The hog; the treatment of the breeds, management, feeding, and medical treatment of swine

Front matter

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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Introduction

The admirable work of Mr. William Youatt was taken as the basis of the volume here presented, and that of Mt. W. 0. L. Martin, one of the officers of the London Zoological Society, has furnished to the editor much valuable matter. Its Publishers entrusted the editorial work to that classical writer and Avell known breeder, the late Ambrose Stevens, wl o, wisely preserving entn-e the work of Youatt, so eminent for his historical descriptions and veterinary writings, combined with it such portions of Mr. Martin's work as would not be repetitions, thus forming a volume of no ordinary value.

In his preface to his original work, Mr. Youatt says: ^'In undertaking this vv'ork, the author was influenced by an anxious desire to extend the views of Medical Science generally, and of his own profession in particular, and by a wish to draw the attention of agriculturists and veterinary surgeons to a too much neglected and undervalued class of animals, and by the hope of materially increasing the amount of knowledge already possessed.

" It has been his task to collect all the various brief and cursory notices which have been accorded to swine by ancient as well as modern agricultural and medical writers; to select those which were valuable and worthy of record; and then, by weaving them into the groundwork of his own ideas and experience, to bring the before scattered rays into one focus, £0 that the eye of science may be attracted towards this hith- (3)

INTUODUCTION".

erto neglected branch, and, from contemplating, may be led to study it; and practical men may be induced to aid, by tbeir experience, in elucidating a subject which is as yet so little understood. In short, he has endeavored to act as a pioneer, to lead the way to, and break up, a new and fertile spot; one that will amply reward the labors of those whom he hopes to induce by his example to bestow some little of their care upon it." His success was so much beyond expectations, that the appearance of this work really marks an era in swine breeding, and gives it a certain historical value of its own, aside from the care which Mr. Youatt took in presenting a history of each of the prominent breeds, and of those sources from which improvement had come or was to be expected. The present Publishers therefore feel that no apology is necessary for presenting: a new edition of this standard work.

I. PAoa

looLOGioAL definition of the Pig— The orde.r Pachydermata— The Peccary— The Babiroussa— The Phaco 3hoere»— The Capibara — Various animals have been called by Ihe name of Hog, .......... li

II

Derivation of the term Hog— The Hog was generally esteemed by the Romans— Worshipped by some of the ancients — Swine's flesh prohibited by the law of Moses By

that of Mohammed — Despised by the Egyptians, . . , . , ,21

III

The early history of Swine— Legendary and authentic records respecting the keeping of them in England — Ancient Welsh laws relative to Swine — The forests of England- Swineherds— Their mode of managing their herds— Calabrian Swineherds— Horn used

to assemble the grunting troop— The Schweim-Generai — Herds of Swine kept in France

Value of Pigs— Some vindication of them— Anecdotes proving their teachaLility— >Saga' city of a Pig — Some demonstrations of memory in one— Attachment to individuals — Swine not innately filthy animals — Are possessed of more docility than they usually have credit ibr — Their exquisite sense of smell— Pigs said to foretell rain and wind, . 20

IV

The Wild Eoar — Description of him— Characteristics — The female and her young — Hunting the Wild Boar — Homer's description of a Boar-hunt — Roman festivals and games — The Wild Boar in Blngland and Scotland — In France — In Germany — Mode of hunting the Boar in Germany — Wild Boar park of the Emperor of Austria — Present wild breed in Germany — In Hungary— In the Styrian Alps— In Russia — In Swedec— In the East — Habits of the Wild Hog in India — Wild Hog hunting in India — The wild breed in America — Fearful conflict with a wild herd in Columbia — The Wild Boar the parent stock of all domesticated breeds — Resemblances between — Alterations produced by domestication —Resumption of old habits on again becoming free from control of man, . , 46

V

Bwine in America— In large towns— Original breed — Improved breed— Swine in Canada— In Ohio — In Mexico— Hebrides— In Coiumbia— In the South-Sea Islands- Swine in A8U —In China and Japan — Ceylon — Hindostan— Turkey and Arabia — Swine in Africa — Guinea— New Holland — Calf raria— Swine in Eukope — Malta — Italy^^ermany — ^Hun-

gary — Russia — Sweden — France — Swine indigenous to the Chaxkel Islands— In Jersey

^^uernsey — Serk — Aldcrney.— Isle of Man — Hebrides — Orkneys, . . .

