CHAPTER XIII. 



THE TRUE SWINE. 



THE GENUS SUS — RELIGIOUS PROHIBITIONS — THE BOAR OF VALHALLA — THE BOAR'S HEAD — THE 

 WILD BOAR OF EUROPE — HUNTING THE WILD BOAR — THE WILD HOG OF INDIA — THE DOMES- 

 TIC HOG — ANECDOTES OF THE HOG — BREEDS OF HOGS — THE BERKSHIRE — TRICHINIASIS. 



THE true swine are divided into three genera, one of which, 

 Babirusa, is confined to the islands of Celebes and Boura ; 

 another, Potamochazrus, is wholly African ; while the third, Sus, 

 is found throughout Asia and Europe. It is a remarkable fact that these 

 hardy, omnivorous animals should have entirely died out in North 

 America, except a few peccaries in the southern part, to which they are 

 comparatively recent immigrants. 



GENUS SUS. 



This genus comprises fourteen species, and its generic characteristics 

 are three incisors, one canine tooth, triangular in shape and curved 

 upwards, with seven molars in each jaw, forming a total of forty-four 

 teeth ; a thin curling tail, and in the female eight to ten teats. 



AU the species of swine are unclean to the Jew and the Moham- 

 medan, and it is almost impossible for us to form an idea of the horror 

 and loathing with which the ancient Hebrews regarded the hog. We 

 are told in the Book of Maccabees that the Jews allowed the temple to be 

 dedicated to Olympian Jupiter, they submitted to the abolition of the Sab- 

 bath, and they consented to walk in the procession of the feast of Bac 

 chus, but when swine's flesh was put before them, they refused to touch 

 it. The reason for the Mosaic prohibition is not easy to discover. It is 

 by no means certain that the flesh of the hog is harmful in hot climates, 

 and in its wild state the animal is very cleanly. In the West, on the 

 other hand, the hog has always furnished a staple article of food ; the 

 Roman and Greek physicians considered pork the most nutritious meat, 



