206 HYENAS. 



the roughness which it derives from its sharp and elevated 

 papillae. The habits of the hyaenas are entirely nocturnal : 

 while in the day-time their cowardice is so excessive, that they 

 fly from the face of man, and suffer themselves, when taken, 

 to be ill-treated with impunity and even without attempting 

 to avenge themselves, they prowl abroad in the stillness of the 

 night with all the temerity of brutal daring. They will frequently 

 make prey of the lesser animals, and occasionally venture to 

 attack dogs and even horses -, but it is seldom that they muster 

 up sufficient courage to contend with living man, unless stimu- 

 lated by strong provocation, or impelled by the most violent 

 cravings of hunger. Congregated in numerous bands they 

 beset the encampment of the traveller, or infest the neighbour- 

 hood of villages or even towns, which they enter at night-fall, 

 and do not quit until the dawn of day ; disturbing the inhabitants 

 with their peculiar moaning or wailing, which is in some measure 

 intermediate between a grunt and a howl. Parading the streets, 

 and penetrating into the houses for prey, they eagerly devour 

 the offal of animals, the refuse of the daily meal, or whatever 

 else is in any way eatable which they can obtain. Nothing, 

 however filthy, comes amiss to their voracious appetites, which 

 are indeed unbounded. They even break into the cemeteries 

 of the dead, and, tearing open the graves by means of their 

 powerful claws, disinter the buried corpses, on which they glut 

 that propensity for feeding on carrion, which is at once the 

 most striking and the most disgusting of their peculiarities. 

 Their fondness for this polluted species of food, tends of course 

 not a little to increase the natural antipathy with which they 

 are regarded by the natives of the countries wherein they 

 abound, and renders them objects of peculiar detestation and 

 abhorrence. The great size and strength of their teeth, and the 

 immense power of their jaws, enable them to crush the largest 

 bones with comparative facility, and will account for the avidity 

 with which they prey upon an almost fleshless skeleton. In 

 the day-time they remain in caves, from which they issue only 

 when the shades of evening warn them that the hour for their 



