The Hyæna not mentioned by name, but evidently alluded to—Signification of the word Zabua—Translated in the Septuagint as Hyæna—A scene described by the prophet Isaiah—The Hyæna plentiful in Palestine at the present day—its well-known cowardice and fear of man—The uses of the Hyæna and the services which it renders—The particular species of Hyæna—The Hyæna in the burial-grounds—Hunting the Hyæna—Curious superstition respecting the talismanic properties of its skin —Precautions adopted in flaying it —Popular legends of the Hyæna and its magical powers—The cavern borne of the Hyæna—The valley of Zeboim.
ALTHOUGH in our version of the Scriptures the Hyæna is not mentioned by that name, there are two passages in the Old Testament which evidently refer to that animal, and therefore it is described in these Pages. If the reader will refer to the prophet Jeremiah, 12:7-9, he will find these words: "I have forsaken mine house, I have left mine heritage; I have given the dearly beloved of my soul into the hand of her enemies. Mine heritage is unto me as a lion in the forest; it crieth out against me: therefore have I hated it. Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird; the birds round about are against her: come ye, assemble all the beasts of the field, come to devour." Now, the word zabua signifies something that is streaked, and in the Authorized Version it is rendered as a speckled bird. But in the Septuagint it is rendered as Hyæna, and this translation is thought by many critical writers to be the true one. It is certain that the word zabua is "one of the four names by which the Talmudical writers mention the Hyena, when treating of its character; and it is equally certain that such a rendering makes the passage more forcible, and is in perfect accordance with the habits of predacious animals.
The whole scene which the Prophet thus describes was evidently familiar to him. First, we have the image of a deserted country, allowed to be overrun with wild beasts. Then we have the lion, which has struck down its prey, roaring with exultation, and defying any adversary to take it from him. Then, the lion having eaten his fill and gone away, we have the Hyænas, vultures, and other carrion-eating creatures, assembling around the carcass, and hastening to devour it. This is a scene which has been witnessed by many hunters who have pursued their sport in Lands where lions, hyenas, and vultures are found; and all these creatures were inhabitants of Palestine at the time when Jeremiah wrote.
At the present day, the Hyena is still plentiful in Palestine, though in the course of the last few years its numbers have sensibly diminished. The solitary traveler, when passing by night from one town to another, often falls in with the Hyenas, but need suffer no fear, as it will not attack a human being, and prefers to slink out of his way. But dead, and dying, or wounded animals are the objects for which it searches; and when it finds them, it devours the whole of its prey. The lion will strike down an antelope, an ox, or a goat—will tear off its flesh with its long fangs, and lick the bones with its rough tongue until they are quite cleaned. The wolves and jackals will follow the lion, and eat every soft portion of the dead animal, while the vultures will fight with them for the coveted morsels. But the Hyena is a more accomplished scavenger than lion, wolf, jackal, or vulture; for it will eat the very bones themselves, its tremendously-powerful jaws and firmly-set teeth enabling it to crush even the leg-bone of an ox, and its unparalleled digestive powers enabling it to assimilate the sharp and hard fragments which would kill any creature not constituted like itself.
In a wild, or even a partially-inhabited country, the Hyena is, therefore, a most useful animal. It may occasionally kill a crippled or weakly ox, and sometimes carry off a sheep; but, even in that case, no very great harm is done, for it does not meddle with any animal that can resist. But these few delinquencies are more than compensated by the great services which it renders as scavenger, consuming those substances which even the lion cannot eat, and thus acting as a scavenger in removing objects which would be offensive to sight and injurious to health.
The species which is mentioned in the Scriptures is the Striped Hyena (Hyæna striata); but the habits of all the species are almost exactly similar. We are told by travelers of certain towns in different parts of Africa which would be unendurable but for the Hyenas. With the disregard for human life which prevails throughout all savage portions of that country, the rulers these towns order executions almost daily, the bodies of the victims being allowed to lie where they happened to fall. No one chooses to touch them, Test they should also be added to the list of victims, and the decomposing bodies would soon cause a pestilence but for the Hyenas, who assemble at night round the bodies, and by the next morning have left scarcely a trace of the murdered men.
Even in Palestine, and in the present day, the Hyena will endeavor to rifle the grave, and to drag out the interred corpse.
