ETHIOPIAN HOG. 
79 
placed so as to intercept the view of any thing im- 
mediately beneath it. He is likewise provided with 
most tremendous tusks in the upper jaw, about six 
inches long, and bending up towards his forehead. 
This animal inhabits the hottest parts of the in- 
terior of Africa, where he dwells in woods, digging 
for himself a habitation under ground, which he 
is said to do as expeditiously as a mole, by means 
of his callous snout. M.Vosmaer kept one of these 
animals in a cage, which he one day suffered to 
come out ; and having left him alone for a few 
minutes, he found him, on his return, busy in dig- 
ging the earth ; where, notwithstanding the pave- 
ment was made of small bricks well cemented, he 
had already made a hole of an incredible size, with 
a view, as Vosmaer afterwards discovered, to reach 
a common sewer which passed below at a great 
depth. “ I caused,” says this gentleman, “ his 
labour to be interrupted ; and it was not without 
much trouble, and the assistance of several men, 
that we could overcome his resistance, and make 
him return to his cage.” 
These powerful animals are the dread of the Hot- 
tentots ; for they will rush out from their retreat on 
a man, snap his legs in two, or rip open his belly 
with their tusks. 
The chase of some old sows of this species, with 
their pigs, afforded Dr. Sparrman great amusement. 
The heads of the females became suddenly enlarged, 
and more shapeless than they were before. This mo- 
mentary and wonderful change astonished him so 
