2 1 6 Incidents of Foreign Field Sport. 



mile or more to the chur, and I let Master " Elgin " 

 go. Galloping through a patch of long grass " Elgin " 

 went heels over head ; I was sent spinning and I 

 heard no end of grunting and squealing. The pony 

 had struck his fore feet against a sow in her lair 

 surrounded by her young, and had come a cropper ; 

 no harm was done. I was up again, but W. had no 

 end of a start. I was glad to see the sounder had 

 taken a turn to the right ; so by cutting across I might 

 almost head them. Wild pig sows in particular- 

 form a sort of covered-in nest ; they bite the grass all 

 round, pile it up, and then crawl under, and by lifting 

 it up in the centre, they have a fair roof overhead ; 

 in this they litter and remain during the heat of 

 the day. It was over one of these that I had come to 

 grief. I got up to the sounder ; there was only one 

 boar, and W. was too close to him to enable me to 

 cut in ; although his mare was somewhat blown, whilst 

 " Elgin," notwithstanding his tumble, was very fresh. 

 There is no certainty in hog-hunting; hog when 

 pressed often " jink," and I hoped this one would too, 

 and in my favour, so I kept about ten paces to the 

 right, " Elgin" holding his own in speed. W. crept 

 up, lifted his arm to drop the spear down, when over 

 he went. A creeper had caught his mare across the 

 legs and the two went a " buster " ; but no time was to 

 be lost. A sloping bank leading down to a navigable 

 part of the river was close at hand, and however 

 much domestic pigs may object to swimming, wild 

 ones are adepts at it, and take to water freely. The 

 best place to take a pig with a jobbing spear is the 

 centre of the withers, but I could not get alongside 

 to deliver that stroke. We were descending the bank, 