VI

fit

FOOTLAND, aboriginal breed of Swine in- Little known until lately — Present races— England, original breed — Swine in Yorkshire— Lincolnshire — Leicestershire — Bedfordshire — Essex — Suffolk— Norfolk— Shropshire — Cheshire — Gloucestershire — Herefordshire — Wilwliiie— Berkshire— Hampshire— Sussex— The Chinese breed— Swine in Ireland . 7»

It contents.

VII

Skeleton of the Hog — Skull and Snojt— Teeth — Brain— Apoplexy— Inflammation of the Brain — I'hrenitis— The Spinal Cord — Epilepsy — Palsy and Paralysis — Tetanus — Rabies — Nasal Catarrh— The Larynx— The Pliarynx — The Os Hyoides— Strangles and Quinsy — The Chest — Diseased Valves of the Heart — The Bronchial Tubes— Inflammation of the Lungs or Rising of the Lights — ^Pleuro-Pneumonia — Epidemics, . . . 101

vni.

Anatomy of the Stomach— Gullet — Intestines— Duodenum— Jejunum — Ileum—^CBCum — Colon : Diseases to which these parts are liable — Enteritis — Colic— Diarrhcea — Garget of the Maw — Anatomy of the Liver and Spleen : Splenitis — Rupture of the Spleen— Absorption of the Spleen— Peritoneum— Worms— The bladder and its diseases — Protrusion of iho Rectum, ...... . . . • 127

IX

The Skin and its Diseases — Gangrenous Erysipelas— Lice— Leprosy— Mange — Measles — Desquamation of the Skin, ....... . 136

X

Operation*— Bleeding— Castration— Catching and Holding— Drenching— Ringing, . 114

XI

Breeding ; Principles of— Choice of the Boar and Sow — Best Breeds — Age at which the Sow may be used for Breeding — Proper age for the boar to commence at — Period of Gestation — Fruitfulness of Sows — Trealment of them during Pregnancy — Alioriion — Parturition— Caesarian Operation — lionsirosiiies — Treatment of Sows while Nursing — Treatment of Young while Sucking — Weaning and alter-trealment — Proiilic Powers of Swine, ... ........ 149

XII

On Feeding Swine — ^Fat Pigs — Cattle Shows— Whey, Milk, and Dairy Refuse— Befuse and Grains of Breweries and Distilk-ries— Residue ot btarch Manufactories -Vegetables and Boots — Fruits — Grain — Soiling and Pasturing Swine — Animal Substances as Food lor them — General directions tor breeding and latteniiig, .... 173

XIII

On the Proper Construction of Piggeries — Ventilation — Description of Mr. Henderson's Cties — Cooking Apparatus — Curious Contrivance lor Feeding Pig*— Description oi the Piggery at Prince Albert's Home Farm — Description of a Piggery at Lascoed— Advantages of Cleanliness— Pig-keeping in Mexico, . • . • . 197

XIV

Pigs, Profit of. to the Butcher—Sucking pigs— Pork-Butchers — Pig-killing at Rome — Pickling Pork — Bacon *, Mode of curing in Haii.pshire — Buckinghamshire— Wiltshire — Yorkshire— Wesiplialia — America — Brine poisonous to Pigs — Quantity of Bacon, Ham, and Salted I'ork Imported during the last Three Years — Importation ol Swine — Pig's Dung as Manure, . . . . . * . . . . .200

XV

lledic'ses used in combaCng the Maladies ^f Swine, . , • • • SS

THE HOG.

Chapter I

Eoo((^ical definition of the Pig— The order Pachydermata— The Peccary— The Babiioussa — ^Th« Pnaco-choeres— The Capibara — Various animals have been called ly the name of Hog.

The Hog, (Suidae Sua of the ancients and Linnceus,) according to Cuvier, belongs to " the class Mammalia, order Pachydermata, genus Suidae or Sus, having on each foot two large principal toes shod with stout hoofs, and two lateral toes much shorter and scarcely touching the earth ; the incisors variable in number, the lower incisors all levelled forwards ; the canines projected from the mouth and recurved upwards ; the muzzle terminated by a truncated snout fitted for turning up the ground ; the stomach but little divided ; the body square and thick, and more or less covered with bristles and hairs ; the neck strong and muscular ; the legs short and stout." (Cuvier's Animal Kingdom, vol. iii.)

