530 
African Game Trails 
of Northwestern Rhodesia, was attacked by 
a hyena but two or three years ago. At the 
time Major Coryndon was lying, wrapped 
in a blanket, beside his wagon. A hyena, 
stealthily approaching through the night, 
seized him by the hand, and dragged him 
out of bed; but as he struggled and called 
out, the beast left him and ran off into the 
darkness. In spite of his torn hand the 
major was determined to get his assailant, 
which he felt sure would soon return. Ac¬ 
cordingly, he went back to his bed, drew his 
cocked rifle beside him, pointing toward his 
feet, and feigned sleep. When all was still 
once more,' a dim form loomed up through 
the uncertain light, toward the foot of the 
bed; it was the ravenous beast returning 
for his prey; and the major shot and killed 
it where it stood. 
A few months ago a hyena entered the 
outskirts of Nairobi, crept into a hut, and 
seized and killed a native man. At Nairobi 
the wild creatures are always at the thresh¬ 
old of the town, and often cross it. At 
Governor Jackson’s table, at Government 
House, I met Mr. and Mrs. Sandiford. 
Mr. Sandiford is managing the railroad. 
A few months previously, while he was sit¬ 
ting, with his family, in his own house in 
Nairobi, he happened to ask his daughter 
to look for something in one of the bedrooms. 
She returned in a minute, quietly remark¬ 
ing, “Father, there’s a leopard under the 
bed.” So there was; and it was then re¬ 
membered that the house-cat had been 
showing a marked and alert distrust of 
the room in question—very probably the 
leopard had gotten into the house while try¬ 
ing to catch her or one of the dogs. A 
neighbor with a rifle was summoned, and 
shot the leopard. 
Hyenas not infrequently kill mules and 
donkeys, tearing open their bellies, and eat¬ 
ing them while they are still alive. Yet 
when themselves assailed they usually be¬ 
have with abject cowardice. The Hills had 
a large Airedale terrier, an energetic dog 
of much courage. Not long before our 
visit this dog put up a hyena from a bushy 
ravine, in broad daylight, ran after it, over¬ 
took it, and flew at it. The hyena made 
no effective fight, although the dog—not a 
third its weight—bit it severely, and de¬ 
layed its flight so that it was killed. Dur¬ 
ing the first few weeks of our trip I not 
infrequently heard hyenas after nightfall, 
but saw none. Kermit, however, put one 
out of a ravine or dry creek-bed—a donga, 
as it is locally called—and though the brute 
had a long start he galloped after it and 
succeeded in running it down. The chase 
was a long one, for twice the hyena got in 
such rocky country that he almost dis¬ 
tanced his pursuer; but at last, after cover¬ 
ing nearly ten miles, Kermit ran into it 
in the open, shooting it from the saddle 
as it shambled along at a canter growling 
with rage and terror. I would not have 
recognized the cry of the hyenas from what 
I had read, and I did not hear them laugh. 
Pease said that he had only once heard 
them really laugh. On that occasion he was 
watching for lions outside a Somali zareba. 
Suddenly a leopard leaped clear over the 
zareba, close beside him, and in a few sec¬ 
onds came flying back again, over the high 
thorn fence, with a sheep in its mouth; but 
no sooner had it landed than the hyenas 
rushed at it and took away the sheep; and 
then their cackling and shrieking sounded 
exactly like the most unpleasant kind of 
laughter. The normal death of very old 
lions, as they grow starved and feeble—un¬ 
less they are previously killed in an en¬ 
counter with dangerous game like buffalo— 
is to be killed and eaten by hyenas; but of 
course a lion in full vigor pays no heed to 
hyenas, unless it is to kill one if it gets in 
the way. 
During the last few decades, in Africa, 
hundreds of white hunters, and thousands of 
native hunters, have been killed or wounded 
by lions, buffaloes, elephants, and rhinos. 
All are dangerous game; each species has 
to its grewsome credit a long list of mighty 
hunters slain or disabled. Among those 
most competent to express judgment there 
is the widest difference of opinion as to 
the comparative danger in hunting the sev¬ 
eral kinds of animals. Probably no other 
hunter who has ever lived has combined 
Selous’s experience with his skill as a 
hunter and his power of accurate observa¬ 
tion and narration. He has killed between 
three and four hundred lions, elephants, 
buffaloes, and rhinos, and he ranks the 
lion as much the most dangerous, and the 
rhino as much the least, while he puts 
the buffalo and elephant in between, and 
practically on a par. Governor Jackson 
has killed between eighty and ninety of the 
four animals; and he puts the buffalo un- 
