Uncle Dick and Lisa's Old Time Animal Tales

     The following mode of tying hyenas in their den, as practiced in Afghanistan, is given by Arthur Connolly, in his Overland Journal, in the words of an Afghan chief, the Shirkaroe Synd Daond: “When you have tracked the beast  to his den you take a rope with two slip-knots upon it in your right hand, and with your left holding a felt cloak before you, you go boldly but quietly. The animal does not know the nature of the danger, and therefore retires to the back of the den, but you may always tell where his head is by the glare of his eyes. You keep moving gradually toward him on your knees, and when you are within distance throw the cloak over his head, close with him, and take care he does not free himself. The beast is so frightened that he cowers back, and, though he may bite the felt, he cannot turn his neck round so as to hurt you, so you quietly feel for his forelegs, slip the knot over them, and, then, with one strong pull, draw them tight up to the back of his neck and tie them there. The beast is now your own, and you can do what you like with him. We generally take those we catch home to the krall, and hunt them on the plain with bridles in their mouth, that our dogs may be taught to fear the brutes when they meet them in the wild.