CANNIBALISM. 



211 



been changed by domestication ; it is known by 

 experience, occasionally to feed upon its own 

 species; so that, when a sow has been pent up 

 in an incommodious stye, on the eve of farrowing, 

 or as we unmannerly boors of Yorkshire say, a 

 day or two before pigging, she has been known 

 to devour some of the litter. But, whether the 

 victims were dead or alive, at the time of this 

 unnatural act, I have never been able to learn ; — 

 for, on questioning farmers, if they have actually 

 seen sows feeding upon their living little ones, 

 the answer has been anything but satisfactory. 

 From this, I have formed the conclusion, that, the 

 sow, being in too small an apartment, must have 

 overlaid part of the litter, and eaten those which 

 she had killed ; her appetite having become 

 depraved by confinement : probably more so by 

 this imprisonment, than by artificial food ; as I 

 cannot learn, that such unnatural deeds are ever 

 perpetrated in the fields, or when the sow has the 

 run of a capacious yard. 



I must here pay a compliment to the herds of 

 wild swine, which range through the forests of 

 Guiana. I have killed them^ and I have dissected 

 them, and am acquainted with their habits. But, 

 neither my ow r n observations, nor information on 

 the part of the Indians, have induced me to 



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