THE ^ILT) BOAE. 5 



elephant ; while, as with that animal also, the root is 

 hollow, and is sunk for nearly half the length of the 

 whole in the strongly-built jaw. Just as a skilful broad- 

 swordsman, with a turn of the ^Tist merely, inflicts a 

 gash as the blade flies by, so the wild boar by a sud- 

 den toss sends his sharp-edged weapon through your 

 flesh and muscles to the very bone. It does not tear ; 

 but it cuts right through whatever it meets with, vein 

 or tendon or artery. 



Formerly, when the forests were filled ^^ith wild boars, 

 the mishaps were of more frequent occurrence than they 

 are now, and sometimes a horse, sometimes a hunter, 

 mthout mentioning the hounds, was wounded or 

 maimed.* Then, it is true, they generally were hunted 

 and brouo'ht to bav, turnino- of course to attack their 

 assailants. November 2, 1598, 120 wild boars were 

 killed in one day's hunt in Hesse. On this occasion a 

 young nobleman's thigh was so ripped up by a boar, 

 that it was obliged to be amputated ; yet, notwithstand- 

 ing, the sufferer died a few days after. 



A curious instance is on record, of the fury of the 

 boar when incensed, and his readiness to attack even 

 other animals on such occasions. It occurred in Hesse, 



* Hence, in old works on Yenerv, the hunter of the boar is fore- 

 warned to take with him needles, silk, a lancet, and some preparation 

 for stopping the blood, or washing out a wound. If the sportsman 

 escape injury, he still, most probably, will have to act the surgeon to 

 his hounds. 



