76 THE BOOK OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 



habits, etc. Taking it for granted, then, that the reader of this book 

 at any rate sees nothing repulsive in the Hyaena, let us endeavour 

 to learn something of interest concerning it. 



In view of the inclusion in this chapter of the Cape Hunting 

 Dog and the superficial resemblance between it and the present 

 species, it is particularly appropriate that the Brown Hyaena should 

 be accorded a place. It will be observed from the two animals 

 depicted in Fig. 62, that the general markings upon the Brown 

 Hyasna are self-coloured, and although it bears a resemblance to 

 the Striped species, it is more particularly noticeable in this respect 

 because of the markings on the short-haired legs. 



We are fortunate in having a photograph of this wild prowler, 

 because its numbers have now become so diminished that it is 

 believed to be on the verge of extinction. Its resemblance to the 

 Wolf is exemplified in several ways, but it is as well to bear in 

 mind that true Wolves do not inhabit South Africa, their place 

 being taken by the animals now under review. 



When it roamed over the African plains in days gone by this 

 must have been a formidable beast to encounter, as we are told by 

 early colonists that it was a ferocious and dangerous foe to come 

 in contact with. 



Mr. Selous, in describing one of his many exciting adventures 

 in Africa, relates that on one occasion a Hottentot murdered a Kaffir 

 boy in cold blood, and eventually suffered the penalty of death for 

 his dastardly deed. He states that the Kaffirs assembled and "at 

 once knocked his brains out with their knobkerries." The point of 

 the story, however, which concerns us is the information given 

 regarding the fate of the murderer's body, for the intrepid hunter 

 remarks that "his body was dragged just over a little ridge not 

 three hundred yards from the wagons. In the night Hyaenas came 

 and laughed and howled round the corpse for hours, but never 

 touched it. The second night the same thing happened, but on the 

 third day they ate him up.. Now, as these Hyaenas were beasts 

 belonging to an uninhabited country, they were unused to human 

 remains, and had not, I think, lost their instinctive dread of the 

 smell of man; for in the Matabele country, where the bodies of 

 people killed for witchcraft are always ' given Ito the Hyaenas,' a 

 corpse is invariably dragged off even from the very gates of a kraal 

 before the first night is many hours old." 



SPOTTED HY^NA.— Besides the Brown and Striped Hysenas, 



