58 REMINISCENCES OF PIG-STICKING. 



one corner of it with their snouts and get inside. Now 

 such homes, barring being, I should say, uncomfortably 

 warm in hot weather, afford plenty of protection against 

 wind, rain, cold and sun. These bansas are inhabited some 

 times by a boar, or a sow, singly, sometimes by a husband 

 and wife, and very often by a mother and her pro- 

 geny. An old boar very seldom takes the trouble to 

 make a bansa, he generally prefers to lie in the open in 

 a small trench a few inches deep which he digs himself. 

 If no grass or any other heavy cover be near, any small 

 tree or bush will do for him to make his bed under, but 

 1 n rainy or boisterous weather an old boar likes to have 

 a cosy home to spend the day in, and will then either 

 make a bansa for himself or take possession of an old 

 one. But retournons a nos moutons, in our present case 

 an old boar, a crusty old bachelor, I should say, was the 

 sole occupant of the bansa, and he must have been fast 

 asleep as it took a lot of stirring to wake him up ; but 

 when he found out who were disturbing him he did not 

 wait long to ask questions, but rushed out of the place 

 and made for the friendly shelter of the village. We all 

 started at his tail and, though a heavy boar, he took us 

 a rattling pace and evidently thought he would save his 

 bacon, but finding that Hills was getting unpleasantly 

 near, he turned sharp round and came straight into him 

 nearly bringing down rider and horse. Old Tommy 

 managed, however, to recover himself, but the spear that 

 Archie gave the pig made him pull up, and the way he 

 whisked his small tail showed he was feeling very sick. 



