CREATURES OF THE WILDERNESS 213 



to seek it in, and hope that this may be the 

 case ; but I shall not pursue it again. I should, 

 in fact, as soon expect to come across the wild 

 elephants that used to walk along the beach 

 near Tangier in the time of Hanno the Car- 

 thagenian. Yet I could not have been far 

 from the haunts of the aoudad, for a native 

 guide pointed to a high peak, near the Castle 

 of Gundafi, from which, he told me, a severe 

 snowstorm had once driven a flock to take 

 refuge in an outhouse, where, half-starved and 

 frozen, they were presently secured by the 

 Raid's men and held captive. In fact, few 

 wild animals are more easily tamed. 



Of wild pigs, the most remarkable in Africa 

 is the wart-hog, which, with its enormous 

 flattened head, warty face, and great tusks in 

 both jaws, is certainly the ugliest pig on earth. 

 Young wart-hogs are less grotesque and more 

 graceful than their parents, yet even they are 

 not beautiful. The wart-hog stands about 

 30 inches at the shoulder, and the tusks would 

 measure, in a large specimen, 25 inches. 



The wart-hog is not as savage as it looks, 

 lacking the pluck of the wild boar, though not 

 hesitating to charge dogs, which stand a poor 

 chance against a double array of tusks. Per- 

 haps the trick which most disconcerts sports- 

 men unused to it is that of bolting out of its 

 burrow head over heels, looking as if it were 



