HOG-HUNTING. 89 



Lionel, supposed to be the best hog-hunter in India, and 

 myself. 



" We started a number of hogs almost immediately, and as 

 the ground was remarkably good, we could follow them to 

 advantage. However, I was astonished at the rapidity with 

 which they ran, considering the shortness of the legs and 

 the awkwardness of their forms, and amused with the art 

 which they displayed in choosing their ground and evading 

 their pursuers. At first they ran at the height of their 

 speed, without almost any attempt at manoeuvring; but 

 when they began to get a little fatigued, they resorted to 

 various expedients to save their strength, and conducted 

 their flight with much cunning and ingenuity. We soon 

 divided into two parties. Colonel Cotton, Captain Keith, 

 and I followed a remarkably large, swift, and ferocious hog, 

 and had nearly exhausted our horses, when he took refuge 

 in the bed of a small river, and began to stand at bay, and 

 to snort and erect his bristles. Captain Keith threw his 

 spear; but it fell short of the animal, which immediately 

 galloped off, though not so fast as before. Colonel Cotton 

 now dashed forwards, and followed him closely up a narrow 

 path, skirted on each side by thick brushwood. The hog, 

 however, turned suddenly round, and charged his pursuer, 

 and I began to entertain serious apprehensions of the safety 

 of his Majesty's aide-de-camp; but he dexterously received 

 the infuriated animal on the point of his spear, which unfor- 

 tunately came into contact with the hog's teeth, and the 

 stroke consequently neither killed nor wounded him, as it 

 doubtless would otherwise have done. Singular to relate, 

 this boar, fatigued as he was, contrived to escape us all, and 

 suddenly disappeared in some jungle, in which he remained, 

 notwithstanding our efforts to force him into the open plain. 



" The chase of the wild hog is a brilliant and animating 

 amusement, which is pursued with enthusiasm by most of the 



