THE HYENAS. Ill 



the field of battle in those frequent wars that occur between the 



various tribes in the interior of South Africa, which the natives 



never think of burying, but leave scattered over the plains, soon to 



become food for the vulture and hygena, certain animals get the 



taste for human flesh, and when it is not available in one form seek 



it in another, and become " man-eaters." They generally, however, 



confine their tastes to children, whom they seek out with a stealthi- 



ness and cunning that has something of the awful in connection with 



it, for they even pass over every other sort of prey to get the human 



one. Mr. Steedman® tells us of the terrible injuries sustained by 



two children that came within the knowledge of Mr. Shepstone, 



" Who," he says, " in a letter from Mamboland, relates that the 



nightly attacks of wolves, as the hyaenas are generally called, have 



been so destructive among the children and youth as to form quite 



an anomaly in the history of this animal ; for within a few months 



not fewer than forty instances came to his own knowledge, wherein 



that beast had made most dreadful havoc. To show clearly," he 



says, " the preference of the wolf for human flesh it will be 



necessary to notice that when the Mambookies build their houses, 



which are in form like beehives, and tolerably large, often eighteen 



or twenty feet in diameter, the floor is raised at the higher or 



back part of the house, until within three or four feet of the front, 



where it suddenly terminates, leaving an area from thence to the 



wall in which every night the calves are tied to protect them from 



the storms or from wild beasts. Now it would be natural to 



suppose that, should the wolf enter, he would seize the first object 



for his prey, especially as the natives always lie with the fire at 



their feet. But notwithstanding this the constant practice of this 



animal has been in every instance to pass by the calves in the 



area, and even by the fire, and to take the children from under 



the mother's kardos, and this in such a gentle and cautious manner 



that the poor parent has been unconscious of her loss until the 



cries of her little innocent have reached her from without, when 



a close prisoner in the jaws of the monster." 



The brown hyaena (HycBua rufa) also inhabits the southern 



9 '' Wandering and Adventures in the Interior of Soutliein Africa," by Andrew 

 Steedman, 1835. 



