56 THE WILD BOAR. 



invasions of the wolf ; and upon this combination of 

 numbers their safety depends. In those countries where 

 this animal abounds, the hunting it constitutes the 

 chief amusement of the great ; and the dogs provided 

 for this sport, should always be of a slow and heavy 

 kind. When the boar is reared, (which is the expres-. 

 sion used for driving him from his covert,) he goes 

 forward at a very deliberate pace ; at every half-mile 

 stops and faces his foes, and seems to invite them to 

 commence the attack. The wary animals, sensible of 

 his ferocity, draw back till the boar begins to be fa- 

 tigued ; they then close in upon him from behind, but 

 the first assailants generally pay the forfeiture of their 

 lives; the hunters, however, soon come up, and the 

 creature falls a victim to their darts, or spears. 



THE HOG. 



This animal, in its natural state, chiefly exists upon 

 vegetables and roots, seldom attacks any other quad- 

 ruped, but is contented with those provisions it can 

 most easily obtain. Yet if it happens to meet with 

 a dead animal, with its flesh reduced to the most 

 putrid state, it will immediately begin feasting upon 

 the carcase, and not leave it until satiated with the 

 quantity of its food. The awkwardness of its form 

 seems to influence its appetites, and all its sensations 

 appear to degrade its kind. Yet we must consider, 

 when this animal is domesticated, it no longer shows, 

 itself in a natural state ; for, possessed of an appetite 

 eternally craving, it may be compelled to feed disgust- 

 ingly, from wanting sufficient food. Linnaeus assures 

 us, that, in a state of nature, the hog is peculiarly nice 

 in its food, and rejects a greater variety of vegetables 

 than any animal we can name. Jn the orchards of 



