HYiENA. 199 
by a senseless jargon of words which they repeat, they 
throw a blanket over him, and hawi him out. 
Superstition, which has ever influenced the hu- 
man mind, has been active in assigning to the 
hyaena properties which never existed but in the 
imaginations of the antients. They believed that it 
changed its sex ; that it imitated the human voice ; 
that it had the power of charming shepherds, and 
of riveting them to the place where they stood: 
even at the present day, whenever the Arabs kill 
one of them, they carefully bury the head, lest it 
should be applied to magical purposes. 
THE SPOTTED HYAENA, 
Known at the Cape of Good Hope by the name 
of the tiger-wolf, has not been many years distin- 
guished by naturalists from the striped species. Its 
habits are the same, and its disposition equally 
rapacious, cruel, and mischievous. It differs from 
the other in being spotted instead of streaked, in 
the mane and hair on the body being much shorter, 
and in having short hairy ears. 
This creature is described as very strong and 
voracious. It prowls about for its prey, sending 
forth the most hideous yells every night ; and the 
howlings of a number of them are dreadful and 
alarming beyond description. 
