THOUGH this animal differs from the common hog in some characters, nevertheless I presume it to be of the same species, and that these differences are only varieties produced by the influence of the climate. Of this we have an example in the Siam hog, which also differs from that of Europe, although it is certainly of the same species, since they intermix and produce together. The Guinea hog is nearly of the same figure as ours, and about the same size as the Siam hog, that is, smaller than the wild boar, or our domestic hog. It is a native of Guinea, and has been transported into Brasil, where it has multiplied as in its own native country. It is domestic and quite tame. Its hair is short, red, and glossy: it has no bristles, not even on the back; but the neck and the crupper near the tail, are covered with hair somewhat longer than the rest of the body. Its head is not so big as that of our hog, from which it also differs in the shape of its ears, which are very long, pointed, and turn backwards upon the neck. Its tail is much longer, almost touching the ground, and without hair. This race of hogs, which, according to Marcgrave, originally belonged to Guinea, is also met with in Asia, and particularly in the island of Java, from whence they have been transported to the Cape of Good Hope by the Dutch.[AE]
[AE] The hogs, says Kolbe, which have been brought from Java to the Cape of Good Hope, have very short legs, are black, and without bristles; their belly which is very big, hangs almost on the ground. The flesh is very good to eat.
[12. THE WILD BOAR OF CAPE VERD.]
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.
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