BIG GAME 133 



there are many wild pigs to be also found 

 in western China. The shooter, while 

 shooting in the Yangtze Valley, will fre- 

 quently see the signs of depradation com- 

 mitted by the wild pig, as the Chinese 

 perfer to call this animal. Between Nan- 

 king and Tatung one may sometimes see 

 fields of sweet potatoes rooted up and the 

 tubers gone ; maize and millet fields with 

 their standing crops torn down, as well as 

 half ripe corn. So destructive in some 

 places are these wild pigs that the farmers 

 have their fields watched at night, and in 

 every field or two there is a hut perched on 

 bamboo or other poles some six or eight 

 feet above the ground. In these huts the 

 night watchman is placed, provided with 

 lighted lanterns, gongs and matchlock 

 muskets. When the wild pigs are heard or 

 seen the watchmen beat their gongs, swing 

 the lanterns and fire off their matchlocks ; 

 they also shout like madmen, all the 

 noise made with the idea to frighten the 

 depredators away and seldom upon the idea 

 that to kill is the surest guarantee of 

 protection. In some neighborhoods the pig 

 appreciates the situation by quietly proceed- 



