Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 56, Number 347, September, 1844
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
"Swine transported from Europe to America, since the discovery of
the western continent by the Spaniards in the fourteenth century,
and wandering at large in the vast forests of the New World, and
feeding on wild fruits, have resumed the manner of existence which
belonged to the original stock. Their appearance nearly resembles
that of the wild boar. Their ears have become erect; their heads
are larger, and the foreheads vaulted at the upper part; their
colour has lost the variety found in the domestic breeds. The wild
hogs of the American forests are uniformly black. The hog which
inhabits the high mountains of Paramos bears a striking resemblance
to the wild boar of France. His skin is covered with a thick fur,
often somewhat crisp, beneath which is found, in some individuals,
a species of wool. From excessive cold and defect of nourishment,
the hog of that region is of small and stunted figure. In some warm
parts of America, the swine are not uniformly black, as above
described, but red, like the young pecari. At Melgara and other
places, there are some which are not entirely black, but have a
white band under the belly reaching up to the back; they are termed
_cinchados_. The restoration of the original character of the wild
boar in a race descended from domesticated swine, removes all
reason for doubt, if any had really existed, as to the identity of
the stock; and we may safely proceed to compare the physical
characters of these races, as varieties which have arisen in one
species. The restoration of one uniform black colour, and the
change of thin sparse hair and bristles for a thick fur with a
covering of wool, are facts that must be noticed in the
observations of M. Roulin. The difference in the shape of the head
between the wild and domestic hog of America, is very remarkable.
Blumenbach long ago pointed out the great difference between the
cranium of our swine and that of the primitive wild boar. He
remarked that this difference is quite equal to that which has been
observed between the skull of the Negro and the European. 'Those
persons,' he says, 'who have no opportunity of verifying the fact,
have only need to cast their eyes on the figure which Daubenton has
given of both the former. I shall pass over,' he adds, 'the lesser
varieties of breeds which may be found among swine, as among men,
and only mention that I have been assured by M. Sobzer, that the
peculiarity of having the bone of the leg remarkably long, which in
the human kind is observed among the Hindoos, has been remarked
with regard to swine in Normandy. They stand very long on their
hind legs; their back, therefore, is highest at the rump, forming a
kind of inclined plane; and the head proceeds in the same
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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