168 THE WILDERNESS AND JUNGLE 



colouring- that, in fact, hardly two can be found, 

 even out of the same pack, exactly alike. 

 When on the trail they show the same indiffer- 

 ence to the presence of human beings as the 

 Indian dhole, and occasionally they even attack 

 natives. On the other hand, cases have been 

 known in which the negro, as an exception to 

 his curious incapacity for taming wild creatures, 

 has captured a young hunting-dog and trained 

 it (like the Indian cheetah) to course antelopes. 

 These dogs hunt their prey chiefly at night and 

 entirely by scent, but they have also been seen 

 chasing antelopes in broad daylight. They 

 will run down the heaviest roan or sable, hunt- 

 ing mute and snapping at the fugitive's hocks 

 till at last they are able to pull it down. The 

 natives of the Gold Coast credit the hunting- 

 dog with great courage and ferocity. Once, 

 they say, a pack gets on the trail it never 

 leaves it until it has killed, and they go so far 

 as to assert that even lions and young ele- 

 phants are hunted by these brutes. It may be 

 that, owing to the scarcity of hunting-dogs in 

 that region of Africa, they assume the terrors 

 of the unknown in native eyes ; but Mr. de la 

 Poer tells me that he knew of one native, at 

 any rate, who had been hunted and treed by 

 them, and he himself had an encounter with 

 a pack which was quite exciting enough for 

 the average taste. He came on about forty 



