THE GUN AT HOME AND ABROAD 
might well be called beautiful in comparison with the grotesque hideous - 
ness of an African wart hog. When one of these last-named animals is 
seen full-face for the first time, with its little eyes twinkling from the top 
of its head, the contour of its face marred by great warty excrescences, 
and a pair of long gleaming white tusks curling upwards from its jaws, it 
might well be mistaken for a most ferocious creature. But, in my opinion, 
the wart hog is the most timid, or, at any rate, the least aggressive of all 
the races of wild swine. At any rate, I never heard of one of these animals 
making an unprovoked attack on a human being even if encountered 
suddenly and unexpectedly at close quarters. The first thought of a wart 
hog is always flight rather than fight. If pursued and overtaken by dogs, it 
has, of course, to defend itself, and as the long sharp tusks in its lower jaw 
— the great curved upper tusks are only used for rooting — are very 
formidable weapons, it often inflicts great damage on its assailants. I 
have had many good dogs badly cut and some killed by wart hogs, but it 
never seemed to me to be a dangerous feat to spear one of these animals 
when brought to bay by dogs. I never saw one make a determined charge 
at one of its human antagonists even when it had shaken itself loose from 
its canine foes. I have never had an opportunity of spearing wart hogs from 
horseback, as I never possessed a pig-sticking spear, but I have ridden 
down great numbers of these animals on the open downs of Southern 
Rhodesia just for the fun of the gallop. My experience was that they ran at 
such a pace on first starting that a good horse, although he might keep 
near them, could not overtake them before they broke from a gallop to a 
trot. This they would not do till they had run at full speed for about a mile. 
When they commenced to trot they were done, and my horse soon shot 
past them. I never knew an instance of one turning and coming back at 
the horse; but if one galloped round and pulled up in front of them, they 
would come trotting on, and then, grunting loudly, make a dash at the 
horse, whose legs, no doubt, they would have gashed badly if he had 
remained standing still; but if one touched one’s horse with the spurs 
so that it sprang to one side, I never knew a wart hog come round after 
it. The obstacle in their path having been removed, they simply held on 
their course. 
I know that in the neighbourhood of Nairobi, in British East Africa, 
where the sport of pig -sticking is often practised in the orthodox Indian 
style, several horses have been cut about the legs by wart hogs, which 
animals, it is said, show great pluck, and make really savage charges. 
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