62 THE HOG. 



France, too, formerly had its trackless forests, through which the 

 grisly boar roved in savage grandeur its boar hunts its legends 

 of sanguinary combats with these monsters. The " wild boar of 

 Ardennes" has been the theme of many a lay and romance. But 

 civilization, the increase of population, and the progress of agricul- 

 ture, have here, too, been at work. Still, however, in the large tracts 

 of forest land which yet exist and supply the towns with fuel, boars 

 are still occasionally to be met with, although they cannot be re- 

 garded as so wild or ferocious as the ancient breed. At Chantilly, 

 within forty miles of Paris, the late Prince of Conde, who died in 

 1830, kept a pack of hounds expressly for the purpose of hunting 

 the boar ; and some English gentlemen who visited the hunting 

 palace in the summer of 1830, were informed by the huntsman that 

 a few days previously he had seen no less than fourteen wild hogs 

 at one time. But the good old "wild boar hunt," as tfnce existed, 

 with all its perils and excitements, is now extinct in France as well 

 as in Germany. Where any traces of it remain, they resolve them- 

 selves into a battue of a most harmless description, which takes 

 place in the parks of the princes or nobles. The drivers beat up 

 the woods, the wild swine run until they come in contact with a 

 fence stretched across the park for the purpose, and about the centre 

 of which, at an opening in the wood, a sort of stage is raised, on 

 which the sportsmen stand and fire at the swine as they run past. 



Germany being a country boasting forests of immense extent, 

 was once the most celebrated of all nations for its wild boars and 

 boar-hunts ; and in many parts wild hogs are still abundant, and 

 various methods are adopted to destroy them, as well for amuse- 

 ment as to turn their carcasses to account, which furnish those finely- 

 flavored hams called Westphalian. 



The most simple and effectual way is to find out the haunts of the 

 boar, and place a matchlock on rests, well charged, and concealed by 

 brambles near it. A rope is attached to the trigger, and carried 

 below the rests to the trunk of a tree at some little distance, so as 

 to intersect the animal's path to the forest. Over this the hog 

 inevitably stumbles, and thus discharges the piece, and receives the 

 ball in the neck or shoulder. 



The ordinary method of shooting the hog in Germany is as fol- 

 lows : 



The huntsman, ovj'dger, goes out with an ugly but useful animal, 

 not unlike a shepherd's dog, but smaller, which is in German lan- 

 guage called " a sow-finder." The business of this creature is to 

 seek the hog, and so well trained is he that no other animal will turn 

 him from that particular scent. On meeting with the object of his 

 search he gives tongue incessantly, and with active but cautious irri- 

 tation pursues the boar till he is at bay ; then, by continual teasing, 

 he manages to turn him sideways to his master, the shoulder afford- 



