THE WILD BOAR. 105 



with much difficulty, we drove him into a plain, where he 

 stood at bay, challenging the whole party, boldly charging 

 every horse that came within fifty yards of him, grunting 

 loudly as he advanced. I was then a novice in the sport, 

 but I have never since seen any hog charge so fiercely. 

 The horse I rode would not go near him, and when I was 

 at a considerable distance off, he charged another horse 

 with such ferocity, that mine reared and plunged in such 

 a violent manner as to throw me off: two or three others 

 were dismounted nearly at the same time, and although 

 there were many horses present that had been long accus- 

 tomed to the sport, not one of them would stand his charge. 

 He fairly drove the whole party off the field, and gently 

 trotted on to the grass jungle, (foaming and grinding his 

 tusks,) through which it was impossible to follow or drive 

 him. 



" The largest boar I have ever seen killed was extreme- 

 ly old and thin ; he measured in height to the top of the 

 shoulder, forty-three inches, and his tusks were ten inches 

 long. He was fierce, but showed little spori, owing to his 

 taking shelter in a thick rhur-field, from which we could 



o 



not drive him. Two very large greyhounds were slipped 

 to him ; one of them he instantly killed, and the other he 

 severely wounded. A random spear, thrown by a gentle- 

 man who did not see him distinctly at the time, struck 

 him in the head, and he fell dead without receiving any 

 ther wound." 



In England, there has been no boar-hunting for some 

 ages. In France, however, where there are large tracts of 

 forest which supply fuel to the towns, boars are not un- 

 common, although their ferocity is much diminished. Boar- 

 hunting is still practised in some parts of Germany, but in 

 a fashion which at once deprives the sport of its only re- 

 deeming quality its adventurous character, and makes it 

 more cruel and sanguinary than ever. The animals who 

 are to be destroyed are first enclosed in a sort of pen, from 



