10 PERSONAL NABRATIFE ^ 



We had not left the shore before one of the men with 

 us descried a pig, and stalking up I caught sight of a 

 beast certainly more curious than beautiful. A pair of 

 immense tusks issued from a huge misshapen head, with 

 great knobs protruding at the side, and a dispropor- 

 tionately broad muzzle. The body was not unlike that 

 of other wUd pigs, except that the tail was longer, with 

 a larger tuft of hair at the end. A bullet rolled him 

 into the bottom of a ravine for the moment, but he 

 ultimately escaped, his courage being evidently by no 

 means equal to his highly ferocious appearance. It was 

 an Elian's wart-hog (Phacochoerus JSliani), a form of 

 pig peculiar to the African continent, and bearing a most 

 comical resemblance to a hippopotamus in its enormously 

 broad head. 



Shortly after a small herd of five or six smaller wart- 

 hogs passed near us. They kept in single file, with their 

 tails straight in the air. We then turned up a nearly 

 level plain, covered with bushes and thorny acacia trees, 

 and soon came upon an abundance of smaller game. A 

 large partridge, with the skin of the throat naked, and 

 of a bright red or orange colour (Pternestes rubrioollis), 

 rose in coveys. Two or three hares, with very large ears 

 and long legs, but small bodies {Lepus cegyptius), were 

 turned up and shot. The next game which appeared 

 was a large flock of guinea-fowl with blue wattles 

 {Numida ptilorhynchd), about two hundred in number, 

 which however ran ahead of us, keeping out of shot, 

 until we succeeded in surrounding them amongst some 

 bushes. Several bustards {Otis Arabs) were seen, but 



