276 



NAWMAL HISTORY 



[chap, xtui 



ai-e deer. It is somewhat smaller than a small Highland 

 cow, and has long straight lioriw, which are ringed at thfi 

 base and slope backwards over the neck. 



The wild pig seems to he of a species peculiar to the 

 island ; but a much more curious animal of this family is 

 the Bahirusa or Pig-deer, so named by the Malays from 

 its long and slender legs, and curved tusks resembling 

 horns. Tliis extraordinary creature resembles a pig in 

 general appeamnce, but it does not dig with its snout, as 



it feeds on fallen fruits. The tusks of the lower jaw are 

 very long and sharp, but the upper ones instead of grow- 

 ing downwards in the usual way are completely reversed, 

 growing upwards out of hony sockets through the skin on 

 each side of the snout, curving backwards to near the 

 eyes, and in old animals often reaching eight or ten inches 

 in length. It is difiBcuit to understand what can be the 



