DIVISION VI. 



PIGS. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE ORIGIN OF THE DOMESTICATED PIG. 



The hog family is a genus of pachydermatous 

 mammalia, exhibiting strongly-marked dif- 

 ferences, in most of their characteristics, from 

 tlie rest of that very singular class. Like 

 all the ruminating animals, they have cloven 

 feet, or only two fully developed toes; and 

 they are the only pacliydermata which do not 

 entirely confine themselves to vegetable food. 

 The others are exclusively vegetarians, prin- 

 cipally subsisting on strong and harsh vegeta- 

 tion; though most of them would give the 

 preference to a more delicate food, if they 

 could obtain it. Hogs are omnivorous, but 

 chiefly vegetable in their feeding, and they 

 prefer such as are succulent, especially wild 

 fruits and roots ; though, when other food 

 fails, they can subsist upon almost any kind of 

 digestible matter that falls in their way. 



All naturalists admit that the wild hog is 

 the origin of our domestic race ; but at what 

 period it was reclaimed is very uncertain. The 

 circumstances, indeed, connected with the 

 domestication of every animal subject to the 

 bondage of man, are enveloped in obscurity. 

 The domestication, however, of the wild hog 

 would not involve much ditBculty. Young 

 animals, taken in their native forest, soon 

 become reconciled to captivity, and display the 

 same contentment and familiarity which are so 

 conspicuous in tl ^ <irdinary tame beast. It is 

 this disposition — ^ cliaracteristic of the pachj- 

 dcrmata — which renders the elephant, the rhi- 

 noceros, the tapir, and others, so easily subju- 

 gated ; but, on tlie other hand, the readiness 

 with which they submit to the restraints of 

 captivity, is counterbalanced by an equal readi- 

 ness to assume a life of independence. The 

 752 



hog, when left to itself, resumes its original 

 habits — as is the case in America, where wild 

 herds roam the forest ; and, as we are told, 

 the elephant often escapes its trammels, and 

 joins its wild brethren ; but immediately sub- 

 mits, if retaken, to the voice of authority 

 which it had previously learned to obey. The 

 horse, in a wild state, scours the plains of 

 Tartary and South America, and it requires 

 but a brief struggle to break-in the most 



DO 



spirited. It may be laid down as an axiom, 

 that the animals of the services of which man 

 stands most in need, are, each in their way, 

 those whose nature most readily induces them 

 to submit to his dominion — nay, even to court 

 his friendship. Some can be tamed, and only 

 tamed ; others can be educated. 



The skull of the hog affords an index of the 

 habits of the animal, and is of a conical or 

 wedge-like form. The base, or occipital por- 

 tion, forms a right angle with the oblique upper 

 surface, and a bold transverse ridge is formed 

 by the union of the occipital and parietal bones. 

 The nasal bones are prolonged nearly to the 

 end of the snout, which, in the living animal, 

 terminates in a movable cartilaginous disc, 

 pierced by the nostrils. The lower jaw is of 

 great strength. The dentition consists of — iu- 

 6 1—1 . 7—7 



cisors, — ; canines, 



; molars, ;=- 



= 44. 



(i ' ^'' 1—1' — ^^^"' 7—7 



The canines of the upper jaw are prismatic, 

 and curve downwards, having their anterior 

 surface worn by the action of the huge canines 

 of the lower jaw, which are sharp, sweeping 

 out from the sides of the mouth, and often at- 

 taining to the length of eight or ten inches, 

 and sometimes even more. These canines, or 



