his misery. 



I hate hyenas; they are not only ugly, evil-smeUing 

 brutes but the cruelest of all the Idllers. They have 

 been seen to tear open Hve animals and start feasting 

 on them while the poor victim cried in agony. They 

 also are eaters of corpses, hanging around the native 

 villages in order to dig up the buried dead. For this 

 reason most Negroes hate them as devils and whenever 

 I would shoot one they would laugh and shout, 

 "Muzuri Sana, bwanal" very good, master! 



Upon revisiting the baits we found no hons but 

 plenty of hyenas. As we rounded a small liill and came 

 toward the first lull, we discovered hyenas scattered 

 all over the landscape. I counted fourteen on the 

 carcass and there were more standing here and there, 

 around the veldt, so I added number six to my score 

 card with one shot. At the next bait we found Httle 

 left. The entire zebra had been eaten, while the rain 

 had washed out all the spoor, making it hard to tell 

 if hons had been there or not. The hyenas made our 

 work of attracting hons very difficult, the country 

 being absolutely ahve with these brutes of the large 

 spotted variety {Hyena crocuia) and a bait could 

 hardly be placed before they would flock there from 

 every direction, devouring the carcass long before it 

 was possible for a Kon to scent the kill. 



It was necessary to visit our Hon donga at frequent 

 intervals, as we had to feed them in order to keep them 

 around. Once, with a dead zebra on board, Ave ap- 

 proached their favorite lair, where I espied a honess in 

 the grass about two hundred yards from cover. 

 I shouted to the driver to head that way. As the 



