1 96 The Gardens of the Sun. [ch. x. 



jungle below, a regular chorus of men and dogs, told us 

 that the bristly boar had at last been driven into the 

 open grass to run for his life. Everybody, Sultan and all, 

 scrambled to their ponies and away we all went, a gay 

 cavalcade truly, down the hill-side. Presently the pig 

 came in sight, followed by one or two miserable-looking 

 curs and half-a-dozen men and boys on horseback, each 

 armed with the long light-shafted spear. "We now saw of 

 what sterling metal the Sulu ponies are made. On they 

 came with dilated nostrils and widely-spread forefeet, 

 scarcely requiring a touch of the reins to guide them as 

 they avoided a jutting rock here or a half-hidden "snag" 

 there, and all the time turned and wheeled as quickly as 

 the hunted pig itself. No European horse would have 

 kept its legs ten minutes on this uneven ground, paved 

 as it was with immense blocks of volcanic scoria?. These 

 intelligent little beasts seemed actually to understand 

 and enjoy the sport. One young fellow, mounted on a 

 shapely little grey, at length came up alongside the pig. 

 Throwing his hempen bridle on the pony's neck, and 

 deftly handling his long spear, he wounded the boar in 

 the side, at which it turned and rushed at the horse, its 

 long white curved tusks gleaming beside its open jaws. 

 Quick as thought the pony avoided him, and ere the pig 

 could stay its impetuous rush the rider's spear was struck 

 right through its body at a thrust, the gleaming blade 

 having entered the soil to a depth of several inches. It 

 was killed on the spot. The rider unfastened a length of 

 slender manilla rope from his saddle and threw it to a man 

 on foot, who slipped a noose over the body of the pig and 

 afterwards tied the other end of the rope to the horse's 

 tail, and thus it was dragged away to the heap of slain 

 porkers some distance off. Seeing a couple of horsemen 

 galloping in another direction we concluded they had a 