The bodies of the rich are buried in rocky caves, whose entrances are closed with heavy stones, which the Hyena cannot move; but those of the poor, which are buried in the ground, must be defended by stones heaped over them. Even when this precaution is taken, the Hyena will sometimes find out a weak spot, drag out the body, and devour it.
In consequence of this propensity, the inhabitants have an utter detestation of the animal. They catch it whenever they can, in pitfalls or snares, using precisely the same means as were employed two thousand years ago; or they hunt it to its den, and then kill it, stripping off the hide, and carrying it about still wet, receiving a small sum of money from those to whom they show it. Afterward the skin is dressed, by rubbing it with lime and salt, and steeping it in the waters of the Dead Sea. It is then made into sandals and leggings, which are thought to be powerful charms, and to defend the wearer from the Hyena’s bite.
They always observe certain superstitious precautions in flaying the dead animal. Believing that the scent of the flesh would corrupt the air, they invariably take the carcass to the leeward of the tents before they strip off the skin. Even in the animal which has been kept for years in a cave, and has eaten nothing but fresh meat, the odor is too powerful to be agreeable, as I can testify from practical experience when dissecting Hyena that had died in the Zoological Gardens; and it is evident that the scent of an animal that has lived all its Life on carrion must be almost unbearable. The skin being removed, the carcass is burnt, because the hunters think that by this process the other Hyenas are prevented from finding the body of their comrade, and either avenging its death or taking warning by its fate.
Superstitions seem to be singularly prevalent concerning the Hyena. In Palestine, there is a prevalent idea that if a Hyena meets a solitary man at night, it can enchant him in such a manner as to make him follow it through thickets and over rocks, until he is quite exhausted, and falls an unresisting gray but that over two persons he has no such influence, and therefore a solitary traveler is gravely advised to call for help as soon as he sees a Hyena, because the fascination of the beast would be neutralized by the presence of a second person. So firmly is this idea rooted in the minds of the inhabitants, that they will never travel by night, unless they can find at least one companion in their journey.
In Northern Africa there are many strange superstitions connected with this animal, one of the most curious of which is founded on its well-known cowardice. The Arabs fancy that any weapon which has killed a Hyena, whether it be gun, sword, spear, or dagger, is thenceforth unfit to be used in warfare. "Throw away that sword," said an Arab to a French officer, who had killed a Hyena, "it has slain the Hyena, and it will be treacherous to you.”
At the present day, its numbers are not nearly so great in Palestine as they used to be, and are decreasing annually. The cause of this diminution lies, according to Signor Pierotti, more in the destruction of forests than in the increase of population and the use of fire-arms, though the two latter causes have undoubtedly considerable influence.
There is a very interesting account by Mr. Tristram of the haunt of these animals. While exploring the deserted quarries of Es Sumrah, between Beth-arabah and Bethel, he carne upon a wonderful mass of hyænine relics. The quarries in which were lying the half-hewn blocks, scored with the marks of wedges, had evidently formed the resort of Hyenas for a long series of years. “Vast heaps of bones of camels, oxen, and sheep had been collected by these animals, in some places to the depth of two or three feet, and on one spot I counted the skulls of seven camels. There were no traces whatever of any human remains. We had here a beautiful recent illustration of the mode of foundation of the old bone caverns, so valuable to the geologist.
These bones must all have been brought in by the Hyenas, as no camel or sheep could possibly have entered the caverns alive, nor could any floods have washed them in. Near the entrance where the water percolates, they were already forming a soft breccia.”
The color of the Striped Hyena varies according to its age. When young, as is the case with many creatures, birds as well as mammals, the stripes from which it derives its name are much more strongly marked than in the adult specimen. The general hue of the fur is a pale gray-brown, over which are drawn a number of dark stripes, extending along the ribs and across the limbs.
In the young animal these stripes are nearly twice as dark and twice as wide as in the adult, and they likewise appear on the face and on other parts of the body, whence they afterward vanish. The fur is always rough; and along the spine, and especially over the neck and shoulders, it is developed into a kind of mane, which gives a very fierce aspect to the animal. The illustration shows a group of Hyenas coming to feed on the relics of a dead animal. The jackals and vultures have eaten as much of the flesh as they can manage, and the vultures are sitting, gorged, round the stripped bones. The Hyenas are now coming up to play their part as scavengers, and have already begun to break up the bones in their crushing-mills of jaws.