SIZE AND COLOUR OF WILD HOGS. 53 



the horse or rider. Briefly, in this sport it is the duty of 

 the hunter to see that all his horse-gear, straps, girths, and 

 buckles, as well as his weapons, are thoroughly sound, more 

 particularly when hunting alone. 



I am inclined to believe that in this Presidency there are 

 two varieties of wild hog, and a third in the hills, having 

 remarked certain points in which the two of the plains are 

 dissimilar, and both these unlike those of the highlands. For 

 instance, the boars of Noakholly, Pubna, Tipperah and the 

 " churs " of the Megna and the Brahmaputra are taller, fleeter, 

 and more savage in appearance than those of the Western 

 districts ; their skulls also are larger in proportion to their 

 bulk, and foreheads more rounded. I think their tusks, too, 

 are longer and stronger ; both these varieties are proportion- 

 ately higher than that of the hills and deep woods, and are 

 more fearless of man. 



I have read and heard of boars which stood forty inches 

 high at the shoulders, but have never measured any myself 

 which exceeded thirty-eight fairly measured between two 

 spears held upright at the crest and heel ; and I can speak 

 from considerable experience, having accounted for more than 

 nine hundred, single-handed or in company, besides those shot 

 when riding was impracticable. It may be that others said to 

 be higher have been measured in a different way, possibly from 

 crest to toe, which might account for the two inches of differ- 

 ence. As a general rule, a boar standing thirty -four to thirty- 

 six inches from crest to heel is a very large one ; and those 

 which give the finest runs and the hardest fights are an inch or 

 two less, as lighter, more active, and possessing sharper though 

 more slender tusks. The pigs in the Tumlook country ran 

 rather low, thirty-six inches being the maximum recorded in my 

 notes, while the majority of the largest were even smaller ; they 

 were a short-legged race, very heavily built, but at the same 

 time carried smaller heads with flatter foreheads than those 

 of Eastern Bengal, and being thus formed did not, of course, 

 afford as long runs as the others ; they were equally coura- 

 geous in combat, but not so fierce and savage in their anger. 



