366 
THE HYENA. 
cage, had formed a wonderful friendship with 
one of the hyenas. A good many cakes 
were thrown to them by the people, of 
which the bear hardly got his share; but we 
noticed that whenever the hyena secured a 
cake he always broke it in two and gave 
half to his friend. We saw him do it a 
number of times; and, though he certainly 
was not pretty to look at, I took quite a 
liking to him.” 
“ They have several times been tamed so 
as to take pleasure in their master’s caresses 
and evince much joy at his presence,” re¬ 
marked Miss Louisa; “and, indeed, they do 
not generally attack man from choice, 
though they do not hesitate to do it in self- 
defence, even when the man is mounted 
and well armed. They devour every thing 
that comes in their way, whether fresh or 
putrid; and, like the wolf and jackal, they 
are especially prone to wander in burial- 
places and dig up the dead. Various won¬ 
ders used to be related of them in the days 
of antiquity,—as that they could change their 
form and colour at will and that they pos¬ 
sessed the power of imitating the human 
voice. It was said that the hyena used to 
