682 HYRACOIDEA. 



houses in the rocks." Moses regarded them as unclean animals. At 

 present, in Abyssinia neither Christian nor Mussulman will taste their 

 flesh. In Arabia, however, the Bedouins eat it readily. The Hyrax, in 

 its movements, seems to be a link between the clumsy ruminants and the 

 lively rodents. When running on level ground they move their limbs 

 deliberately and regularly. When alarmed, they fly to the rocks, and there 

 display their wonderful agility. In disposition they display gentleness and 

 incredible timidity. They love society, and are never seen alone. They 

 are constant to the dwelling they have once selected, and are very vora- 

 cious, the plants of their alpine homes supplying them with ample food. 

 They bite off the grass with their teeth, and then move their jaws like 

 animals chewing the cud. It is doubtful whether they actually ruminate, 

 as the proper ruminants do. 



THE ASHKOKO. 



The Ashkoko, Hyrax Abyssinicus, is from nine to twelve inches long. 

 The coat consists of smooth fine hairs, and is of a dappled fawn-gray 

 color. It is the characteristic animal of the stony mountain ranges, 

 where troops may be seen lying on the rocks. They often are seen near 

 the villages, where they have learned by experience that no one attempts 

 to hurt them. But the sight of a European or the approach of a dog 

 sets them off in full flight. A passing crow, or a swallow skimming the 

 air near them, has the same effect. Yet they live in harmony with much 

 more blood-thirsty animals, as, for instance, the ichneumon. They seldom 

 leave their craggy homes. When the grass which grows in -the ledges 

 is eaten, they descend into the valleys, but a sentinel is then always 

 posted on some prominent cliff, and a warning voice from him produces 

 a speedy retreat. The power these creatures possess of running up 

 smooth and perpendicular walls of rock is wonderful. Schweinfurth 

 asserts that they can contract their feet so as to form a cavity in the 

 centre of the sole, and thus adhere to the flat surface by atmospheric 

 pressure alone. 



The celebrated traveler Bruce was the first to give a detailed 

 account of the Ashkoko. "It is found," he writes, "in Ethiopia in the 

 caverns of the rocks, or under the great stones in the Mountain of the 

 Sun behind the Queen's Palace at Koscam. It does not burrow or 

 make holes like the rat or rabbit, for its feet are by no means adapted for 



