408 THE HO(J. 



grass jungle in a rhur field, from which with much difficulty 

 they drove him into a plain, where he stood at bay, challeng- 

 ing the whole party, boldly charging every horse that came 

 within fifty yards of him, grunting loudly as he advanced. 

 " The horse I rode," says Mr Johnston, " would not go near 

 him, and when I was at a considerable distance off, he charged 

 another horse with such ferocity, that mine reared and plunged 

 in such a violent manner as to throw me off: two or three 

 others were dismounted nearly at the same time ; and al- 

 though there were many horses present that had been long 

 accustomed to the sport, not one of them would stand his 

 charges ; he fairly drove the whole party off the field, and 

 gently trotted on to the grass jungle (foaming and grinding 

 his tusks), through which it was impossible to follow or drive 

 him." * 



These anecdotes of the habits, the courage, and strength, 

 of this wild and solitary creature, are interesting as facts of 

 natural history, and likewise physiologically, as shewing the 

 vast change which domestication produces on his character : 

 and not more remarkable is the difference in the conditions 

 of liberty and subjection in the case of this animal, than the 

 readiness with which he yields up his natural instincts, and 

 resigns himself to bondage. If the wild pigs be taken young 

 from their mothers in the woods, they become nearly as do- 

 cile as the domesticated races, and in a single generation all 

 the fierceness which distinguished the parents is lost. Their 

 very form becomes changed, and those characters which fit 

 them for a state of liberty disappear, as if in obedience to 

 some natural law. 



When the Wild Hog is subjected to domestication, these 

 changes, amongst others, take place : The ears, not being 

 required to collect distant sounds, become less moveable : 

 the formidable tusks of the male, no longer needed for self- 

 defence, diminish : the muscles of the neck, not being exer- 



* Johnston's Indian Field-Sport?, 



