We have received an engraving of this animal from the celebrated M.
Allamand, professor of Natural History at Leyden, and who has also
written to M. Daubenton in the following terms:--"I conceive, Sir, that
the animal represented in the plate which I sent you, is the same as
that which you have treated of under the name of the wild boar of Cape
Verd. The one whence it was taken is now living (May 5, 1767) in the
menagerie of the Prince of Orange. I frequently visit him, and always
receive pleasure from admiring the singular form of his head. It was
transmitted by the Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, to whom I have
written, requesting him to send me another, but of which I have little
hopes, since even at the Cape it was regarded as a monster; yet should
I succeed, I will send it to France, that you and M. de Buffon may have
an opportunity of examining it. We put a common sow to the one we have,
for the purpose of trying whether they would copulate, but the instant
she came near him he darted at her, and tore her to pieces." In another
letter M. Allamand remarks, that the most material difference between
this and the common boar is in their heads, and in this boar's having
two very singular protuberances in the form of ears at the side of
each eye. The aversion shewn by this animal to the sow, as well as the
differences, both external and internal, in the forms of their heads,
tends to prove it a distinct species from our hog; yet as it approaches
nearer to that than to any other animal, and is found not only near
Cape Verd but also in the neighbourhood of the Cape of Good Hope, we
shall call it the African boar.
Vosmaër calls it the wild African boar, and very justly distinguishes
it from the Guinea hog, the American peccari, and from the Indian
babiroussa. This author, in his account, remarks, that, "M. de Buffon,
speaking of the wild boar of Cape Verd preserved in the royal cabinet,
says that it had cutting teeth; but no such teeth appear in the one I
have. The animal came to me in a cage, but being informed he was not
mischievous, I opened the door, and he came out, without shewing the
least sign of rage; he bustled about in search of food, and greedily
devoured whatever was given him. I left him alone for a few moments,
and on my return found him busily employed in digging up the floor, in
which, although paved with small bricks, closely cemented, he had made
a very large hole, and it was not without the assistance of several men
that I could make him give over and return to his cage, for he made
much resistance, and expressed his resentment by sharp and mournful
cries. He appears to have been taken in the woods of Africa when he was
very young, for he has grown considerably since he was brought here;
he is still alive, and was not much affected last winter, though the
frost was very severe. He is far more agile than our hogs. He allows
himself to be stroked, and appears fond of rough friction. When made
angry he retires backwards, always facing his assailant, and shakes his
head very forcibly. After having been confined for any length of time,
on being let loose he is very sportive, leaps and pursues the deer, or
other animals, and then carries his tail erect, which at other times is
pendulous. He has a very strong odour, not disagreeable, yet I do not
know any other smell with which it can be compared. He eats all sorts
of grain; while bringing him over they fed him with maize, and as much
fresh herbage as they could procure; but when he had tasted our barley
and wheat he preferred them to other food, excepting roots dug out of
the earth. He is so fond of rye-bread that he follows any person who
holds him a piece of it. He sinks upon the knees of his fore legs when
he eats or drinks, and in which position he often rests. He hears and
smells very acutely, but from the smallness and situation of his eyes
his sight is very limited; they are placed very high, and near each
other, and have two large excrescences underneath them, so that he
cannot perceive the objects which are round him.
His figure is very like that of the common hog, but he appears less,
from his back being more flat and his legs shorter; compared with them
also, he appears very deformed. His muzzle is large, flat, and hard;
the nose is moveable, bent towards the base, and terminates obliquely;
the nostrils are large, and distant from each other; the upper lip is
hard and thick, very prominent round the tusks, and hangs pendulous
over the corners of the muzzle. He has no front teeth, but the gums are
smooth and hard. The tusks of the upper jaw are crooked, five inches
and a half in length, pointed at the ends, and an inch thick at the
base; those of the under jaw are much smaller, and from a constant
friction against the upper appear to be cut obliquely. He would not
permit us to examine his grinders. His eyes are small, the iris of
a deep brown, and the cornea white; the upper eyelids have a brown,
stiff, close cilia, longest in the middle, but there are no cilia on
the under. The ears are pretty large, rather round, covered on the
inside with yellow hair, and bent backwards. Besides the protuberances
under the eyes there are two more, one on each side of the head. The
skin appears to be thick; and there are several tufts of hair dispersed
over his body. The forehead is covered with brown and white hairs;
from thence is a narrow band of dark grey down to the beginning of the
muzzle, where it divides and extends on each side of the head; the
bristles are the longest and closest on the neck and anterior part of
the back, they are of a brownish grey, and some of them seven or eight
inches long; they are not thicker than those of the common hog, and
split in the same manner; they have so few on the other part of the
back, that it has the appearance of being naked; there are small white
bristles on the flanks, breast, belly, and sides of the head and neck.
Their feet are divided into two black pointed hoofs; the tail is naked,
and hangs perpendicularly. The head is of a blackish colour, and the
back and belly of a reddish grey. The width and flatness of the nose,
together with the length of the snout, the protuberances under the
eyes, and the long tusks, give this animal a dreadful aspect. He is
about four Rhenish feet in length."
Notwithstanding all these differences which M. Vosmaër has described,
and the aversion which M. Allamand states it to have shewn to the
common sow, I still have my doubts whether it be any thing more than
a variety of the European hog; for we know that this species varies
greatly in Asia, Siam, and China; and these doubts seem to be somewhat
supported, by having found about thirty years since, an enormous head
of a wild boar that had been killed in our own woods, the tusks of
which were nearly as large as those of the Cape boar. To this may be
added the information I received from M. Comerson, who says there are
wild boars in Madagascar, whose heads are like the common kind from the
ears to the eyes, but that under the eyes they have a protuberance,
which decreasing gradually to the end of the snout, gives the animal
the appearance of having two heads, the one being, as it were partly
sunk in the other; and this information also made me conclude that the
animal I have mentioned under the appellation of the wild boar of Cape
Verd is the same as what is found in Madagascar.