There is another hog, or wild boar, at Cape Verd, which, by the number
of its teeth, and the enormous size of the tusks in the upper jaw,
seems to be of a different race, if not of a different species from
every other hog, and approaches nearer the babiroussa. These tusks
resemble ivory horns more than teeth; they are half a foot long, and
five inches round at the base, and bent nearly like the horns of a
bull. This character alone would be insufficient however, to constitute
a particular species; but what supports this presumption is, that he
differs from every other hog in the length of the aperture of his
nostrils, the largeness and form of his jaws, and in the number and
form of his grinders; nevertheless we have seen the tusks of a wild
boar, taken in the forests of Burgundy, which somewhat approached those
of the wild boar of Cape Verd. These tusks were about three inches and
a half long, and four inches in circumference at the base; they were
turned like the horns of a bull, that is, they had a double curvature,
whereas the common tusks have only a single one. They likewise seemed
to be as solid as ivory; and it is certain that this wild boar must
have had the jaws larger than the common kind. Therefore we may presume
that this wild boar of Cape Verd is a simple variety, a particular race
in the wild boar species.