80 THE HOG. 



CHAPTER III. 



The early history of' SwineLegendary and authentic records respecting the keeping of then 

 in England Ancient Welsh laws relative to Swine The forests of England Swineherds 

 Their mode of managing their herds Calabrian Swineherds Horn used to assemble the 

 grunting troop The Schwein-General Herds of Swine kept in France Value of Pigs 

 Some vindication of them Anecdote proving their teachability Sagacity of a Pig 

 Some demonstration of Memory in one Attachment to individuals Swkie not innately 

 Gl'.hy animals They are possessed of more docility than they usually have credit for Their 

 exquisite sense of smell Pigs said to foretell rain a.nd wind. 



IN Greece and the neighboring islands, swine were common at an 

 early period, and were kept in large droves by swineherds ; for we 

 read in Homer's Odyssey, which is supposed to have been written 

 upwards of 900 years B. c., that Ulysses, on his return from the 

 Trojan war, first sought the dwelling of Eumeeus, his faithful ser- 

 vant, and the keeper of his swine : and that office must then have 

 been held in high esteem, or it would not have been performed by 

 that wise and good old man. 



The rude tables of the ancient Britons were chiefly supplied from 

 their herds of swine, and the flesh of these animals furnished them 

 with a great variety of dishes. (Cassar, book i. chap 1.) 



Sharon Turner, in his History of the Anglo-Saxons, while enu- 

 merating their live stock, states they had " great abundance of 

 swine ;" and adds, that although horned cattle are occasionally men- 

 tioned in grants, wills, and exchange of property, swine are most 

 frequently spoken of. The country then abounded with woods and 

 forests, and these are seldom particularized without some mention 

 being made of the swine fed in them. These animals appear in fact 

 to have constituted a considerable item in the wealth of an indi- 

 vidual, for legacies of them often occur in wills. Thus Alfred, a 

 nobleman, bequeathed to his relatives a hide of land with one hun- 

 dred swine, and directs that another hundred shall be given for 

 masses for the benefit of his soul ; and to his daughters he leaves two 

 thousand. So Elf helm left land to St. Peter's at Westminster, on 

 the express condition that they should feed a herd of two hundred 

 swine for the use of his wife. 



In the original Doomsday-Book for Hampshire, where an estimate 

 of the value of the lands and forests belonging to the king, the mo- 

 nasteries, the hundreds, and other divisions is given, the number of 

 hogs which can be fed on each separate portion is invariably spe- 

 cified. 



In the oldest of the Welsh Triads, (which treat of the events of 

 Britain in general,) we find evidence of the early domestication 

 of swine, for one of these contains a recital of the actions of three 

 powerful swineherds in the Isle of Britain, " over whom it was not 

 possible to prevail or gain," and who restore i the swine to their 



