PIG-HUNTING. 159 



Wild pigs occurred iii most, if not all, ot" the islands which \ve 

 visited. I was frequently warned by the natives, when undertaking 

 a solitary excursion, to look out for the boars, who attain a ferocity 

 wliich, on account of their powerful curved tusks, it would be 

 dangerous to i>iovoke unarmed. On more than one occasion when 

 alone, I came unexpectedly in the bush on one of these boai's, who 

 are in api)earance by no means despicable antagonists. When they 

 stand their ground, it is necessary to be prepared for their onset ; 

 but as a rule they only indicate their presence by the noise which 

 they make when scampering away. In the islands of Bougainville 

 Straits, where theie are numerous plantations of sago palms, the 

 wild pigs are veiy fond of the fruit of this palm before the albumen 

 of the seed attains its stony hardness. They often select as their 

 retreats the hollow trunks of the palms which have been felled and 

 emptied of the sago. Their habit of frequenting the plantations of 

 sago palms, and of feasting on the remains of the palms that have 

 been lately cut down and the pith removed, was observed by Captain 

 Thomas Foirest in the island of Gilolo, in the Indian Archipelago.^ 

 On the approach of any special occasion of feasting, ]:)ig-hunting be- 

 comes a necessary sport with the natives ; but in addition, they 

 frequently take to it for the sake of replenishing their larders. 

 With his spear and a couple of dogs, a man is usually successful in 

 getting his pig. The dogs bring the animal to bay, when he is 

 speared by the hunter, who, if alone, at once sets to work to quartei" 

 and roast his quarry, and thus considerably lightens the weight 

 he has to carry back. During my excursions, my natives used 

 to frequently leave me when their dogs had roused a pig in the 

 bush ; and on one occasion, when, much to my indignation, they 

 had been absent for an hour, thej'- came back triumphantl}^ with two 

 large boars. Captain Forrest, in his account of his voyage to New 

 Guinea, gives an illustration of " Papua men in their canoes hunting 

 wild hogs" ^ off the island of Morty, near the large island of Gilolo. 

 These men are represented with the spear, bow, and arrow, and a 

 dog. Such a method of hunting pigs never came under my notice 

 in the Solomon Islands and must necessarily be rarely employed. 



Wild do^s are numerous in the bush in the interior of Alu. 

 They never attack the natives or the pigs and, as they alwa3^s slink 

 away when alarmed, they are not often seen. They subsist on the 



1 "A Voyage to New Guinea ami the Moluccas." London, 1779 (p. 3!)). 

 - Ibid., I'late XI. of book of pates. 



