and begged me to excuse what he had too hastily said, and declaring
that he felt no displeasure towards any one but Gert. In these last
feelings he was better justified, as it was an act of ingratitude to one
who had, although paid for it, been kind to him in illness, and had
regularly furnished him with provisions during my absence. But I
now began to discover that this unfortunate Hottentot was a man
whose gratitude was not to be won by kindness: he appeared already
to have forgotten the treatment which he had received from me, and
which was more that of a friend than of a master: he told me that
as I had thus made an exposition of him by finding fault with him
before all the village, he should cease to be so attentive and careful
as he had hitherto always been, and should in future take no more
pains than any of the other Hottentots. The sight of the poor
fellow’s hand checked all the anger which I ought to have shown at
such a speech; and I contented myself with ordering him away.
Yet I could not but be exceedingly hurt and disappointed, at finding
symptoms of unworthiness, in a Hottentot, of whom I was so desirous
of thinking well.
5th. Every thing belonging to my waggons being at length put
in proper condition, and all our preparations and arrangements being
now completed, I gave, with the utmost satisfaction, orders to Philip
to fetch my oxen from Grootedoorn.
The' missionaries obligingly sent me from their garden some
potatoes and onions for my journey, which I accepted as a very
useiul present; it being my intention to plant them in the Interior,
or give them to the natives. For this purpose I had brought a quantity
of peach-stones, and other seeds, from Graafireynet; and had
also brought some potatoes from the Cape; but finding these would
not keep till I reached Litaakun, I had given them to the missionaries,
to receive fresh roots, at my departure. I left in their hands, some
beads, for the purpose of paying any of the natives who might be the
bearer of my letters from the Interior, should I afterwards meet with
an opportunity of sending any to Klaarwater.
6th. In the morning Philip returned with the oxen: but reported
that in consequence of Abram Abrams neglecting on the night before,
to secure them, as usual, in the cattle-pound, the Wilde Honden
(Wild Dogs,) * had bitten off the tails of three. One had only lost
the brush, but the others were deprived of the whole.
This species of hyena is remarkable for hunting in regular
* Hytma venatica, B. (See the note at page 456. of the first volume.) This animal is
smaller, and of a more slender make, than either the common Striped Hyena, or the Spotted
or Crocuta. The general, or ground, color is a sandy bay, or an ochraceous yellow shaded
with a darker brown. The whole body is bloatched and brindled with black, intermingled
m various parts with spots of white; and the legs are generally marked in the same
manner. All these spots and markings are exceedingly irregular, and, in some degree,
vary in different individuals. Its more constant marks are; a deep black stripe extending
from the nose up the middle of the face and between the ears: these, blackish both within
an without, and covered with short close hair which is sometimes very thin: at the
anterior margin of the ears, on the inside, a thin and observable tuft of whitish hairs: the
nose and muzzle, black. The tail is bushy like that of the fox, and is divided in the
middle by a ring of black, above which, or towards the insertion, the color is nearly the
same as the general tint of the body; but below, or towards the end, it is white.
The osteology of this animal throws some difficulty in the way of its generic arrangement,
and even raises some doubt as to the propriety of dividing the Linnaean genus
Cams by characters which might pass as merely specific, or as convenient only for a
generic subdivision. The Dog, the Wolf, and this Hyena, correspond in having six
grmders in their upper jaw: and in their lower, seven; of which the hindmost is very
small. They also agree in the form, and number, of their ribs and lumbar vertebra-
having seven of the latter. Their ribs, of which there are thirteen, are thin and narrow!
But both in the Striped, and the Spotted, Hyena, they are fifteen in number, and of an
extraordinary breadth; and are, proportionally much stronger and larger, than in any
quadruped of their size: in these, the grinders are only four, or at most five, in number •
and the lumbar vertebrae not more than five.
The present animal, therefore, with respect to its teeth, ribs and lumbar vertebrte
would be arranged in the genus C a n is from which, however, it differs by having but four
toes on each foot, and, it is said, in other essential particulars. With the genus Hycena
it agrees in number of toes, but differs from it in teeth and in conformation of the skeleton,
^hese differences were first noticed to me by Mr. Brookes, in whose valuable museum of
Comparative Anatomy, and by whose liberality, I have had an opportunity of examining
t e skeletons of all these quadrupeds; and where the animal in question forming a new genus. is considered as
At page 222. and at the end of this chapter, are given Jigures of the Hycena venatica
m different positions. They were drawn from a living subject given me by my friend
Mr. Hesse; and which I kept in my possession for thirteen months, chained up in a stable-
yaid. During that time its ferocious nature deterred every body from an attempt at
taming it; but it became at length so much softened in manners, as to play with a common
omestic dog, also chained up in the yard, without manifesting any desire of hurting its
companion; but the man who fed it, dared never to venture his hand upon it.