of one
of the family should be mentioned, then call out as if for assistance,
pronouncing the name he had heard, and imitating the cries of one in
distress. This would bring out the person called, who of course on
reaching the spot would find only a fierce hyena ready to devour him!

Strange as it may seem, all these absurd stories were once very
generally believed, and, strange as it may seem in me to say, not one of
them but has _some_ foundation. Exaggerated as they are, they all owe
their origin to natural facts. At present I shall refer to only two of
these. There is a peculiarity about the glance of the hyena that has
given birth to the notion of his possessing the power to "charm" or
fascinate, although I never heard of his luring any one to destruction
by it; there is a peculiarity about the animal's voice that might well
gain him credit for imitating the human voice, for the simple reason
that the former bears a very near resemblance to the latter. I do not
say that the voice of the hyena is like the ordinary human voice, but
there are some voices it does exactly resemble. I am acquainted with
several people who have _hyena voices_. In fact, one of the closest
imitations of a human laugh is that of the "spotted hyena." No one can
hear it, hideous as it is, without being amused at its close
approximation to the utterance of a human being. There is a dash of the
maniac in its tones, and it reminds me of the sharp metallic ring which
I have noticed in the voices of negroes. I have already compared it to
what I should fancy would be the laugh of a _maniac negro_.

The striped hyena, although the best known, is in my opinion the least
interesting of his kind. He is more widely distributed than any of his
congeners. Found in most parts of Africa, he is also an Asiatic animal,
is common enough throughout all the southern countries of Asia, and is
even found as far north as the Caucasus and the Altai. He is the only
species that exists in Asia. All the others are natives of Africa,
which is the true home of the hyena.

Naturalists admit but _three_ species of hyena. I have not the
slightest doubt that there are twice that number as distinct from each
other as these three are. Five, at least, I know, without reckoning as
hyenas either the "wild hound" of the Cape, or the little burrowing
hyena (_Proteles_)--both of which we shall no doubt meet with in the
course of our hunting adventures.

First, th