ithout dogs,--a real
hand-to-hand contest of man and beast; the hunter, armed only
with a boar-spear, a weapon about four feet long, the ash staff,
guarded by plates of steel, and terminating in a long, narrow,
and very sharp blade: this, with a hunting-knife, or hanger,
completed his offensive arms. Thus equipped, the hunter would
either encounter his enemy face to face, confront his desperate
charge, as with erect tail, depressed head, and flaming eyes, he
rushed with his foamy tusks full against him, who either sought
to pierce his vitals through his counter, or driving his spear
through his chine, transfix his heart; or failing those more
difficult aims, plunge it into his flank, and, without
withdrawing the weapon, strike his ready hanger into his throat.
But expert as the hunter might be, it was not often the
formidable brute was so quickly dispatched; for he would
sometimes seize the spear in his powerful teeth, and nip it off
like a reed, or, coming full tilt on his enemy, by his momentum
and weight bear him to the earth, ripping up, with a horrid
gash, his leg or side, and before the writhing hunter could draw
his knife, the infuriated beast would plunge his snout in the
wound, and rip, with savage teeth, the bowels of his victim. At
other times, he would suddenly swerve from his charge, and
doubling on his opponent, attack the hunter in the rear. From
his speed, great weight, and savage disposition, the wild boar
is always a dangerous antagonist, and requires great courage,
coolness, and agility on the part of the hunter. The continental
sportsman rides to the chase in a cavalcade, with music and
dogs,--a kind of small hound or mastiff, and leaving all the
honorary part of the contest to them, when the boar is becoming
weary, and while beset by the dogs, rides up, and drives his
lance home in the beast's back or side. Boar-hunting has been
for some centuries obsolete in England, the animal no longer
existing in a wild state among us; but in our Indian empire, and
especially in Bengal, the pastime is pursued by our countrymen
with all the daring of the national character; and as the animal
which inhabits the cane-brakes and jungles is a formidable foe,
the sport is attended with great excitement. The hunters,
mounted on small, active horses, and armed only with long