456 
" A NEW HYENA. — INDIGENT BUSHMEN. 
16 Nov. 
man and his companions made their appearance, driving before them 
the whole of our httle flock. W e had thus a double cause for re- 
joicing ; but when we found that the sheep had been followed by 
means of their track, as far as our station at the confluence of the 
Black River, every one was surprised that they had not been scat- 
tered and destroyed, at least by the wild beasts ; among which the 
Wilde Hond (Wild Dog), a new and distinct species of Hyena*, is 
here the most destructive to the flocks. The Hottentots had fallen 
in with some straggling Bushmen, whose behaviour towards them 
was perfectly friendly. 
In this vicinity we discovered a kraal of Bushmen. Their num- 
bers did not exceed twenty, and their abode was merely a cavern in 
the side of the mountain, sheltered by huge impending crags. They 
had no earthly possessions whatever, excepting the miserable bit of 
dirty skin which hung round them ; their bows and arrows, a few 
hassagays, a knife, and two or three ostrich egg-shells. They had 
not even a hut, or a few mats, like most of their countrymen. 
Neither beads, nor any thing intended as ornament, were to be seen 
upon them : their persons, meagre and filthy, too plainly bespoke 
that hunger had often been their lot. Except when any game was 
caught in their pitfalls, which, they complained, seldom happened, 
the only procurable support of life, was the wild roots which they 
daily dug up in the plains ; and these, not found but by long and 
wearisome search : the eggs of ants, the bodies of snakes or lizards, 
a tortoise, or an ostrich egg, met with accidentally, formed the only 
variety in their wretched food. Their life, and that of the wild 
beasts, their fellow inhabitants of the land, were the same. Of both, 
the only care seemed to be that of feeding themselves, and of bringing 
up their young. The four men who visited us to-day, exhibited 
their lank, shrivelled bodies, and dry parched arms and legs, to 
convince us how much they needed provisions, and how long they 
* Hyena venatica. B. Fusca, undique maculis irregularibus nigris, cum paucis 
albis, variegata. Linea nigra faciem percurrens. Auriculas maximae lato-ovatae nigrae sub- 
nudae. Cauda villosa, extrema parte alba, annulo unico nigro. Metacarpi longissimi. 
A more particular account of this animal will be given in another place. 
