624 THE DOG. 



The Hyaena is of savage aspect, and ungainly form. Like 

 the Wolf, his eyes glare in the dark. Many of the ancient 

 nations regarded him with a kind of terror. They held him 

 to be possessed of magical powers, so as to be capable of 

 imitating the human voice, of changing his own sex, of 

 charming the senses, and riveting the beholders to the spot 

 where they stood. The head of the Hyaena is large; his neck 

 is rigid, which gave rise to the ancient fable that it was of one 

 bone ; and his jaws being moved by powerful muscles, the ani- 

 mal is enabled to bite with tremendous force, and crush the 

 bones of his victims in an instant. The Hyaenas live in holes 

 and caverns, and issue forth under the cloud of night, prowling 

 in troops, and uttering frightful and mournful cries. With 

 the exception of one species, the Cape Hunting Hyaena, they 

 are little fitted for pursuit, but steal upon the largest ani- 

 mals, as the bullock, the ass, the horse, and the camel, and, 

 entering the sheep-folds, commit frightful havoc upon the 

 unresisting flock. They feed largely on garbage, and the 

 putrifying flesh of animals, which they seem to prefer to 

 other food. They skulk into towns and villages in the dark, 

 and, with the vultures and outcast dogs, assist in clearing 

 away the filth and offal which the habits of Africans and 

 Asiatics allow to accumulate around their dwellings; and 

 entering the churchyards, they dig up the bodies of the dead. 

 They abound in the warmer regions of the Old Continent, 

 but are most numerous in Africa. They are so abundant in 

 Abyssinia, according to Bruce, that they are regarded as a 

 general scourge in every situation, both in the city and in 

 the field ; " and I think," continues the traveller, " surpassed 

 the sheep in number. Gondar was full of them from even- 

 ing till the dawn of day, seeking the different pieces of 

 slaughtered carcasses which this cruel and unclean people 

 expose in the streets without burial." Although bold and 

 savage in claiming the food which their appetites require, 

 yet they are rarely dangerous to man. The Moors of Bar- 

 bary are in the habit of entering the cavern in which a 



