THE HYENA 203 



result of such an attack, the whole of the lower 

 portion of her face, including the jaw, having 

 been torn from her whilst she slept. 



Encamped in hyena-infested portions of the 

 country, I have frequently been disturbed early 

 in the night by a chorus of yells from my followers, 

 accompanied by a volley of burning brands from 

 the fire, discharged at some prowling form dis- 

 covered lurking with lawless intent in the vicinity 

 of the carriers' quarters. If shooting have been 

 in progress, and the camp one of several days' 

 standing, the greatest care and pains must be 

 taken to see that all skins, heads, masks, and 

 meat are deposited at nightfall high up a tree to 

 keep it out of danger of these lurking pests, to 

 which scarcely anything that has been in contact 

 with animal matter is unwelcome. Even articles 

 of thick tanned leather are readily masticated, 

 as the disappearance, on one occasion, of a solidly 

 made binocvdar case, which had been carelessly 

 left under my tent-fly, taught me. A friend of 

 mine who was hunting with ponies some years 

 ago in similar country to that described in this 

 paragraph lost a pair of leather saddle-bags in the 

 same way, and was obliged to shoot one of his 

 mounts through the poor beast sustaining fatal 

 injury from the teeth of a hyena. Ordinary thick 

 antelope bones are masticated and swallowed with 

 the ease with which mankind disposes of a bis- 

 cuit : it has even been said, so tremendous is the 

 strength of their capacious jaws, that they have 

 been known to crush the thigh-bone of an elephant 

 to get at the marrow within. Here is a feat which 



