246 A MONTH IN THE FORESTS OF FRANCE. - 



Having gained the village, then followed the un- 

 tidy disembowelling, skinning, and cutting up, all 

 performed on a table, while the animal was reeking 

 hot ; and while this was doing we mulled some wine, 

 which, with the aid of a little brandy and sugar, 

 made the ordinary liquid palatable even to an En- 

 glish stomach. Of course I found myself an object 

 of curiosity to the villagers ; and whenever I emerged 

 from the hostelrie with some bread in my hand for 

 my steed, I was attended to the spot where I had 

 tied him by all the children, who seemed also much 

 taken up with my dear old Coco's neigh, when I 

 called him by his name. 



Now, my brother huntsmen in England will 

 gather two things from the chase thus recounted. 

 The first is the extraordinary slackness and slowness 

 of the French hounds; and the second is the vast 

 difference that exists between a wild boar in his 

 native forests and a pig in a farmyard. This crea- 

 ture, at the age of about five months, had not only 

 given us a very good gallop of nearly two hours' 

 duration ; but he had gone over as he went many 

 miles of ground ; and my conviction is that, had he 

 not been viewed, shot at, and wounded by Ludovic, 

 he would have beaten us by stoutness and speed. 

 However, hounds and boar, matched as they were. 



