236 THE HOG. 



to be broken off. No sooner had the beast suffered 

 this injury than his powers forsook him, and he 

 neglected those females to whom before he was 

 passionately attached, and from whom no fences 

 could restrain him. 



XXXIII. 



THE natural term of an hog's life is little 

 known, and the reason is plain because it is 

 neither profitable nor convenient to keep that 

 turbulent animal to the full extent of its time ; 

 however, my neighbour, a man of substance, who 

 had no occasion to study every little advantage to 

 a nicety, kept an half-bred Bantam sow, who was 

 as thick as she was long, and whose belly swept 

 on the ground, till she was advanced to her seven- 

 teenth year ; at which period she showed some 

 tokens of age by the decay of her teeth and the 

 decline of her fertility. 



For about ten years this prolific mother pro- 

 duced two litters in the year, of about ten at a 

 time, and once above twenty at a litter ; but as 

 there were near double the number of pigs to 

 that of teats, many died. From long experience 

 in the world this female was grown very sagacious 

 and artful. When she found occasion to converse 

 with a boar, she used to open all the intervening 

 gates, and march, by herself, up to a distant farm 

 where one was kept, and when her purpose was 

 served, would return by the same means. At 

 the age of about fifteen her litters began to be 

 reduced to four or five ; and such a litter she 

 exhibited when in her fatting-pen. She proved, 

 when fat, good bacon, juicy, and tender ; the 

 rind, or sward, was remarkably thin. At a mode- 