The suidce are robust and massive in their form, low in the limbs, flat-sided, with immense muscular development in the neck and fore-quarters. The head is wedge-shaped, with an elongated snout, terminating in a round or oval disc of cartilage, called in common language the button ; this disc is pierced by the nostrils, and possesses great power of mobility, being supplied by several strong muscles ; it is, moreover, strengthened and supported by a small extra bone, as in the instance of the mole also, and is used with great facility as an instrument for ploughing up the ground in quest of roots for food. The lower jaw is deep and strong, and the syraphy sis of the chin is completely ossified, and not, as in ruminants, united by suture. The mouth is wide, opening to a degree almost unparallelled among terrestrial mammalia. The jaws are armed with tusics, which grow to a large size, pass from between the lips, and are weapons of tremendous effect ; the tusks of the lower jaw advance before those of the upper, which turn obliquely upwards and outwards. In the peccaries, the tusks are but little developed ;

in the male babiroussa those of the upper jaw pierce through the skin of the snout, and are greatly elongated. The eyes are small, but quick and shrewd in expression ; the ears are moderate, erect, and pointed. The tongue is elongated and smooth. The tail is short, slender, and apparently of little utility. The senses of smell, sight, and taste are in high perfection, more especially that of smell, and the olflictory nerves are large. The sense of hearing is acute. In their diet the suidce are omnivorous, vegetable and animal substances being equally acceptable ; still it is on vegetable aliment that they chiefly feed. The skin is coarse, covered with bristles, and destitute, or nearly so, of the subcutaneous muscular expansion common to most other animals, termed the pannicul as carnosus, and so highly developed in the hedgehog. On looking at the skull we find its base or occipital portion forming a right angle with the obliquely rising upper surface, and a bold transverse ridge is formed by the union of the occipital to the parietal bones, which latter advance above the frontal bones, and form the most elevated portion of the skull. The nasal bones are prolonged to the end of the snout, and the symphysis of the lower jaw is consolidated, hi proportion to the elevation of the occipital bone are the length and strength of the spinous processes of the dorsal vetebrse. Those of the anterior dorsal vertebrae in particular are remarkable for their development, and indicate the volume of the muscles for supporting and moving the head. These are the agents by which the dreadful tusks are brought into play. Rushing on his antagonist, the boar strikes obliquely upwards, right and left, with irresistible violence, in a direction harmonizing with that of the tusks, and in the mode best suited for the exertion of the animal's strength. The neck is short, and with this shortness is necessarily connected that of the limbs, and especially of the interior pair, otherwise the animal would not without difficulty reach the ground with its snout. Their strength must be in proportion to the weight to be sustained, and the weight depends upon the size of the head and the muscular development of the neck and shoulders.

All this species feed on plants, and especially on roots, which their snout or trunk enables them to grub out of the earth ; they will devour animal substances, but rarely hunt or destroy animals for the purpose of devouring them. They are thick skinned ; said to be obtuse in most of their faculties, excepting in the olfactory and oral senses ; voracious, bold in defending themselves ; and delight in humid and shady places.

To this order belong the elephant, the rhinoceros, the hippopo tamus, &;c., the general characteristics of all of which are very similar.

From among the cloven-footed or many-toed animals of the pachydermatous order of mammalia, man has subjugated and r& claimed only two — '"'Iz., the hog and the elephant.

THE PECCARY. 13

The domestic hog .s the descendant of a race long since subjugated ; yet while a race of domesticated swine has been and is kept under surveillance, the wild type whence this race sprung has maintained itself in its native freedom, the fierce denizen of the forest, and one jf the renowned beasts of " venerie." Its wild source still exists, and -s universally i-ecognized ; it roams through the vast wooded tracts v)f Europe and Asia. The wild stock of the hog is most extensively spread throughout Europe and x\sia, and has been known, described, and celebrated from the earliest ages, alike by sacred and classical writers; it is the sus sc/ofa of Linnaeus, the sus aper of Brisson.

Under the generic term Suidae or Sus many zoologists have in. eluded, besides the true hog as it exists in a wild or tame state in Europe, Asia, and Africa, the peccary, the babiroussa, the phaco choere, and the capibara; we will, therefore, slightly glance at each of these varieties before proceeding to the actual subject of the present work.

