08 THE LION KILLER. 



The danger of that night did not deter us from trying it 

 again, and many was the night we spent in the fields with 

 much pleasanter results than dozing in the barracks. 



In order to give an idea of the quantity of wild boars that 

 at this time were to be found in the district of Guelma, I will 

 mention that every day the Arabs brought many to the 

 market, where they were sold for the moderate sum of five or 

 six francs, and that I alone for my share, killed sixty in less 

 than six months. Before the French took possession of the 

 country, the Arabs, who are forbidden by the Koran to taste 

 the flesh of the wild boar, killed them in order to protect their 

 crops, but now they are killed for sale in the markets. Some 

 native chiefs still continue to hunt them for pleasure, either 

 by beating the woods or with dogs, and these hunts are the 

 scene of brave feats of agility and daring as horsemen and 

 hunters. 



In France the wild hog never ventures from his lair until 

 nightfall, and seldom dares leave the wood until very late. 

 It is not the same in Algeria, where almost every day, when 

 I was in the mountains, I saw either old boars entirely alone, 

 or in large companies, leave their strongholds at sunset, in 

 order to wallow in a stream so near my tent I could sit and 

 watch their gambols. 



In winter, they do not seek the water so dften, but feed in 

 newly sown fields, or on the site of an old douar, which they 

 completely root up in order to seek the wheat that has fallen 

 from the Arabs' trenches. 



The reader can readily understand how easy it is to kill 

 boars, after having once learned their habits. The native 



