64 THE HOG. 



were in the habit of presenting roasted pigs at the morais, as the 

 most sa rory and acceptable offering to their deities which they could 

 bestow. 



ASIA. 



Throughout the greater part of Asia, swine are to be found. The 

 extensive and magnificent forests which cover much of the Birmese 

 Empire, Siam, Cochin China, and other kingdoms of the south-east, 

 abound with hogs, as well as other pachydermatous animals. 



Here are found the celebrated Siamese or Chinese breed, so much 

 esteemed throughout all parts of the world to which they have been 

 exported : distinguished for their small size, fine head and snout, 

 compact deep carcass, large hams and shoulders, short limbs, delicate 

 feet, fine hair and skin, aptitude to fatten and grow, and the sweet, 

 delicate meat they yield. 



CHINA AND JAPAN. 



The Chinese and Japanese are great pig-breeders, and make the 

 art of crossing, breeding, and rearing swine, which furnishes them 

 with their principal animal food, an object of peculiar attention and 

 study. Merchants who have resided for some time in China, and 

 even travellers who have merely been able to bestow a superficial 

 glance on matters, speak of the great care bestowed on this point ; 

 but no author appears to have given any details as to the course of 

 practice adopted. Perhaps from the naturally jealous and uncom 

 municative disposition of the Chinese, they have been unable tc 

 acquire any ; and, perhaps, few have thought it worth while to trou- 

 ble themselves about so degraded an animal as the hog. Howevei 

 this may be, it is much to be regretted that the information is so 

 very scanty, for many valuable hints might probably have been thus 

 obtained. 



Tradescent Lay, the naturalist in Beechy's expedition, in his inte- 

 resting work on China, thus amusingly speaks of the natives and 

 their swine : " There is a striking analogy between these two, A 

 Chinese admires a round face and the smooth curvatures of a f.un- 

 belly, and where opportunity serves, cultivates these additions to 

 personal beauty in himself. The Chinese pig is fashioned on the 

 same model. At an early period the back becomes convex, the 

 belly protuberant, and the visage shows a remarkable disposition to 

 rotundity. Nor is the resemblance merely personal; in the moral 

 character there is an amusing similitude, contrariety and obstinacy 

 being the prevailing characteristics of both men and brutes." 



The same author informs us that swine arc rarely driven or made 

 to walk in China, but convoyed from place, to place in a species of 



