CHAPTER XVIII 



WILD PIGS— ANIMAL AND HUMAN 



Shansi Province is famous for wild boar among the 

 sportsmen of China. In the central part there are low 

 mountains and deep ravines thickly forested with a 

 scrub growth of pine and oak. The acorns are a fa- 

 vorite food of the pigs, and the pigs are a favorite food 

 of the Chinese — and of foreigners, too, for that matter. 

 No domestic pork that I have ever tasted can excel a 

 young acorn-fed wild pig! Even a full-grown sow is 

 delicious, but beware of an old boar; not only is he 

 tough beyond description,, but his' flesh is so "strong" 

 that it annoys me even to see it cooked. I tried to eat 

 some boar meat, once upon a time — ^that is why I feel 

 so deeply about it. 



It is useless to hunt wild pig until the leaves are 

 off the trees, for your only hope is to find them feed- 

 ing on the hillsides in the morning or early evening. 

 Then they will often come into the open or the thin 

 forests, and you can have a fair shot across a ravine or 

 from the summit of a hill. If they are in the brush it 

 is well-nigh impossible to see them at all. A wild boar 

 is very clever at eluding his pursuers, and for his size 

 can carry off more lead and requires more killing than 

 any other animal of which I know. Therefore, you 



241 



