THE CAPE HYENA. 
179 
To set a gun for tlie purpose of Hyena shooting is an easy matter, and is managed as 
follows. The loaded musket is fixed horizontally to a coup]e of posts, about the height of a 
Hyena’s head. A string is then fastened to the trigger, one end of which is passed behind the 
trigger guard, or through a ring placed for the purpose, and the other is firmly tied to a piece 
of meat, which is hung on the mnzzle of the gun. When a passing Hyena, prowling about in 
search of prey, is attracted by the meat, he seizes it between his teeth, and thus draws the 
trigger of the gun, lodging the bullet in his head. Tenacious of life as is the Hyena, he falls 
dead on the spot. 
In order to attract the notice of the Hyenas, a piece of putrid flesh is dragged along the 
ground so as to leave an odoriferous trail leading to the treacherous weapon. 
Taught by experience, the Hyenas have become so suspicious of an object which they do 
not understand, and to which they are not accustomed, that the very sight of a piece of string 
alarms them, and guards them from self-immolation in many a trap. So the farmers, who 
chiefly set these explosive traps, match the creature’ s cunning by their own superior intellect, 
and substitute the stems of creeping plants for the hempen cord or leathern strings. These 
objects are regarded without suspicion, and by their assistance the outwitted Hyena is 
laid low. 
In chasing living animals the Hyena employs the same caution that characterizes his 
ordinary proceedings. When they seize their prey the Hyenas carefully avoid those spots 
where the affrighted animal might reach them with its hoofs, teeth, or horns. They never 
seem to spring on the animals’ s neck, but hang on to its flanks, dragging it to the ground by 
the mingled weight of their body and the pain of the wound. Many veteran oxen and horses 
are deeply scarred in the flanks by the teeth of the Hyena, which has made its attack, bnt has 
been scared away or shaken off. 
The eyes of the Hyenas are singularly repulsive in their expression, being round, dull, 
and almost meaningless. 
There are man-eaters among the Hyenas, and these hominivorous animals are greatly 
dreaded, on account of the exceeding stealthiness and craft with which they achieve their 
object. 
They very seldom endeavor to destroy the adult men. and women, but limit their attacks 
to the young and defenceless children. On dark nights the Hyena is greatly to be feared, for 
he can be guided to his prey by the light of the nocturnal fires which do not daunt an animal 
that is possessed by this fearful spirit of destructiveness, and at the same time can make his 
cautious approaches unseen. As the family are lying at night, buried in sleep, the Hyena 
prowls round the inclosure, and on finding a 'weak spot the animal pushes aside the wattle 
bands of which the fence is made, and quietly creeps through the breach. 
Between the human inhabitants and the fence, the cattle are picketed by night, and would 
fall an easy prey to the Hyena if he chose to attack them. But he slips cautiously amid the 
sleeping beasts, and makes his way to the spot where lies a young child, wrapped in deep 
slumber. Employing the same silent caution, the Hyena quietly withdraws the sleeping child 
from the protecting cloak of its mother, and makes its escape with its prey before it can be 
intercepted. 
With such marvellous caution does this animal act, that it has often been known to 
remove an infant from the house without even giving the alarm. 
It has already been mentioned that the Hyena is in no wise fastidious in its diet, and that 
it will habitually consume the most indigestible of substances. Yet there seems to be some- 
thing capricious about the function of assimilating food, which, even in the Hyena, is subject 
to remarkable fluctuations. To one of these animals, after a fast of thirty-six hours, a dead 
rat was given, which, as might be expected, it immediately swallowed. In fifteen minutes, 
the creature rejected the skin and bones of the rat, though the same animal would have eaten 
with impunity the heavy bones or tough hide of a veteran ox, or even would have made a 
satisfactory meal on a few yards of leathern strap. 
The following anecdotes of the Cape Hyena, and its habits are taken from the MS. of 
Captain Drayson, R. A., to which reference has already been made, 
