HOG-HUNTING. 69 



a man who knows the country ca,n generally be 

 near the pack, and see a lot of sport and hound 

 work, often as much as those who consider it a 

 point of honour to go into every field with them. 

 In hog-hunting, however, many a good rider 

 makes but a c poor tew of it ' at the end with a 

 fine fighting boar ! Something more is required 

 than being able to get well and quickly over a 

 country. A man may if well mounted get up to 

 a pig quickly enough, but when he has done this 

 he must know how to tackle him and have the 

 requisite coolness and nerve to do it and do it 

 efficiently; for remember, a savage boar, deter- 

 mined to sell his life dearly, and utterly reckless 

 of that life, is no mean antagonist. A -wild 

 hog,* heavy and lumbering as he looks, can go a 

 most astonishing pace for a short distance, and 

 must be rattled along and blown from the begin- 

 ning. As long as the ground is good and favour- 

 able, most men can do this, but when it is beset 

 with nullahs, stones, stubs, and holes, all conceal- 

 ed by long grass, then the man with nerve and 

 j udgment scores ! Say a dozen men start in 

 pursuit of a hog. After a short distance over 

 rough ground the field becomes select, and is 

 probably limited to three or four riders, and with 

 them virtually rests the race for the honour of 



* Sus Indica. 



