SEARCHING FOR HOGS. 247 



ground so hard that they cannot easily turn it up 

 to search for roots and insects. Should there be 

 any swamp near the canes, you may be almost 

 certain of finding hogs in them, and marks of 

 their grooting* and feet may be seen in the moist 

 ground, which, by the size and depth of the im- 

 pressions, will enable you to judge if there are any 

 large boars among them. It is prudent to recon- 

 noitre the country the day before hunting, for this 

 purpose, to examine the canes, which are gene- 

 rally surrounded with a frithwork of thorns ; if 

 hogs frequent them, it will be discovered by the 

 manner those fences are broken down. Although 

 this is the usual method of ascertaining if there are 

 any hogs in the canes, it is not always to be 

 depended on ; the fences are sometimes nearly all 

 destroyed by hogs, and marks of their feet and 

 grooting are visible in eveiy moist place, yet a 

 hog is not to be found in them. In this case, 

 they feed on these canes at night, and go to some 

 other cover where they think themselves more 



* Grooting is a term used by hog-hunters for the places 

 where they have been muzzling the earth in search of insects 

 and roots. Whether it is a corruption of grubbing, or 

 griting, I know not. In Devonshire the word groot is used 

 by all farmers and peasants for dry earth. 



