286 VERTEBRATA. 



been the custom, among other fabulous assertions, to Btate that the hyena is not to be tamed, but 

 Mr. Bennett, who had an opportunity of observing them in the Tower Menagerie, says there is 

 scarcely any animal that submits with greater facility to the control of man. He speaks of the 

 docility and attachment to his keepers manifested by the striped hyena, especially when allowed 

 a certain degree of liberty, which the animal shows do disposition to abuse, though those which 

 arc carried about from fair to fair in close caravans arc surly and dangerous from irritation and 

 ill-treatment. The individual which Mr. Bennett describes was remarkably tame, and confined 

 in the same den with one of the American bears. Colonel Sykes remarks, that this species, the 

 Tumi* o\' the Mahrattas, is numerous in the Deccan, and susceptible of the same domestication 

 as a dog. Other travelers speak of the hyena as capable of being tamed, and performing the duty 

 of w atch-dogs. 



The striped hyena is found in Asia, the mountains of Caucasus, and the Altaian chain, Asiatic 

 Turkey, Syria, Persia, Barbary, and Senegal, and even as low as the Cape. There are specimens 

 in the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London, the Garden of Plants, Paris, and are common 

 in the other menageries o\ Europe and those of this country. 



It seems uncertain whether this is the animal alluded to in the Bible. Some translate the 

 Is rendered in our copies of the Holy Scriptures "the valley of Zeboim " — 1 Sam. xiii. 18; 

 Ni hem. xi. 34 — as "the valley of hyenas ;" and the "Seventy" render the words given by 

 the English translators as "a speckled bird," and "a bird of divers colors" — Jer. xii. 9 — as "the 

 cave of the hyena," Z-n/Xaiov 'Yaivrx, while others would substitute one of the Hebrew letters corn- 

 posing the word in Samuel for another, and make the reading ''vipers," as if certain streaked ser- 

 pents were meant. Bochart shows that by the Tsabhua, or Tseboa, the word occurring in the 

 ninth verse of the twelfth chapter of Jeremiah, the hyena was intended, and if this opinion be 

 correct, there can be little doubt that "the valley of Zeboim" means "the valley of hyenas." 

 Dzuba and J >ul>ba are, it appears, Arabic names for this species. 



Whatever may be the opinions as to the striped hyena being alluded to in those passages of 

 Scripture which we have quoted, there can be no doubt that it is the "Yaiva of Aristotle and the 

 Greeks. The most monstrous fables, as we have already intimated, were rife respecting this ani- 

 mal, and the extent to which they had reached may be supposed, when we find Aristotle taking 

 pains to demonstrate the absurdity of the assertion that the animal was bisexual, or a true her- 

 maphrodite. It would be a waste of time and space to enumerate all the wonderful powers that 

 were attributed to it; but among other accomplishments, in addition to those already alluded to, 

 it was said to imitate the language of men, in order to draw to it sheph ids, whom it devoured 

 at leisure, and to have the power of charming dogs so that they became dumb! 



The Spotted Hyena, H. maeulata, is the T'ujcr- Wolf of the colonists at the Cape; Cants cro- 

 ntiif of Erxleben and Gmelin; Hyaena crocuta of Zimmerman ; Hyaena Capensis of Pesmarest; 

 Orocuta maeulata of Gray. It inhabits Southern Africa, and is to be met with in large numbers 

 in the vicinity of the Cape of flood Hope. It is smaller than the striped species, and the bristly 

 mane does not extend beyond the loins, betwixt which and the tail a few scattered, produced 

 hairs only are observable. Its general tint, on the upper part of the body, is dull yellow, and the 

 belly and limbs are blackish brown. A deeper tinge of this last spots almost every part of tic 

 body. '1 he character and habits of this species, in point of ferocity, do not differ materially from 

 the striped hyena, except, perhaps, that they arc even more daring when pressed by hunger, and 

 more easily reduced to a state of domestication. Their feelings, both of hatred and affection, 

 Beem to be equally strong. Instances are recorded of individuals manifesting the liveliest affec- 

 tion and regard for their keepers; while, on the other hand, they would exhibit the most violent 

 rage against persons who had given them no cause of offense. Barrow relates that the spotted 

 hyena i^ met with in a domesticated state- in the district of Schncuberg, where it is found equal 

 in point of intelligence and fidelity to the dog, and even more serviceable in the chase than that 

 animal. In the wild state they have been known to enter the huts of Hottentots and carry off 

 children, when they were left unprotected; and Thunberg tells us, that such is their audacity, 

 that they will eat the shoes from off the feet, and the saddle from under tliQ head of the traveler, 

 who happens to make ids conch in the open air. 



