THE SPOTTED HYAENA. $3 



Nocturnal rambles Native cry. 



of good Hope, where they are extremely mis- 

 chievous and formidable; frequently entering the 

 huts of the Hottentots in search of prey, and 

 sometimes even carrying off the children. Bar- 

 hot relates, that one of them coming into a ne- 

 gro's house, on the coast of Guinea, seized a 

 girl, in spite of her resistance, threw her on his 

 back, holding fast by one of the legs; and was 

 making off with her : her screams, however, for- 

 tunately brought some men to her relief; upon 

 which the beast dropped her, and made his 

 escape; but she was considerably lacerated in 

 different parts of her body by his teeth. 



Numbers of hyaenas attend almost every dark 

 night about the shambles at the Cape, to carry 

 away the filth and offal left by the inhabitants, 

 who suffer these animals to come and return un- 

 molested. The dogs too, with which at other 

 times they are in perpetual enmity, do not then 

 molest them ; for on these occasions, it has been 

 remarked, they are seldom known to do any ma- 

 terial mischief. 



During their nocturnal rambles in search of 

 prey, they utter the most horrid yells ; and their 

 propensity to these cries is so implanted in them 

 by nature, that one which was brought up tame 

 at the Cape, was often heard in the night to emit 

 this hideous noise. Some of the inhabitants of 

 the Cape assert, that the hyaena has the power of 

 imitating the cries of other animals, by which 



