'}3B I'HE HYiENA. 



finished vvhal I was then about, I wfent out of my 

 tent, resolving directly to return ; which I immedi-^ 

 ately did, when I perceived two large blue eyes 

 glaring at me in the dark. I called up my servant 

 with a hght ; and we found a Hyaena standing 

 near the he:id of the bed, with two or three large 

 bunches of candles in his mouth* To have fired at 

 him, would have been at the risk of breaking my 

 quadrant or other furniture ; and he seemed_, by 

 keeping the candles steadily in his mouth, to wish 

 for no other prey at that time. As his mouth was 

 full, and he had no claws to tear with, I was not 

 afraid of him; and, with a pike, stuck him as near 

 the heart as I could. It was not till then that he 

 shewed any sign of fierceness ; but, upon feeling 

 his wound, he let drop the caudles, and endea- 

 voured to run up the shaft of the spear to arrive at 

 me, so that I was obliged to draw^ my pistol from my 

 girdle and shoot him ; and nearly at the same time, 

 my servant cleft his skull with a battle-axe. In a 

 word, the Hysena was the plague of our lives, the 

 terror of our night-walks, and the destruction of our 

 Mules and Asses, which, above every thing else, are 

 his favourite food." 



At Dar-Fur, a kingdom in the interior of Africa, 

 the Hyccnas come in herds of six, eight, and often 

 more, into the villages at night, and carry off with 

 them wliatever they arc able to master. They will 

 kill Dogs and Asses, even within the inclosure of 

 the houses ; and always assemble wherever a dead 

 Camel or other animal is thrown, which (acting ii; 

 in concert) they drng to a prodigious distance ; nor 



