CH. vi AUDACITY OF A SPOTTED HYAENA 99 



wolves are in any way nobler in character than 

 hyaenas. Both breeds roam abroad by night, 

 ever crafty, fierce, and hungry, and both will be 

 equally ready to tear open the graves and devour 

 the flesh of human beings, should the opportunity 

 present itself, whether on the shores of the Arctic 

 Sea, where men's skins are yellowy brown, or 

 beneath the shadow of the Southern Cross, where 

 they are sooty black. There is nothing really 

 noble, though much that is interesting, in the nature 

 of either wolves or hyaenas, but neither of these 

 animals ought to be despised. Hyaenas are big, 

 powerful, dangerous brutes, and at night often show 

 great determination and courage in their attempts 

 to obtain food at the expense of human beings. 

 The following story will illustrate, I think, both the 

 strength and the audacity of a spotted hyoena. 



I was once camped many years ago near a small 

 native village on the high veld of Mashunaland to 

 the south-east of the present town of Salisbury. A 

 piece of ground some fifty yards long by twenty in 

 breadth had been enclosed by a small light hedge 

 made of thornless boughs, as it was supposed that 

 there were no lions in this part of the country. In 

 the midst of this enclosure my waggon was standing- 

 one night with the oxen tied to the yokes, and my 

 two shooting horses fastened to the wheels. On 

 the previous day I had shot three eland bulls, and 

 had had every scrap of the meat as well as the skins 

 and heads carried to my waggon, and on the evening 

 of the following clay there were a large number of 

 natives in my camp from the surrounding villages. 

 These men had brought me an abundant supply of 

 native beer, ground nuts, pumpkins, sweet potatoes, 

 maize, etc., and as I, on my side, had given them 

 several hundredweights of meat, both they and my 

 own boys were preparing to make a night of it 

 in my encampment. 



