BABYROUSSA.—Babiiussa Alfio 
The Bosch Vark, or Bush Hog, of Southern Africa is a very formidable animal in 
aspect as well as in character, the heavy, lowering look, the projecting tusks, and the 
callous protuberance on the chee 2k, giving it a ferocious expression which is no way belied 
by the savage and sullen temper of the animal, The Bosch Vark inhabits the forests, and 
is generally found lying in excavations or hollows in the ground, from which it is apt to 
rush if suddenly disturbed, and to work dire vengeance upon its foe. In colour it is 
extremely variable, some species being of a uniform dark brown, others of a brown 
variegated with white, while others are tinged with bright chestnut. The young is richly 
mottled with yellow and brown. For the following account of the habits of the Bosch 
Vark I am indebted to C apti in Drayson’s MS. 
“Where the locality is sufficie ntly retired and wooded to afford shelter to the bush 
bucks which I have mentioned, we may generally expect to find traces of the Bush Pig. 
His spoor is like the letter M without the horizontal marks, the extremities of the toes 
forming two separate points, which is not the case with the antelopes, at least very rarely 
so, the general impression of their feet being like the letter A with a division down the 
centre, thus A\. 
The Bush Pig is about two feet six inches in height and five feet in length, his canine 
teeth are very large and strong, those in the upper jaw projecting horizontally ; those in 
the lower upwards. He is cov ered with long bristles, and taking him all in all, he i is about 
as formidable looking an animal, for his size, as can be seen. 
The Bosch Varks traverse the forests in herds, and subsist on roots and young shrubs. 
A large hard-shelled sort of plane with an interior filled with seeds, grows in great 
quantities on the flats near the Natal forests; this is a favourite fruit of the wild pigs 
and they will come out of the bush of an evening and roam over the plains in search of 
windfalls from these fruit-trees. 
The Kaffir tribes, although they refuse to eat the flesh of the domestic pig, will still 
feast without compunction on that of its bush brother. 
In the bush I always found the Kaffirs disinclined to encounter a herd of these wild 
Swine, stating as their reason for doing so that the animals were very dangerous ; they 
also said that the wounds given by the tusks of this wild pig would not readily heal. 
