388 HAITI. 



the central one of which was a well-tusked Boar ; 

 the other two being Sows. The peon and the 

 friend with me were safe on some ascending ledges 

 of limestone. I was on the edge of the cliffy path- 

 way. In a moment the Boar, champing his mouth 

 with rage, and rising to make one rush upon me, 

 took some three steps in advance of his mates*; 

 when, at the same instant, the two large blood-hounds 

 we had with us, both together leaping in over some 

 low bushes beside me, and the terrier in company 

 smuicing it under the brushwood, with his short 

 yap of a bark, stood between me and the assault of 

 the excited Boar. It was all the work of a mere frac- 

 tion of a minute. The Boar stopped short from his 

 attack to defend his mates from the dogs, who now 

 were covering me. They had run round the Boar 

 and turned him, cutting him off from his two mates. 

 It was immediately a chase, for the Sows scudded 

 off, and the Boar followed ; and quick as magic, I 

 found myself in the midst of peril, and delivered 

 from the onslaught of an irritated Boar in the forest. 

 How intensely did my heart beat ! for the danger, I 

 was assured, was imminent. Many a time I have 

 remembered the occurrence, and wondered at my 

 deliverance. 



" The original Hog of the Canary Isles, the parent 

 of our wild animal, is said by Eyton to have the 

 specific peculiarity of fewer dorsal vertebrae than the 

 typical species. 



" Though our woodland breed never attain a 



* 6 S' aVTlOQ tK ^v\6\oio 



<^pi^ag tv Xoipnp', irvp d' ocpdaXfidlai SeSopKujg, 



Srj") p av-dv (Tx^Sdetv. Odyss. xix. 520. 



