66 THE HOG. 



very common to see a plough at work at the very edge ( f the canes 

 where the villagers are beating for hogs ; and as the bullocks em- 

 ployed are extremely skittish and wild, it often happens that they 

 take fright and run oft* with the plough, .which frequently is broken 

 to pieces. The ploughman, alarmed equally with his cattle, also 

 takes to flight, as do all the peasants who may see the bristling ani- 

 mal galloping from his haunt." 



Mr. Johnson describes another scene eminently charisteristic of 

 the desperate fierceness and strength of the wild hog. He was one 

 of a party of eight persons, on a sporting excursion near Patna on 

 the banks of the Soane. Eeturning one morning from shooting, 

 they met with a very large boar, which they did not fire at or mo- 

 lest, as, although several of the party were fond of hunting, they 

 had no spears with them. The next morning they all sallied forth 

 in search of him, and just as they had arrived at the spot where 

 they had seen him the day before, they discovered him at some dis- 

 tance galloping off towards a grass jungle on the banks of the river. 

 They pressed their horses as fast as possible, and were nearly up 

 with him when he disappeared all at once. 



The horses were then nearly at their full speed, and four of them 

 could not be pulled up in time to prevent their going into a deep 

 branch of the river, the banks of which were at least fourteen or 

 fifteen feet high. Happily, there was no water in, or any thing but 

 fine sand, and no person was hurt. One of the horses, that was ex- 

 ceedingly vicious, got loose, attacked the others, and obliged them 

 and all the rest, to recede. 



A few days afterwards they went again, early in the morning, in 

 pursuit of the same hog, and found him farther off from the grass 

 jungle, in a rhur-field, from which with much difficulty they drove 

 him into a plain, where he stood at bay challenging the whole party, 

 and boldly charging every horse that came within fifty yards of him, 

 grunting loudly as he advanced. 



" The horse I rode," says Mr Johnston, " would not go near him, 

 and when I was at considerable distance off, he charged another 

 horse with such ferocity that mine reared and plunged in so violent 

 a manner as to throw me off. Two or three others were dismounted 

 at nearly the same time ; and though there were many horses pre- 

 sent that had been long accustomed to the sport, not one of them 

 would stand his charges. He fairly drove the whole party off the 

 field, and gently trotted on to the grass jungle, foaming and grind- 

 ing his tusks." 



In Morocco the wild boar is the most common and prolific of 

 all the ferocious animals found there ; the sow produces several 

 large litters in the year ; and were it not that the young form the 

 favorite food of the lion, the country would be overrun with these 

 animals. 



