ts young are often captured,
and brought up in a domesticated state--in order that their flesh may
the more easily be procured. Foreigners, who have visited this island,
relish it as an article of food.

We now come to the hogs of Africa--the Wart-hogs, as they are commonly
called. Of these there are two species; and it would be difficult to
say which is the uglier of the two. In respect of _ugliness_, either
will compare advantageously with any other animal in creation. The
deformity lies principally in the _countenance_ of these animals; and is
caused by two pairs of large protuberances, or warts, that rise upon the
cheeks and over the frontal bone. These excrescences--if we may so call
them--lend to the visage of the creature an aspect positively hideous,
which is rendered still more ugly and fierce-looking by a pair of
formidable tusks curving upward from each jaw. The body is nearly
naked--excepting along the neck and back, where a long bristly mane
gives a shaggy appearance to the animal--especially when these bristles,
of nearly a foot in length, are erected under the impulse of rage.
Other peculiarities are, a pair of whiskers of white curling hair along
the lower jaws; small black eyes surrounded by white bristly hair; a
long tail tufted at the extremity; and on the knees of the fore-legs a
piece of thick callous skin, hard and protuberant. In fact, every
characteristic of this creature seems intended to make his portrait as
disagreeable as may be.

We have said there are two species. These are known as Aelian's
wart-hog and the Cape wart-hog. The former is a native of Abyssinia,
Kordofan, and other countries of North Africa; while the latter, as its
name implies, is found at the Cape--or rather throughout the whole
southern part of the continent. It is the Vlack Vaark of the Dutch
colonists; and this species differs from Elian's wart-hog in having the
cheek protuberances much larger, its head more singularly shaped, and,
if possible, in being _uglier_!

The wart-hog dwells among low bushes and forests. It creeps on its bent
fore-feet in quest of food--sliding along on its knees, and propelling
itself forward by its hind legs. This habit will account for the
callosities already mentioned. In this posture it digs up the ground,
extracting therefrom the roots and bulbs (of which its food is supposed
entirely to consist); for, fierce and hideous as its aspect may be, the
wart-hog is less omnivorous