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gh, by so doing, I feel that I deprive the story of some of its zest:--Having made up his mind to a regular siege, he examined his resources, and found them to be a double-barreled gun, a flask of powder (nearly full), plenty of copper caps; a few charges of shot; only two balls; a knife, flint, and steel; a piece of hard, dried tongue; a small flask of spirits and water; and a good bundle of cigars. He could not expect relief, a sally was out of the question; so he made himself as comfortable as he could. Hour after hour passed, the pigs never stirred, except when one or two returned to look at their dead comrade, as if to sharpen their revenge. At length the imprisoned hunter thought of firing off some powder every few minutes, shouting at the same time. One barrel of his gun was still loaded with shot, and he aimed at an old boar; who, on returning from his deceased friend, had looked up at him and grunted. The whole charge, at a distance of about twenty feet, went into the boar's face, who then turned round and ran away, making a horrible noise. The rest of the party charged altogether up to the foot of the tree, but the outcry of the old boar drew them away; and the whole herd went after him, making such a noise as never before had saluted Mr. Byam's ears. He remained in the tree a short time; and, when all was quiet, he slipped down, and ran away as fast as he could, in a contrary direction.
Hogs are not equally prized by all nations. The detestation in which they were held by the Egyptians, was continued by the Israelites; not only from living with those people, but because they were unclean animals. They are still viewed in that light by Brahmins and Mussulmans, who only rear them to sell to Christians, or to make scavengers of them, for, in a domestic state, they are omnivorous. The dislike of the latter to them was once very serviceable to me; for when we were bivouacking close to a Mahommedan village, the people, and the priests thronged around us, so as to be extremely troublesome; and the only