104 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [No. 1, 



A nearly perfect skeleton of an adult boar ; the tail being, however; 

 unfortunately again deficient.* 



Halicoee indicus, Owen, vide (J. A. S. XXVIII, 271. 



* Since mounted ; and the height at the shoulder is 19 or 20 in. — Can this be 

 the species noticed in Bingley's History of Quadrupeds, as an inhabitant of 

 Sumatra, and which certainly cannot be the Stj3 vittatus, S. Miiller, which is 

 the only species of wild Swine at present recognised as inhabiting that bland, 

 being also found in Java and Banka? For an enumeration of the wild Swine 

 of the archipelago, vide J. A. S. XXVII, 268. 



" A species of wild Hog in Sumatra, of a grey colour, and smaller than the 

 English Swine, frequents the impenetrable bushes and marshes of the sea-coast ; 

 they associate in herds, and live on crabs and roots. At certain periods of the 

 year they swim in herds, consisting of sometimes 1000, from one side of the 

 river Siak to the other at its mouth, which is three or four miles broad, and again 

 return at stated times. This kind of passage also takes place in the small islands, 

 by their swimming from one to the other. On these occasions they are hunted 

 by the Salettians, a Malay tribe, residing on the coasts of the kingdom of Siak. 



" These men are said to smell the Swine long before they see them, and when 

 they do this they immediately prepare their boats. They then send out their 

 Dogs, which are trained for this kind of hunting, along the strand, where, by 

 their barking, they prevent the Swine from coming ashore and concealing them- 

 selves among the bushes. During the passage the boars precede, and are followed 

 by the females and young, all in regular rows, each resting its snout on the rump 

 of the preceding one. Swimming thus in close rows, they present a singular 

 appearance. 



" The Salettians, men and women, meet them in their small flat boats. The 

 former row and throw large mats, made of the long leaves of the Pandemics 

 odoratissima, interwoven through each other, before the leader of each row of 

 Swine, which still continue to swim with great strength, but soon pushing their 

 feet into the mats, they get so entangled as to be either disabled altogether from 

 moving, or only to move very slowly. The rest are, however, neither alarmed nor 

 disconcerted, but keep close to each other, none of them leaving the position in 

 which they were placed. The men then row towards them in a lateral direction ; 

 and the women, armed with long javelins, stab as many of the Swine as they can 

 reach. For those beyond their reach they are furnished with smaller spears, 

 about six feet in length, which they dart to the distance of thirty or forty feet 

 with a sure aim. As it is impossible for them to throw mats before all the rows, 

 the rest of these animals swim off in regular order, to the places for which they 

 had set out, and for this time escape the danger ; and the dead Swine, floating 

 around in great numbers, are then pulled up and put into larger boats, which 

 follow for the purpose. 



" Some of these Swine the Salettians sell to the Chinese traders who visit the 

 island ; and of the rest they preserve in general only the skins and fat. The 

 latter, after being melted, they sell to the Maki Chinese ; and it is used by the 

 common people instead of butter, as long as it is not rancid, and also itsed for 

 burning in lamps, instead of cocoa-nut oil." 



I have somewhere read a similar account of the habits of S. pappensis. 



Of the large Indian Hogs, I am now satisfied of the existence of three well 

 marked races, or species, which are quite as distinct from each other as are the 

 various species of the archipelago, figured and described by Dr. S. Miiller and 

 others. 



One is the proper Bengal boar, found also in Xutak, which is by far the most 

 powerful, as shewn by the entire skeleton, and which has the longest and most 

 formidable tusks of any, the louver commonly protruding from the socket from 

 3 to 3| in. over the curve. It is specially distinguished by the breadth of its 



