CHAPTER VI. Notes on the Spotted Hyæna

NOTES ON THE SPOTTED HYÆNA

Character of hyænas--Contrasted with that of wolves--Story illustrating the strength and audacity of a spotted hyæna--How a goat was seized and carried off--A mean trick--Boldness of hyænas near native villages--More suspicious in the wilderness--Very destructive to native live stock--Will sometimes enter native huts--Giving an old woman to the hyænas--How the smelling out of witches benefited the hyænas--"Come out, missionary, and give us the witch"--Number of hyænas infesting Matabeleland in olden times--Trials for witchcraft in Matabeleland--Food of hyænas--Strength of jaws--Charged by a wounded hyæna--Heavy trap broken up--Killing hyænas with set guns--Hyæna held by dogs--Hyæna attacked by wild dogs--Pace of hyænas--Curious experience on the Mababi plain--The hyæna's howl--Rhinoceros calf killed by hyænas--Smell of hyænas--Hyæna meat a delicacy--Small cows and donkeys easily killed by hyænas--Size and weight of the spotted hyæna--Number of whelps Pages 98-118