192 THE RIFLE AND HOUND IN CEYLON, chap. via. 



doubly dangerous. I have frequently seen hogs free 

 themselves from a dog's hold at the very moment that 

 I have put the knife into them ; this with a large 

 boar is likely to cause an accident. 



I once saw a Veddah who nearly lost his life by 

 one of these animals. He was hunting ' guanas ' (a 

 species of large lizard which is eaten by all the natives) 

 with several small dogs, and they suddenly found a 

 large boar, who immediately stood to bay. The 

 Veddah advanced to the attack with his bow and 

 arrows ; but he had no sooner wounded the beast than 

 he was suddenly charged with great fury. In an 

 instant the boar was into him, and the next moment 

 the Veddah was lying on the ground with his bowels 

 out. Fortunately a companion was with him, who re- 

 placed his entrails and bandaged him up. I saw the man 

 some years after ; he was perfectly well, but he had a 

 frightful swelling in the front of the belly, traversed 

 by a wide blue scar of about eight inches in length, 



A boar is at all times a desperate antagonist, where 

 the hunting-knife and dogs are the only available 

 weapons. The largest that I ever killed, weighed four 

 hundredweight. I was out hunting, accompanied by 

 my youngest brother. We had walked through 

 several jungles without success, but on entering a thick 

 jungle in the Elk Plains we immediately noticed the 

 fresh ploughings of an immense boar. In a few 

 minutes we heard the pack at bay without a run, and 



