Page:Busbecq, Travels into Turkey (1744).pdf/67

 enough. The Turks believe, that whenever the Devil accuses the Deceased, and calls upon him to give an Account how he spent his Life; then his good Genius will defend him, and this Stone is the Place upon which the Ghost must sit, that he may plead his Cause with more Care; and it is so huge and bulky, that Dogs, Wolves, or other ravenous Beasts, especially the Hyænæ, may not injure his Corps as it lies in the Earth.

Hyæna is a Beast common in these Countries; she uses to dig up Graves, and taking out the dead Bodies from thence, carries them to her Den, near which you shall see a great Heap of Bones of Men, Horses, and other Creatures. She is a little lower than a Wolf, and quite as long; she hath a Skin like a Wolf, only her Hair is rougher and full of great black Spots; her Head is contiguous to her Spina dorsi, without any vertebræ at all; so that, when she looks backward, she must of necessity turn her whole Body: Instead of a Row of Teeth, she hath but one continued Bone. The Turks do ascribe great Vertue to this Beast, in Philtres, as did the Antients: there were two of them at Constantinople, when I was there; I cheapned them, but their Owners were unwilling to sell them, because they kept them for the Sultaness, who was thought, by Love-Potions, and Magic Art, to have engaged her Husband's Love to her. Here I cannot chuse but take Notice of a Mistake in Bellonius, who thinks the Hyæna to be the same Creature with that we call the Zibeth or Musk-Cat.

Turks have a Tradition, that the Hyæna, which they call Zirtlan, understands what Men say one to another. The Antients affirm'd, that they could also imitate Man's Voice, and thereupon Hunters catch them by this Wile. They find out