NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTH AFRICA 



as effectually as a man might have done with a 

 knife. 



These pigs are very tenacious of life. 



The flesh is coarse and lean, but when food is 

 abundant during the rainy season, it considerably 

 improves in quality. 



The natives hunt the Bush Pig with a number of 

 dogs. Each native is armed with a stabbing assegai ; 

 and should a boar charge, the native leaps nimbly 

 aside and drives the long blade of his spear deep 

 into the animal between the shoulders. It requires 

 considerable skill and expertness to escape the 

 terrific upward sweep of the boar's tusks, and at 

 the same instant deliver a fatal stab. The usual 

 way with Europeans is to get natives with dogs to 

 drive the pigs out of their dense cover, and shoot 

 them when they show themselves in the open 

 spaces. Owing to the tangled, thorny bush and 

 broken ground of their habitat, it is impossible to 

 successfully hunt them on horseback. 



An adult boar stands about 2 J feet at the shoulder, 

 and a sow 2 feet. The weight of a boar averages 

 from 150 to 170 Ibs. Occasionally exceptionally 

 large boars are met with. Kirby shot one which 

 weighed 235 Ibs., measured 5 feet 3 inches in 

 total length, and stood 2 feet 10 inches at the 

 shoulder. 



The body of the Bush Pig is covered with rather 

 long, coarse hair which is fairly thick, and varies in 

 colour from blackish-brown to brownish-red, and 

 170 



