THE HOG. 421 



stantly collects them from all parts. In certain villages there 

 is a common swineherd : in the morning, when he sounds his 

 horn, all the pigs rush forth and follow him to the place of 

 feeding ; in the evening they return under his guidance, and 

 when they enter the village each runs to his own sty without 

 mistake. In some of the Southern United States, it is usual 

 to turn the pigs into the woods, but to collect them together 

 once a-week, by giving them salt and maize, or other 

 favourite food. At the very hour they are to receive their 

 weekly present, they reassemble from all parts, without a 

 straggler. They have the sagacity always to discover the 

 food that suits them, never being, like some other animals 

 whose senses are blunted by domestication, poisoned by the 

 plants they find in the wild state. Their exquisite senses of 

 smell and touch direct them to earth-nuts and other roots, 

 acorns, and the like, which are found buried in the ground. 

 They are conscious of an impending storm, and carry straw, 

 as if to shelter themselves from its violence. They are agi- 

 tated when the wind blows violently, screaming and running 

 to the sty for shelter, which has given rise to this singular 

 saying of the country people, that " pigs see the wind/' The 

 explanation is, that the Hog dreads wetness and cold, and 

 is eminently sensitive to coming changes of the weather. 



The Hog is an animal of vast importance, as affording the 

 means of subsistence to the inhabitants of different countries. 

 The quantity of food of this kind consumed in our own country 

 is exceedingly great. The animals being reared at home for 

 domestic use, the number brought to market, large as it is, 

 does not give an idea of the prodigious quantity of pork pro- 

 duced and consumed. It is almost the only animal food which 

 the peasants of many parts of the country ever touch ; and, 

 happily, the animal can be reared on the small scale as well 

 as on the large, by the peasant at his cabin, as well as by the 

 opulent farmer. His food, too, is what others reject, and 

 which would be wasted were it not consumed by him. But 

 the importance of the Hog as a mean of human subsistence. 



