THE BOAR. 191 



with great strength and ferocity. When in a wild state the 

 boar is a dangerous and inconvenient neighbour, for he com- 

 mits serious depredations upon the property of the peasant 

 and the farmer. Bruce in his travels gives an illustration of 

 this. He says : " We pitched our tent in a small plain by the 

 banks of a quick clear running stream ; the spot is called 

 Mai-Shum. A peasant had made a very neat little garden, 

 on both sides of the rivulet, in which he had sown abundance 

 of onions and garlic, and he had a species of pumpkin which 

 I thought was little inferior to a melon. This man guessed 

 by our arms and our horses that we were hunters, and he 

 brought us a present of the fruits of his garden, and begged 

 our assistance against a number of wild boars, which carried 

 havoc and desolation through all his labours, marks of which 

 were, indeed, too visible everywhere. — Amongst us all we 

 killed five boars, all large ones, in the space of about two 

 hours ; one of which measured six feet nine inches ; and 

 though he ran at an amazing speed near two miles, so as to 

 be with difficulty overtaken by the horse, and was struck 

 through and through with two heavy lances loaded at the 

 end witjji iron, no person dared to come near him on foot, 

 and he defended himself above half an hour, till having no 

 other arms left, I shot him with a horse-pistol." The tusks 

 of the wild boar are often a foot in length and his hide is 

 so tough that small bullets have been found between the skin 

 and the flesh of captured specimens. 



The Common Authorities difier as to whether the domestic 

 Hog. pig is derived from the wild species or not, but 

 certain it is that the domestic hog under suitable circumstances, 

 'betrays wild instincts. Hogs have been known to hunt 

 rabbits and poultry and attack lambs when temporarily free 

 from restraint, and instances have been recorded in which 

 the hog has attacked and killed its keeper. The hog grows to 

 a great size, the measurements of one belonging to Mr. Limton 

 of Bodmain some years aao being nine feet in length and 



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