198 TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 



the huge tusks of the lower jaws 

 gradually curved inward, and, be- 

 ing very sharp and hard as steel 

 they form a formidable weapon in 

 attacking their enemies, or in up- 

 rooting the ground in search of 

 food. 



With the advancement of civili- 

 zation, the wild hog gradually was 

 exterminated. But there are still 

 with us — in the , remote jungles of 

 various favored jungle districts 

 another class of wild hog: the 

 dreaded Peccary or javelin hog and 

 about which Mr. L. A. Guessaz, 

 at my request kindly furnished 

 me with the following data, of his 

 personal encounters and experi- 

 ences while hunting the javelin: 



"The Texas javelin (which is 

 Spanish and pronounced haveleen) 

 more properly called the Texas 

 peccary, is a native of entire west- 

 ern Texas and Mexico, and differ 

 considerably from the wild swine 

 and the famous fighting wild boar 

 of Europe. They are smaller in 

 size, averaging from about 13 

 inches to 16 inches in height, while 

 the wild boar Wil stand as much 

 as three feet at the shoulder, and 

 in general appearance are like 

 small dark colored pigs, well cov- 

 ered with bristles and have a deep 

 fringe of hair at the throat. There 

 are two kinds of peccaries as dis- 

 tinctly identified Iby naturalists 

 in general — the white lipped pec- 

 cary and the colored peccary, the 

 former, however, being found 

 only in South America but I will 

 confine these remarks to the lat- 

 ter, which is the true Texas 

 javelin, deriving the title of "col- 

 lared peccary" from the fact that 

 it bears a white band all the way 

 around the neck, at a point imme- 

 diately in front of the shoulder. 

 Its entire neck and on down along 

 its entire back is covered with 

 long bristles and it is these that 

 when the javelin is brought at 

 bay, that make him look to be a 

 very formidable foe, for he causes 

 these to stand straight all around 



his neck, and those on the top of 

 his back, if anything, lean for- 

 ward, thereby in appearance in- 

 creasing his height and circum- 

 ference some 6 to 8 inches. 1 

 have very often met a band of 

 these while still hunting for deer 

 in the mesquite and cactus wild- 

 erness of the western counties of 

 Texas, and have generally encoun- 

 tered them along the dry creek 

 beds, or in low places, where the 

 "rooting was good." The man- 

 ner in which one is apprised of 

 their presence varies, there were 

 times when I was strolling along 

 in thick brush and cactus unmind- 

 ful of any thing but deer, when 

 suddenly there would appear with- 

 in ten feet of me a great dark ob- 

 ject, emitting terrible grunts, and 

 snapping of teeth, while beyond 

 in the brush I could hear a rush- 

 ing, crackling and stampeding 

 noise, which in the course of only 

 a few seconds would evolve itself 

 into a whole bunch of ruffled-up 

 javelins standing stiff -legged and 

 staring at me, all the while imi- 

 tating the first one, which was 

 the leader of the bunch, usually 

 an old boar, and every blessed one 

 of them discharging the contents 

 of their musk gland which is situ- 

 ated on the back at a point where 

 the hind quarters connect with the 

 backbone. On one occasion I shot 

 this leader which ran off some 

 fifty yards mortally wounded, but 

 instantly another stepped right 

 up to. the same position and was 

 in turn shot through to also run 

 a short distance to drop dead, 

 when a third one took the same 

 stand. This time this one was 

 shot through the shoulders and 

 he dropped dead in his tracks, 

 otherwise I firmly believe that an- 

 other would have taken the same 

 stand had he run like the other 

 two. 



A friend who resides in Brew- 

 ster County, tells me that at one 

 time he and several of his cowboys 

 encountered a large herd of them 



