IX WA-KIKUYU 



117 



hungry he will carry off babies from the huts and some- 

 times adults are seriously bitten. It is the habit of the 

 animal to l)ite pieces off' the exj^osed parts of the l;)ody 

 such as the cheek or buttock. 



Donaldson Smith gives some facts concerning the 

 streugth of the jaws of hyaenas. He saw one of these 

 animals pull the horn out of a goat which had l)een 

 fastened to a stake, and with another bite tear off" the 

 whole hind-leg. On one occasion he wounded a 

 hartebeest with a Ijullet, l^reakine; its leo-. A number 

 of hytenas set on the hartebeest and succeeded in 

 pulling it down and began to l:)ite pieces out of the 

 hindcj[uarters ; several of them were shot and the rest 

 left the hartebeest. The antelope regained its feet and 

 began to make off", l)ut a merciful bullet finished its 

 career. 



Hollis has translated from the Nandi the followino' 

 folk-tale which explains how leopards got spots on their 

 coats, and hysenas blotches : Two lion whelps seeing 

 some warriors adorned for war thought they would look 

 well if painted. They procured some paint, and one 

 whelp dal^bed a number of Ijlack spots on the coat of 

 his friend. The spotted whelp began to paint his 

 companion when they heard the cry, " A goat has been 

 lost." The painter then threw the paint-pot at his 

 friend and rushed away to find the lost goat. The 

 spotted whelp became a leojoard, the partially painted 

 one, a liyfena. 



References : W. 8ooresby Routledge and Katlierine Routledge 

 With a Prehistoric People : The Akikuyu of British East Africa 

 1910. 



