210 THE BOSCH VARK. 
animal. The Bosch Vark inhabits the forests, and is generally found lying 
in excavations or hollows in the ground, from which it is apt to rush if 
suddenly disturbed, and to work dire vengeance upon its foe. In colour it is 
extremely variable, some species being of a uniform dark brown, others of a 
brown variegated with white, while others are tinged with bright chestnut. 
The young is richly mottled with yellow and brown. For the following 
account of the habits of the Bosch Vark I am indebted to Colonel Dray- 
son’s MS. 
“Where the locality is sufficiently retired and wooded to afford shelter tc. 
the bush bucks which I have mentioned, we may generally expect to find 
traces of the Bush Pig. His spoor is like the letter M without the horizontal 
marks, the extremities of the toes forming two separate points, which is not 
the case with the Antelopes, at least very rarely so, the general impression of 
their feet being like the letter A with a division down the centre, thus /\. 
“The Bush Pig is about two feet six inches in height and five feet in 
length ; his canine teeth are very large and strong, those in the upper jaw 
projecting horizontally; those in the lower upwards. He is covered with 
= AN 
BOSCH VARK.—(Chotropotamus Africanus.) 
long bristles, and, taking him all in all, he is about as formidable-looking an 
animal, for his size, as can be seen. 
“The Bosch Varks traverse the forests in herds, and subsist on roots and 
young shrubs. A large hard-shelled sort of orange, with an interior filled 
with seeds, grows in great quantities on the flats near the Natal forests ; this 
is a favourite fruit of the wild pigs, and they will come out of the bush of an 
evening and roam over the plains in search of windfalls from these fruit-trees. 
“The Kaffir tribes, although they refuse to eat the flesh of the domestic 
pig, will still feast without compunction on that of its bush brother. 
