72 COLLECTOR'S KAMBLES 



Wild pigs were very numerous, and rooted so much, 

 that they seriously damaged the pasturing. Men are 

 regularly employed to keep the numbers within bounds. 

 They hunt them with immense dogs, that, on finding a 

 pig, seize him by the ear in such a manner that he can- 

 not tear them with his savage tusks. The squealing 

 of the infuriated pig brings to the spot the hunter, 

 armed with a heavy spear having a cross-bar above the 

 blade to keep the pig at a respectable distance. This 

 he plunges through the tough hide of the bristling 

 beast, soon despatching him. Then he cuts off the tail 



THE SPEAR. 



or the snout, or both, and leaves the carcass to decay. 

 Sometimes the owner of a sheep-run pays for the tails, 

 and perhaps the owner of the next run pays the same 

 price for the snouts. Accordingly, the hunters exchange 

 and make double pay for every pig killed. Again, they 

 cut off the tails of the sow pigs, and let them go, so that 

 the business may not fall off by the extinction of the 

 animals. When both these methods fail they resort to 

 the trick of manufacturing the tails and snouts out of 

 raw hide, some being so ingeniously made as almost 

 to defy detection. 



On one occasion, Shelley and I went to hunt birds 

 up a ravine. The walls on each side were steep and 



