This is the original from which all the different kinds of the tame hog
have sprung. He is not subject to the varieties of the domestic races,
but is uniformly of a brindled or dark gray, inclining to black. His
snout is longer than that of the tame hog, his ears short, and pricked.
He has formidable tusks in each jaw, sometimes nearly a foot
long,--those in the upper jaw bending upwards in a circular form,
exceedingly sharp, being those with which the animal defends himself,
and frequently inflicts mortal wounds.
The wild boar is to be met with in various parts of Europe, Asia, and
Africa. The hunting of this animal has always afforded a rather
barbarous sport to the natives of the countries in which it is to be
found. The season for this sport is in the beginning of winter. The
huntsmen ride with the dogs, and encourage them at the same time that,
by the spear, they endeavor to dishearten the boar. The weapon is
generally directed towards the front of the animal's head, but
cautiously; for, were the boar to seize the spear, which it attempts to
do, it would wrest it from the hand of the hunter; and the latter,
unless supported, would fall a victim to its strength and ferocity.
There are generally more hunters than one; the boar is called off by
each man as he provokes it, and the animal thus generally perishes by a
series of attacks.
_Anecdotes._--A boar from Ethiopia was, in 1765, sent by the governor
of the Cape of Good Hope to the Prince of Orange. From confinement and
attention he became tolerably mild and gentle, except when offended, in
which case even those persons to whose care he was intrusted were
afraid of him. In general, however, when the door of his cage was
opened, he came out in perfect good-humor, frisked about in search of
food, and greedily devoured whatever was given him. He was one day left
alone in the court-yard for a few minutes; and, on the return of the
keeper, was found busily digging into the earth, where, notwithstanding
the cemented bricks of the pavement, he had made a very large hole, for
the purpose, as was afterwards conceived, of reaching a common sewer
that passed at a considerable depth below. When, after long
confinement, he was set at liberty, for a little while he was very gay,
and leaped about in an entertaining manner.
During Sparman's residence in Africa, he witnessed a curious method by
which the wild hogs protected their young, when pursued. The heads of
the females, which, at the commencement of the chase, had seemed of a
tolerable size, appeared, on a sudden, to have grown larger and more
shapeless than they were. This he found to have been occasioned by the
fact, that each of the old ones, during its flight, had taken up and
carried forward a young pig in its mouth; and this explained to him
another subject of surprise, which was, that all the pigs he had just
before been chasing with the old ones, had suddenly vanished.