The Peccary. — This appears to be the nearest approach to swine among the animals indigenous to the New World ; and the Collared Peccary {Dicidvles torquatuf<) and the White-lipped Peccary [Dicotyles libiatus) actually do at first sight appetir to bear a very close resemblance to the common hog, but a more careful examination soon enables us to detect material differences. The head is thicker and shorter, the body not so bulky, the legs shorter, the hoofs longcir. the ears shorter, and the tail is supplied by a slight, and, at a cursor* glance, almost imperceptible protuberance. But the great differ ence arises from a small gland on the back, which, although partially concealed by the hair, is nevertheless evident, and hence it is that the term Dicotyles^ which signifies a double navel, has been given to this species. This gland secretes a fluid which is emitted in great abundance whenever the animal is irritated, and gives out a very strong odor, pronounced as fetid and disagreeable by some authors, and by others compared with musk.

Cuvier remarks that the external toe on the hind feet is wanting in the peccary. The body is of a grayish hue, and thickly covered with strong coarse bristles, stiff enough to penetrate a tolerably firm substance, and shaded black and white. These are loncfest on the back, where some will be found measuringr four or five inches ; thov become gradually shorter and shorter on the sides, and disappear altogether on the belly, which is nearly bare. Or the head is a large tuft of black bristles. The eyes and snout are small, the ears erecA.

This animal is found in vast numbers in Paraguay and Guiana, and has been termed by some writers the Mexican hog. It has nearly the same habits and tastes as the common hog ; feeds on seeds and roots ; digs with its snout ; expresses its emotions by grunts; is fierce in defence of its young; very prolific; and tha

14: THE noQ.

flesh is similar tc crdinary pork, but harder, less sweet and juicy and not so fat.

The peccary may be tamed if taken when young, and will attach itself to those who are kind to it, and to dogs and other animals; is fond of being caressed and scratched, and will answer to its keeper's voice.

The European hog, when transplanted to the wilds of America, will herd with the peccaries, but is never known to breed with them* the two races, although resembling each other in certain points, are and remain distinct. The hog is the larger, stronger, and more useful animal, and will thrive in almost any part of the world : the peccary is smaller, weaker, and cannot be made to live in a foreign climate without very great care and attention.

The Babiroussa, {sus baby-ronssa,) or Hog-deer, or, as it has been termed by some foreign authors, the Indian hos^, is chiefly found in the Moluccas, Sumatra, Java, and other islands of the Indian Archipclacro.

This animal stands higher than the common hog; its legs are long and slender; its skin thin and scantily furnished with short woolly hair of a reddish brown on the back, and lighter and more inclined to fawn-color on the belly. It is chieiiy remarkable for the strange position of its upper tusks, which come through the skin of the muzzle and curve backwards almost like horns, until they nearly or quite touch the skin again ; they are sometimes as much as nine inches in length and five in circumference. Pliny (b. 8, chap. Hi.) evidently alludes to this animal when he says that wild boars are tbund in India which have two horns on the face, similar to those of a heifer, and tusks like the comxmon wild boars.

There are all the fiimily characteristics of the hog in this animal; the heavy awkward gait, thick neck, small eyes, head terminated by a snout, and grunting voice; it feeds, too, on roots, plants, and leaves, and some say shell-fish ; but some authors asseit that it does not grub roots out of the ground like most of the swiiu.sh varieties. Sparrman informs us that ihe natives would lather attack a lion than this animal, for it comes rushinsj on a man swift as an arrow, and, throwing him down, snaps his legs in two and rips his belly up in a moment. (Voyage, vol ii.)

The flesh of the babiroussa is very fmo eating, and the Malays melt down the fat to use instead of butter and oil.

Cuvier has given an account of a pair that were at the Menagerie at Paris, the female of which was much younger and m.ore active than the male; he was old and fat, and only ate, drank- and slept. When the male retired to rest, the female would cover him completely over with straw or litter, and creep in after him, so that h()ih were concealed from sight. The specimen at the ZoGl)gica] Gardens in the Regent's Park used to cover himself up vith strav? In the s^ine wav.

THE HOG TRIBE. 16

The Phaco-choeres. — There are two recognized species of this rjiriery of the hog family, the one found in Guinea and the interior of the Cape, and spoken of by various writers as the Warl^-hog, and the other tirst seen in Kordofan and afterwards in several parts of Abyssinia, and referred to by vElian as the hog with four horns. Of the habits of these creatures little is known, save that they are Inhabitants of forests, and their food is vegetable.

