The Wild Boar was formerly an inhabitant of Great Britain. According to Bell, “About the year 940, the laws of Hoel Dha direct that it shall be lawful for the chief of his huntsmen to chase the Boar of the woods from the fifth of the ides of November (9th), until the calends of December (1st), Cap. xxi. sect. 14.” In the next century Bell states that “the numbers had perhaps begun to diminish, since a forest law of William I., established in A.D. 1087, ordained that any who were found guilty of killing the Stag, the Roebuck, or the Wild Boar, should have their eyes put out; and sometimes the penalty appears to have been a painful death. It appears,” continues Bell, “that Charles I. turned out some Wild Swine in the New Forest, for the purpose of restoring the breed to that royal hunting-ground; but they were all of them destroyed during the civil war. A similar attempt was made in Bere Wood, in Dorsetshire; but one of the Boars having injured a valuable Horse belonging to the worthy Nimrod who exhibited this specimen of sporting epicurism, he caused them to be destroyed.”
The Wild Boar probably became extinct in Britain before the reign of Charles I.; while in Ireland it was abundant as late as the seventeenth century.
THE INDIAN HOG[271] differs but little in general appearance from the European Wild Boar, and is looked upon in the East as a most exciting object of the chase, its speed, endurance, and courage making it one of the most formidable and dangerous animals that can possibly be encountered.
WILD BOAR.
The habits of this animal are admirably portrayed by Williamson, in his “Oriental Field Sports.” After describing the extraordinary speed this creature is possessed of, equalling that of a good Horse, and asserting that a moderate-sized Hog can, and often does, overthrow Horses and their riders, he states that “The Wild Hog delights in cultivated situations; but he will not remain where water is not at hand, in which he may, unobserved, quench his thirst and wallow at his ease. Nor will he resort for a second season to a spot which does not afford ample cover, whether of heavy grass or of underwood jungle, within a certain distance, for him to fly to in case of molestation, and especially to serve as a retreat during the hot season, as otherwise he would find no shelter. The sugar-cane is his great delight, both as being his favourite food, and as affording a high, impervious, and unfrequented situation. In these, Hogs commit great devastation, especially the breeding Sows, which not only devour, but cut the canes for litter, and throw them up into little huts, which they do with much art, leaving a small entrance which they stop up at pleasure. Sows never quit their young Pigs without completely shutting them up. This, indeed, is requisite only for a few days, as the young brood may be seen following the mother, at a round pace, when not more than a week or ten days old. The canes are generally planted about the end of May or beginning of June, in ground rendered extremely fine by digging. For this purpose cuttings of canes are buried horizontally, and with the first showers of the rainy season, which usually commences in the middle of June, the several joints throw out shoots that grow so rapidly, as often to be two or three feet high by the beginning of September. The red cane, called the bun-ook, which is not so valuable as the smaller or yellower sort, begins to ripen in September; by the end of which month it will have attained the height of seven or eight feet. These serve as the first receptacles for the Wild Hogs, which having suffered, since the harvest in March, all the inconveniences of bad diet, long nightly excursions, scarcity of water, great diurnal heat, and frequent disturbance, arrive among them in excellent running order. It should be observed that throughout India a custom prevails of setting fire to the grass jungles in the month of May, when they are completely dry, for the purpose of increasing the growth of the new grass, by the stimulus of the ashes which are washed in with the first showers in June.” Williamson goes on to say that “the bun-ook is commonly cut in November, and the Hogs then shift to the yellow canes, which are by that time forward enough to serve as sufficient cover. Canes require much manure and excellent tillage; consequently they are usually planted near to villages, and surrounded by fields of wheat, barley, and other grain. A species of lupin called rhur is cultivated in large quantities. It grows luxuriantly, generally to the height of eight or nine feet, forming quite a wilderness.... In these rhur fields Hogs delight, as they are completely umbrageous, but being open below, admit the air freely. Besides, this wild rice growing very thick among the rhur, and a kind of soft downy grass about a foot in height, they find themselves very comfortably situated. About the middle of March, or, at the latest, by the beginning of April, the Hogs must shift their quarters, the canes and grain being by this time generally cut. However, they often retain possession to the last moment, frequently disputing every inch with the reapers, and not rarely causing them to leave parts uncut, in the hope that the Hogs will evacuate them; which, if the jungle whither they must betake themselves happen to be remote, they feel no great disposition to do. For at this season the Hog is extremely heavy and indolent, in consequence of the abundance of the excellent food to which he has, for five or six months, been habituated. Hogs are often killed in March with three and four inches of fat on their chines and shoulders. Exclusive of the habits of ease in which he has so long indulged, it is probable the Hog feels diffident as to his want of exercise, and ability to travel under such a mass of flesh. Besides, he is extremely tenacious of the spot which has so long pampered him; and, although unable to proceed any distance without being blown, yet the short sallies he makes to attack such as venture near his haunt are marked with vigour and resolution. Sometimes he will do considerable mischief with his tusks.... Great numbers are at this season either caught in nets made for the purpose, or they are shot by the shekarries, or native sportsmen, a circumstance that never fails to afford a happy triumph to the affrighted villagers.”
The Wild Boar of India is hunted usually by men on horseback, armed with spears of a more or less variable length, averaging from about six feet and a half to eight and sometimes ten feet. The shaft of a spear consists of bamboo properly weighted with lead; the spear itself is a broad and stout blade. It is held by a man on horseback in such a manner that about a foot and a half projects in front of the stirrup-iron, and the Horse is ridden in such a way that when the Boar charges it is transfixed by the spear.
An account of a Wild Boar hunt of an exceptionally interesting and exciting nature is related by Captain Shakespeare:—“While beating the sugar canes for Wild Hogs, a few miles from Hingolu, a villager came and said, ‘If you want to see a Hog come with me;’ and leading the way over the brow of a hill, pointed out an object in a field below, that in the mist of the morning appeared like a large blue rock, much too large for a Hog. However, the object presently got on its legs, and dissipated every doubt existing as to its character. About a hundred yards distant from the animal was a fissure in the hills, thickly wooded, and here, no doubt, was the Boar’s lair; and if he took alarm and rushed thither, it would be next to impossible to dislodge him. A savage Boar in his stronghold is as difficult to oust as the Grizzly Bear from his winter cave in the Rocky Mountains. He constantly rushes out, knocks over and gores the beaters nearest the mouth of his retreat, and then skips back again before there is the shadow of a chance of spearing him.”
DOMESTIC SOW AND YOUNG.