18 THE WONDERS OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



induce his followers to believe that one of his legs is broken, but after running some time, this stiffness 

 goes off, and he escapes with facility. 



The animal, of which our engraving is a correct likeness, is a native of Africa, and is considered as 

 one of the oldest members of the savage community in which he dwells. At the time when the 

 drawing was taken, he had two spotted Hyaenas with him in the same den, supposing from the 

 similarity of their nature that concord might exist between them. On their first introduction, they 

 shewed evident symptoms of fear, and crouched in the corners or ran into the den beneath, whenever 

 their ferocious acquaintance, by his hideous yells or hostile motions, seemed determined to maintain 

 the sovereignty of the den : by degrees, however, the fear of the animals subsided, and in their 

 struggle for the bones, after having been stripped of the flesh, they often proved victorious. A 

 continual state of warfare now ensued between the inmates of the den, and Darby, (the name of the 

 striped Hyaena,) in one of his encounters, was injured in one of his legs. We were present when his 

 den was opened, and the keeper succeeded in throwing a rope round his neck, and tying the animal 

 fast to an iron ring, poured some vinegar on the wound ; the natural ferocity of the animal was here 

 exhibited in all its appalling features, and the spectators were fully impressed with a sense of the 

 jeopardy in which their lives would be placed, were they at the mercy of so formidable a brute. The 

 animals have since been separated. 



The average height of the striped Hyaena is twenty-four inches ; the length of the body from the 

 muzzle to the tail about three feet, four inches. 



The spotted Hyaena bears a strong resemblance to the former species, but is larger, and the body, 

 instead of being marked with the transverse bands, is distinguished by numerous roundish black 

 spots. Its general colour is a greyish brown. The face and upper part of the head are of a very 

 dark colour, approaching to black, and a blackish mane extends along the neck, but is not so bristly as 

 that of the striped Hyaena ; its ears are short and broad, and of a circular form, which divests it of 

 that sharp character so peculiar to animals with pointed ears. The spotted Hyaena is a native of 

 the South of Africa, but particularly of the Cape of Good Hope, where they are described to be 

 mischievous and formidable in the highest degree. They often enter the huts of the Hottentots in 

 search of prey, and carry off the children whilst they are asleep. The striped and spotted Hyaenas 

 are never found to inhabit the same country, but their territorial boundary has never been distinctly 

 ascertained. 



A great number of these animals, excited by their rapacious appetite, penetrate into the interior of 

 the towns in the vicinity of the Cape, and prowl about the shambles to carry off the filth and offal 

 left there by the inhabitants, and in this work they meet with no molestation, on the contrary, they are 

 considered, in some degree, as useful, in removing a nuisance, which if left to putrify might be 

 productive of disease. We are informed by Thunberg, that they are so excessively bold and 

 ravenous as sometimes to eat the saddle from under the traveller's head, and to gnaw the shoes on his 

 feet while he is sleeping in the open air. Every kind of animal substance is eagerly devoured by 

 them, and it has been argued that the rapacious habits of these animals appear to be a benevolent 

 interference of Providence, in enabling them to consume those dead and putrid bodies, which the 

 indolence or superstitious customs of the natives prevent them from burying. 



During the night the air resounds with their horrid yells, but in the day-time they remain 

 concealed in subterranean places, or in caves in the rocks. The sheep-folds are their favourite 

 resort at night, in which they commit terrible ravages unless well defended by r dogs. These animals 

 were never known to live in a state of domestication, and in their savage state possess even a less 

 degree of docility than the striped Hyaena. 



