88 SKETCH OF THE HISTORY OF MAMMALIA. 



plain than an African wild boar ; for this, though much 

 smaller, comes rushing on a man as swift as an arrow, 

 and, throwing him down, snaps his legs in two, and rips 

 up his belly before he can get to strike it and kill it 

 with his javelin.' . . . The dwelling-place of this same 

 species of wild boar, to which the avenues seemed to be 

 very narrow, is under ground. I have been told indeed 

 that the hoschvarkens go down into them backwards, 

 and place themselves there in a row one behind the 

 other ; but this is not very likely, for probably these 

 passages are widened lower down. Thus much, how- 

 ever, is certain, that people dare not attack them in their 

 holes, for fear of their coming out on them on a sudden. 

 The body of this animal is small in com])arison with its 

 head, a conformation which facilitates its burrowing and 

 living underground. 



" It would not be advisable for a man on horseback 

 to approach too near or to hunt this animal, as it will 

 often turn round on a sudden, and, striking with its tusks 

 at the horse's legs, afterwards kill both him and his 

 rider. 



"This day I pursued several young pigs with the old 

 sows, w ith a view to shoot one of them, but in vain ; 

 nevertheless the chase of them afforded me peculiar 

 pleasure. On a sudden, the heads of the old ones, which 

 before were of a tolerable size, seemed to have grown 

 still larger and more shapeless than they were before ; 

 which momentary and wonderful change astonished me 

 so much the more, as my hard riding over a country full 

 of bushes and pits had hitherto prevented me from giving 

 sufficient attention to the manner in which it was broughlf- 

 about. The secret, however, consisted in this : each of 

 the old ones, while they were making off, took a pig in 

 its mouth ; a circumstance that also explained to me 

 another subject of my surprise, namely, that all the pigs 

 which 1 was just before chasing along with the old ones 

 vanished all on a sudden. In this action we find a kind 

 of unanimity among the wood-swine, in which they 

 resemble the tame species, and which they have in a 

 greater degree than many other animals. It is very 