They are remarkable for the two warts or fleshy excrescences which disfigure the face on either side ; the eyes are small ; a bristly mane of a pale brown color rises between the ears and extends itself along the back, many of the hairs of which are from eight to ten inches in length ; the body is bare ; the tail thin and terminated by a tuft of hair ; and the tusks very large and powerful.

The Capibara — is an animal which is often classed by modern zoologists among the Cavies ; it Jilso resembles a two-} ear old hog in shape and color, but its head is longer, its eyes larger, and its nose cleft like the lip of a rabliit, instead of being round. It has thick, coarse whiskers, a narrow mouth, and no tusks. The front hoofs are divided into four parts, and the back ones into three, and these divisions or toes are connected together by skin, and thus in a manner webbed, and adapted for swimTiiing; indeed so much does it delight in the water that by some it has been called the water-hog. It lives upon fruit, corn, and sugar-canes, and eats all the fish it can catch. These animals associate in herds and seldom go out of their lair excepting in the night time, or quit the borders of some lake or river, for their short legs and strangely-formed feet prevent them from running with any degree of speed, so their only safety is ir th'^ water, wherein they plunge on the least alarm.

If taken young this animal may easily be tamed, and is capable of great attachment. We are infoi-med that its flesh is tender, juicy, and fat, but has a fishy flavor ; the head is, however, said to be excellent.

Cuvier refuses to admit this last-mentioned animal among the Pachvdermata, but places it in the order Rodentia, genus Cavia.

The animal, too, so well known to us by the name of Guinea-pig, or among the French as the Cochon d'Inde, he also classes among the Rodentia. (Cuvier's Animal Kingdom.)

The name Hog has been given by different nations to various animals which hive no affinity whatever with the actual family Siis : thus the Spaniards call the tatous, hogs in armor; the Hollanders term the porcupine^ the iron hog; the porpoise has fi-equently be*'n designated the seahog ; and Aristotle speaks of a hog-ape, which has been since supposed to refer to one of the baboon tribe; while amonfij our common animals we have the hedge-hog. This has led to much confusion and misapprehension ; but the genus Suidne or Sus is now very generally allowed to apply only to the actual swine as they exist in <a wild oi doiiiesticated state throughout the greater part of the known world.

Martin says : — That the wild hog is the source of our ordinary domestic race cannot be disputed ; and as little can we doubt its extreme antiquity. The hog has survived changes which have swept multitudes of pachydermatous animals from the surface of our earth. It still maintains an independent existence in Europe, and presents the same characters, both physical and moral, which the earliest w^riters, whether sacred or profane, have faithfully delineated. The domestic stock has indeed been more or les-s modified by long culture, but the wild species remains unaltered, insomuch that the fossil relics of its primitive ancestors may be identified by comparison with the bones of their descendants.

The fossil relics of the genus sus have been found in the miocene and also in the pliocene deposits of the tertiary system of Lyell Kaup, for example, has described fossil bones of the genus .nis from the miocene Eppelsheim sand, in which they were associated with those of the mastodon and dinotherium ; and MM. Croizet and Jobert, in their account of the fossils of Auvergne, describe ana figure the fossil bones of a species of hog, wdiieh, as was satisfactorily proved, must have lived coexistent with and on the same locality as extinct elephants and mastodons. According to these geologists, the facial part of the fossil hog discovered by them is relatively shorter than in the existing species ; hence, under the supposition that their fossil animal might have been distinct, they conferred upon it the title of aper {sus) Avcrnensis. How far this distinctiveness is real, yet remains to be seen ; at all events. Professor Owen, in his valuable work on British fossil mammalia, places the sus Averncnsis^ with a query, as one of the synonyms of the cochon fossile of Cuvier, sus scrofa fossilis o^ Von Meyer [Paloeolor/ica, p. 80,) sus prisciis of Goldfuss (Nova Acta Acad. Nat. Ccr.^ t. xi., pt. 2, p. 482,) the fossil hog of Dr. Buckland, and the sus scrofa, Owen, in Report of British Association^ 1843, p. 228.

