promises well, they start from Constantine in
the afternoon with a few couple of terriers,
and beat the country all night long. When
a dog falls upon a hedgehog's track, he gives
tongue,and is joined by the others, who hunt in
a pack, exactly as if they were after a stag or
a boar. When the creature finds he is caught,
he rolls himself up like a prickly muff, opposing
the spines which cover him to the teeth
of his pursuers. One of the hunters seizes him
with the flap of his burnous, puts him into his
hood, and the chace goes on till morning dawns.

Porcupine-hunting is looked down upon,
not for the fault of the creature itself, but
because of the disreputable habits of the
persons who usually make it their object of
sport. Another wild animal is scorned as a
quarry, on account of its own intrinsic
despicability. "Cowardly as a hyena," is an Arab
proverb. Perhaps, however, the main cause
is the universal hatred which this odious
beast inspires, arises from its habit of
violating graves. Whether resurrection-men
or hyenas are concerned, the feeling is the
same in the popular mind. What else can we
do, but execrate the insulters and devourers
of what remains of those we have loved most
dearly on earth? Now, the hyena, who fears
to attack any other creature than a solitary,
wretched, ailing, half-starved dog, not daring
to make an onslaught on a flock of sheep, the
vile hyena disinters the dead, and eats their
very bones. Is it likely that such a beast
should meet with anything but detestation?
As a precautionary measure, which is not
always effectual, the Arabs bury their dead
very deep. In some districts, they even
build two vaults for the reception of one
body, putting their precious deposit in the
lower one. Consequently, the skin of so
dastard an animal is looked upon as valueless.
In the majority of tents it would be refused
admittance, for fear it should bring bad luck
with it.

The lowest Arabs will eat hyena's flesh,
which, by the way, is not particularly good;
but they are very careful not to touch the
head, and hold the brain in especial
abhorrence, believing that such contact would
suffice to make them lose their senses. They
sometimes amuse themselves with chasing it
on horseback, and allow their harriers to worry
it to death without doing it the honour to fire
a shot. The gun would be contaminated.

One fine August morning M. Gérard,
riding in search of nobler prey, whilst
meditating his plans, observed the approach of a
bristling, repulsive-looking, limping animal,
—a hyena which, surprised by daylight,
ashamed of himself and out of countenance—
was regaining his fortress or burrow with a
hobbling step. The lion-killer had left his
gun in the hands of his Arab attendant; and,
having no other weapon than his sabre, he
drew it from its scabbard and charged the
brute, which darted away and disappeared
amidst the wayside bushes, at the foot of a
rock. M. Gérard dismounted, tied his horse
to a tree, and soon found a hole which he
was delighted to recognise as an ancient
quarry, high enough and broad enough to
admit his passing along it upright and with
his arms at liberty. In two minutes, the two
new acquaintances were face to face, and so
close that the party most anxious for the
introduction could feel the end of his sabre
bitten by teeth; but he could see nothing, the
hole was so dark. He knelt down, closed his
eyes for an instant, and, on opening them,
could distinguish the animal sufficiently to
know where to strike. The great difficulty
was to draw from its mouth the point of the
sabre, which it continued to hold fast; then,
as soon as it let it go, he plunged the blade
into its chest up to the handle. A sort of
muffled grunt was the only response; and
when the blade was drawn from its body,
the animal was dead. Just as M. Gérard
was about to seize the carcase by the foot,
to drag it into the open air, he heard a
confused sound of voices at the quarry's mouth,
proceeding from his guide and a group of
reapers, who had seen him charge the hyena
and dismount at the foot of the rock. When
the Arab beheld the blade of the sabre red
with the blood of the animal, he said,

"Thank heaven, for causing me to remain
behind with your gun, and never again make
use of your sabre in warfare; it would betray
you." As the Frenchman did not appear to
understand the meaning of the speech, the
guide added,

"An Arab, when he finds a hyena in his
hold, takes a handful of cow-dung and
holds it out to the brute, saying, 'Come; let
me make you pretty with some henna on the
tips of your charming fingers.' The hyena
offers its paw, the Arab seizes it, drags it
out, gags it, and gives it to the women and
children of the douar to stone to death, as a
cowardly and unclean animal."

M. Gérard, without literally believing
every syllable told by his guide, easily
comprehended that he had made a mistake which
would require a brilliant reparation in order
to put a stop to scandal and ill-natured
remarks amongst the tribes; but he actually
witnessed an occurrence which proved that
his follower had not spoken altogether
falsely. Having met one day with a troop of
porcupine-hunters laying siege to a burrow,
he dismounted to watch the catastrophe.
After several hours of terrible labour, a
hyena was caught and dragged out by a child
only twelve years of age, who had plunged
his lance two feet deep in the animal's body.
European sportsmen would have been proud
of such a feat. Squire Pettisesshuns, on
receiving a letter from his son, with the news
that the cadet of the family had slain a hyena
in the Algerian wilderness, would take care to
publish the glorious bulletin at all the dinner-
tables for two unions round. The hatcheichia
were annoyed and humiliated: annoyed,