244 ANECDOTES OF ANIMALS. 



times, been reckoned a noble sport; for it not only 

 called for dexterity and courage, but was attended with 

 considerable danger, from the extreme savageness of 

 these animals when at bay, and the facility with which 

 they rip open the body of their antagonist with their 

 tusks. They were in former times considered as royal 

 game, and fines were imposed on those who killed them 

 without having the privilege of doing so. The time of 

 their extirpation in England is uncertain ; but we know 

 that in the reign of Charles the First orders were given 

 for some domestic hogs to be turned into the New 

 Forest, that they might become wild ; but they were 

 all destroyed in the time of Cromwell. Some still exist 

 in the large European forests, and a variety of hounds 

 are still trained to hunt them. Horses are particularly 

 alarmed at them ; and in the history of boar-hunts we 

 constantly read of the sportsmen being forced to alight 

 from their steeds to take a steady aim. The number 

 of ancient coats of arms in which they are found, and 

 the names of old places derived from them, attest their 

 numerous presence here : for instance, Brandon, which 

 is braivn's den; brawn being the old term for boar. 

 Their skin is so thick as frequently to deaden the force 

 of bullets, which after death have been found lying 

 between it and the flesh. 



The wild boars of Africa have a broader snout than 

 their European brethren, and possess two protuberances 

 under the eyes, which prevent them from seeing any- 

 thing underneath them. They live in subterranean holes ; 

 and one which had been for some time kept in confine- 

 ment, was accidentally left loose in a small court near 

 his cage, upon which he tore up the pavement, and had 

 already made a deep pit when his keeper returned. 



