EVEN-TOED UNGULATES (AKTIODAOTYf.A) 209 



says,^ that we owe the discovery of the art of 

 roasting, which formed the foundation of the great 

 art of cookery. 



We can see the European wild boar {Sits scrofa) 

 in the Zoological Gardens, which was once so abun- 

 dant in the forests of England, Scotland and Ireland, 

 and played so great a part, both alive and dead, in 

 the social life of the people. The wild animal is 

 longer on the leg and much more hairy than the 

 domestic pig. The snout is longer and more mobile, 

 and the ears are shorter. His wedge-shaped head 

 enabled liim to push his way rapidly through the 

 tangled underwood ; his thick and bristly skin 

 protected him from injury, and his divided hoofs 

 enabled him to walk through swamps without 

 sinking. The eyes are small deep-set, and surrounded 

 by bristles. His four canine teeth, developed into 

 powerful tusks, all pointing upwards, made him for- 

 midable to his enemies. He was an omnivorous 

 feeder on fruit, nuts, insects and their larvae, snails 

 and mice. In the autumn he would make for the 

 fields or vineyards, at night, and smelling out the 

 turnips or potatoes with his keen nose, he would dig 

 them up with his powerful snout. And what a 

 wonderful burrowing instrument the snout of a pig- 

 is. Look at it again, if you have a chance. Most 

 writers say he is no good till he is dead, but though 

 he often wrought sad havoc, he sometimes did good 

 by trampling down the ground, and he destroyed a 

 large number of insect larvao. The pig^s keen 

 sense of smell has been made use of in training the 

 * ' Essays of Elia/ " A Dissertation upon Roast Pig." 



14 



