CHAPTER XXV. 



TURNING ABOUT. 



ARDLY more than a hundred yards from the spot where Pongo had stopped to 

 pet his new steed, he came upon a large, branching tree, standing not on the 

 edge of the jungle, but fully a rod out on the grassy plain. He recognized 

 it as one that bore a peculiar fruit, something like the hazel-nut of our own country. 



But it was not the tree which interested the native so much as that which he 

 saw under it. 



One of the largest wild boars on which he had ever gazed was feeding upon the 

 nuts, of which he was very fond. Some of the branches of the tree spread so far as 

 to enter the jungle, and since the animal happened to be browsing beneath this 

 point, he had been invisible until the Bushman ran almost against him. 



There could be no mistaking his identity. He stood as high, almost, as a cow, 

 was long, gaunt and thin, of a dark brown color, and covered with bristles, which 

 seemed to stand erect along the spine. 



The most noticeable feature of those animals is their immense tusks, which r 

 curving outward from the lower jaw, reach a length of eight or ten inches. Backed 

 by the prodigious strength of the brute, they are like a couple of Damascus blades 

 in the hands of a master swordsman. 



The boar is hunted in the forests of Germany and the jungles of India and 

 South Africa. The favorite weapon is a spear, and the sport should always be con- 

 ducted on horseback. The hunter of Bengal uses a weapon less than seven feet 

 long, the shaft being of bamboo, weighted with lead at the upper end and with a 

 broad, strong blade. It is held firmly, with the point projecting beyond the stirrup- 

 iron, so that when the boar charges, he runs on the spear. In Bombay and Hydera- 

 bad, the spear is longer and lighter and is carried underhand. The animals are hard 

 to kill, and, even when wounded, they often escape the most experienced sportsmen. 



The wild boar is afraid of no living creature. He has been seen to refuse to 

 give the path to the lion or tiger, both of which beasts are generally wise enough to 

 turn out and let him go by unmolested. With those frightful tusks he can dis- 

 embowel a panther or bear as easily as you can cut apart a piece of cheese. I have 

 known one of them to drive his tusk through the middle of a sapling, splitting it 

 into kindling wood. 



A curious fact regarding the wild hogs is that when they are young they are 

 beautifully striped. These markings entirely disappear as they grow older. 



The bosch vark, or bush hog, belongs to Southern Africa, and is a formidable 

 animal, resembling the wild boar in many respects, but with several points of dif- 

 ference as you can observe from the illustration. 