With reference to the fossil remains of the hog, Professor Owen thus writes : — " When Cuvier communicated his memoir on the fossil bones of the hog to the French Academy, in 1809, he had met with no specimens from formations less recent than the mosses, or turbaries and peat-bogs, and knew not that they had been found in the drift associated with the bones of elephants. He repeats this observation in the edition of the Ossemens Fossiles. in 1822 ; but in the additions to the last volume, pualished in 1825, Cuvier cites the discovery by M. Bourdct de la Nievre of a fossil jaw of a sus^ on the east bank of the lake of Neufchatel, and a fragment of the uppei jaw fi'om the cavern at Sundwick, in Westphalia, described by Professor Goldfuss.

" Dr. Buckland include* *:he molar teeth and a large tusk of »

THE HOG TRIBE. 17

hone found in the cave of Hiitton, in the Mendip hills, wi:!! the true fossils of that receptacle, such as the remains of the mammoth, Spelaean bear, &;c. With respect to cave-bones, however, it is sometimes difficult to produce conviction as to the contemporaneity of extinct and recent species."

This observation applies merely to cave-bones, and not to such as are imbedded in deposits with other remains.

The oldest fossil remains of the hog, from British strata, which Professor Owen has examined, were from fissures in the red crag Cprobably miocene) of Newbourne, near Woodbridge, Suffolk : — "They were associated with teeth of an extmct felis, about the size of a leopard, with those of a bear, and with remains of a large cervus. These mammalian remains were found with the ordinary fossils of the red crag ; they had undergone the same process of trituration, and were impregnated with the same coloring matter, as the associated bones and teeth of fishes, acknowledged to be derived from the regular strata of the red crag. These mammal iferous beds have been proved by Mr. Lyell to be older ^han the fliivio-marine, or Norwich crag, in which remains of the mastodon, rhinoceros, and horse have been discovered ; and still older than the fresh-w^atei pleistocene deposits, from which the remains of the mammolh, rhinoceros, &c., are obtained in such abundance." To this the Professor adds: — "1 have met with some satisfactory instances of the association of fossil remains of a species of hog with those of the mammoth, in the newer pliocene fresh-water formations of England."

The most usual situations how^ever, in which the fossilized I: ones of (he hog are met with, are in peat-bogs, often at the depth of many feet, and in association with the remains of the wolf, the beaver, the roebuck, and a gigantic red-deer; generally they underline the bed of peat, and rest on shell-marl or alluvium. Of the identity of these bones with those of the ordinary wild hog, all doubt has been removed by the most rigorous compariscms ; nevertheless, we do not assert that no other species of sus m;iy not have anciently existed, which, like the mammoth and the mastodon, has become extinct ; we mean only to say that the bones of the s is scrofa are among the fossil remains of our island and the continent of Europe. Professor Owen gives an excellent figure of the fossil skull of a wild boar, from drift In a fissue of the free-stone quari'ies in the Isle of Portland.

Leaving the wild hog, let us direct our attention more immediately to that breed which, time immxCmorial, has been reared in captivity, and valued for the sake of its flesh, prepared in different ways as food for man.

" One of the most singular circumstances," says Mr. Wilson {Quarterly Journal of Agricu'ture.^ '-in the domestic history of this animal is the immense extent of its distribution, more especially in fur removed and insulated spots inhabited by semibarbarians, where tlie wild species is ei firely unlcnovfn. For example, the South Sea Islands, on their discovery by Europeans, were found to be well stocked with a small black-legged hog ; and the traditionary belief of the people, in regard to the original introduction of these animals, showed that they were supposed to be as anciently descended as the people themselves. Yet the latter had no knowledge of the wild boar or any other animal of the hog kind, from which the domestic breed might have been supposed to be derived. The hog is in these islands the principal quadruped, and is more carefully cultivated than any other. The bread-fruit tree, either in the natural state or formed into sour paste, is its fiivorite food, and it is also abundantly supplied with yams, eddoes, and other vegetables. This choice of a nutritive and abundant diet, according to Foster, renders the flesh juicy and delicious; and the fat, thoiigli rich, is not less delicate to the taste than the finest butter. The Otaheitans and other South Sea Islanders were in the habit of presenting pigs at the morais^ as the most savory and acceptable offering to their deities which they had ij in their power to bestow. They covered the sacred pig with a piect. of fine cloth, and left it to decay nenr the hallowed spot."