WILD BOARS. 399 



Each Dyak hunter carries a stout Nibong spear, with a 

 well-sharpened iron head, and when the eager dogs have 

 sniffed the game, and pressed into the tangled jungle, 

 fierce in the ardour of pursuit, the Dyak follows up the 

 chase, and bursts impetuously through the brushwood. 

 Meantime, the dogs have surrounded the frightened boar, 

 and while they are worrying and keeping him at bay, 

 the keen-edged spear of the hunter penetrates his side, 

 and an end is put to the moonlight foragings of the boar 

 for ever. In this manner six or seven pigs were dis- 

 patched in the course of the day. 



The Boar of Borneo (Sus barbatus) has, when full- 

 grown, rather a formidable appearance. It is furnished 

 with enormous whiskers, a huge tuft upon the nose, and 

 a shaggy main ; and it has a fierce, red eye, and a singu- 

 larly elongated head and muzzle. It runs with great 

 rapidity, is very wild and wary, and is chiefly nocturnal 

 in its habits. It appears to be very partial to crustaceous 

 animals, which it finds on the muddy banks of the rivers 

 after the fall of the tide ; and is frequently seen at dusk, 

 wandering in large numbers along the flat sandy coasts, 

 evidently bent upon the exciting errand of searching for 

 these delicacies. Some are perfectly grey in the colour 

 of their skins, and a large specimen, captured by one of 

 the crew of our jolly-boat, as he was swimming across 

 the mouth of the Morataba river, was entirely of a dirty 

 white colour. This animal, which remained with us 

 some days, stood very high on his legs, and had a re- 

 markably long head. He was secured between two 

 guns on the main deck, but always continued very savage 

 and refractory. As we were leaving the anchorage, he 



