THE WILD BOAR. 5 



Several people declared to me that they had seen the herd, and they 

 one and all described the leader as being perfectly white and as 

 large as a cow. I searched in vain for this sounder, till one day, 

 after a long and fruitless hunt in some wild and heavily timbered 

 mountains to the north, I was passing through a little- village on my 

 way back to camp, where my wife awaited me with a nice supper of 

 grilled venison. The natives told me that the sounder I had been 

 seeking in the forests of the high mountains had just passed the village, 

 and one young man offered to lead me in the direction the pigs had 

 gone. All thought of supper vanished, and with renewed energy we 

 set off over some low hills. After about half an hour's climb seven 

 or eight pigs were sighted feeding in a field on the other side of a wooded 

 ravine. None of these answered to the description of the big white 

 leader, but as daylight -was rapidly failing I decided to try my luck 

 with a long shot atone of the pigs we could see. Accordingly I made 

 my men hide behind some bushes, while I advanced towards the 

 sounder to get within range. I had not gone far when suddenly 

 from behind a rock there emerged what appeared to me to be the 

 largest pig I had ever seen. It looked perfectly white and seemed 

 to my startled imagination to be more the size of an elephant than 

 a cow. It advanced towards me with majestic tread sniffing the air 

 for danger as it came, and behind it crowded several smaller pigs. 

 I advanced more cautiously till suddenly the pig caught sight of me 

 and halted. It was now or never, and, although the range was rather 

 long for my Winchester, I tried a shot. My first bullet struck too 

 high, causing the huge brute to jump round, where it stood undecided. 

 The second shot hit it in the flank, causing it to tear away at a 

 breakneck speed. I fired several shots at it as it ran, managing 

 to hit it in the shoulder just before it disappeared over the top of the 

 hill. Summoning all my remaining strength, I followed at the best 

 speed I could command, and was rewarded on gaining the top of the 

 hill by seeing my quarry not more than a hundred yards away, walk- 

 ing along a path that lead round the top of a ravine. I was just able 

 to take rapid aim and fire as it rounded a shoulder of rock. It did 

 not reappear, and hurrying along, the path I was delighted to find that 

 the last shot had proved fatal and the huge animal lay dead at the bot- 

 tom of a small water course. Half an hour later it was pitch dark and we 

 had our work cut out to get the day's bag home. It was not white 

 but very light grey, -and its measurements exceeded those of any pig I 

 have yet seen, being six feet three inches from the tip of the snout 

 to the tip of the tail, and two feet eight inches at the should- 

 der. It, weighed three hundred and ten pounds which was ten pounds 



