24 MODERN PIG-STICKING 



a pig differs in various places ; 27 or 28 inches is the 

 usual standard. 



Some people prefer a weight to height standard. 

 In such cases, 120 lbs. is a fair limit. Although on 

 first sight this seems fairer, it is in my opinion not 

 so in reality. It is much harder to estimate weight 

 than height when riding a pig; also, pig vary 

 enormously in weight in hot and cold weather. I 

 have seen an over-fed little brute of 27 inches, hardly 

 worth killing, weighing 150 lbs. in the cold weather. 

 On the contrary, one sometimes sees a little, wizened, 

 old pig, fierce and crusty with large tushes, blue in 

 colour, or with ginger whiskers, a " tatyra," who 

 would hardly measure 28 inches, but who exceeds 

 by a long way the 120 lbs. Such pig always fight 

 well, and are fair game. On the whole, I think a 

 28-inch standard is fairest. 



There is only one way now of measuring pig that 

 I know. A straight line, not over the curves, is 

 taken between perpendiculars from the wither to 

 where the hair joins the heel at the foot : both fore- 

 legs should be held level while this is done. All 

 Tent Clubs have a fine for killing a sow or an animal 

 under size. A pig, strung by his four legs on a pole, 

 is apt to stretch and measure more when he reaches 

 camp than when killed. So depraved is human 

 nature that I have even known some hardened 

 sinner bribe the coolies to carry the pig home by a 

 route some miles longer than necessary. 



Tushes, — A good pair of tushes averages about 

 8 inches in length. Anything over 9 inches is good. 

 My own collection runs in all sizes from 12 J inches 

 down. This biggest tush is a single one three- 

 quarters of a circle in shape, the upper tush having 



