CHAPTER XVIII 



PIGS 



THE pig is, I suppose, one of the most ubiquitous animals 

 in the world, being found in some form or other in almost 

 every country, and Ceylon is no exception to the rule. 

 The particular species found here is Sus cristatus, the Indian 

 wild boar, and it has been so thoroughly written about and 

 described in books on Indian sport, that its appearance must 

 be fairly familiar to all readers of sporting works. Suffice 

 it to say, it has a short but massive body ; big head, pro- 

 vided with fighting tusks ; is rather long in the leg, and 

 scant of bristles as regards pigs of the plain ; shorter in the 

 leg and much more bristly in the case of the mountain pigs, 

 both being of a dark slaty-grey body colour, and both 

 being more or less maned from neck to shoulders. In 

 weight a big boar will turn the scale at over 200 Ibs., and 

 will stand over 30 inches in height. 



Pigs are found everywhere in Ceylon, at all elevations 

 from sea-level to the tops of the highest hills, in every sort 

 of country, jungle or scrub, inhabited or uninhabited, usually 

 in small herds, but often solitary, especially in the case of 

 the old boars, which never seem to run with the herds. 



They are not strictly nocturnal in their habits, and in 

 wild jungle country may be met with at almost any hour of 

 the day. Near the Moorish villages of Tamankaduwa and 

 the Eastern Province, where the Mohammedan inhabitants 

 never interfere with them, they can be found in great 

 numbers in the swamps and paddy fields. In the plains 



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