PIG-HUNTING IN NEW ZEAJLAND. (FROM THE "FIELD.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3037, 20 April 1867, Page 6

PIG-HUNTING IN NEW ZEAJLAND. (FROM THE " FIELD.")

Whilst I was on a visit to a friend in the Middle Island, at a station some ninety mjles inland, in the Hunter's range of hills, a shepherd of his named Archie came down from his look-out in the hills for his monthly supply of provisions. Amongst other thing* he informed his master that there were no end of pigs, which disturbed the flocks very much, and were getting to daring as to allow him to come close to them before taking any notice of him. My friend 1 accordingly planned an expedition to the shepherd's hut, and -next morning by daylight we started. Our party consisted of my friend, a neighbour of bit lately from England, the shepherd, andi myself. The rendezvous was some eighteen miles from the station, so we had a sharp ride over the slopes and spurs of the range of hills before we came to the shepherd's abode. Here we had some of the true colonial beverage (tea), and having picketed our horses and unloosed a Urge dog called Crib, a cross between a mastiff and bullterrier, we started up the bed of a river that ran at the foot of the mountains. I was greatly excited at the idea of a real wild pig hunt, and, grasping my spear firmly, strode along by the side of my old colonial friend with a firm resolution to see the best of the sport, and to endeavour to appear as cool as possible under the circumstance!. Before we arrived at the ground where the pigs were likely to be found (which was a thicket overhanging the stream), our other companion, whom we dubbed " Fossils," having seen some rare specimens of rock, stopped and decided to give up the hunt for the purpose of collecting them. Thus the party was reduced to three— my friend T. being , armed with a rifle, myself with a spear, and Archie with an axe. After passing the thicket alluded to, composed of manuka scrub, tea trees, and " wild Irishman " (the latter a low, scrubby sort of bramble), we came to an open plateau about half a mile in width, intersected with small streams and ravines full of flax and toi grass, and stretching from the stream up which we had walked to the hills. Cautiously we climbed the steep bank of the river, and, raising our heads above the brink, looked about for some signs of the grunters. At last Archie, who had been watching a small thicket of flax, espied a sow and some porkers quietly rooting on the edge of a ravine some three hundred yards off. We decided to give chase, and on nearing the porkers we suddenly perceived the boar, who hitherto had been wallowing in the ravine, get up, stretch himself, and deliberately walk towards us. When some thirty yards off we slipped Crib from his collar and stood ready for the fray. The sensible old dog quietly trotted round the boar two or three times, the latter turning as on a pivot, always keeping his " face to the foe," with bristles erect, and looking anything but amiable, and sending forth from his open jaws (whose tusks looked fearfully formidable) a aeries of grunts and guttural sounds any,thing but musical or amusing. A good deal of dodging took place on both sides, but at length Crib managed to fasten on the boar's left ear. After a frantic but unavailing effort to free himself the latter gave vent to his outraged feelings in much the same way as his English confreres do when suffering at the butcher's hands the extreme penalty of a porker. Standing still, Beemingly {dismayed by the " chancery "in which he was placed, and to all appearances conquered, there was yet about his eyes a malicious bloodshot look which well betokened his inclinations. Whilst wondering what was to be the upshot of all thia, and what next was to be done, I was surprised — and by no meant agreeably so — by my friend giving me a push that sent me some feet in the direction of this interesting-looking quadruped, and exclaiming, " Now's your time, old fellow ! Mind you spear him well behind the shoulder ; and look out for the dog !" I did not want to appear afraid of the brute, but as this was my first attempt, I thought I might just as well see how the thing was done, and profit by the lesson ; so I called to T., who was encouraging the dog to keep his j hold, and intimated that I thought he would do it much better than I should, and, in facfc, that I should like to see how he went to work. He slung his knife accordingly, and taking the spear, well supported by Archie and the axe, advanced to the attack, leaving me an ardent admirer of the scene, out of range of the charges the brute was sure to make if he escaped from the clutch of Crib. When T. and Archie had got within about ten yards of the boar his eyes seemed to flash fire, and after a series of back jumps and plunges that I fully expected would have "done dentist " to all Crib's teeth, he ended by running sideways in his furious endeavours to rip the dog ; but the old fellow was too wide awake for that little game, and retained his hold in the most miraculous way. When about to plunge his spear into the boar's shoulder, T. slipped and fell, and, had Crib not firmly maintained his hold, the boar would, I verily believe, have been the conqueror of us all. Archie, however, like a good jiplucky fellow as he was, attacked him with his axe, and gave him such a blow on the back as would have been fatal to almost anything but the animal that received it ; but it seemed to have little effect beyond that of diverting hia attention from my friend T., who, on jumping up, renewed his charge with the spear. The boar, however, always managed to turn himself in such a manner as to bring old Crib in the way. At the time I looked en the sport, as they called it, as anything but fun, as the question naturally rose in my mind, " What on earth is to be done if the dogiets go ?" — it seemed so entirely to rest on his powers of endurance. Two or three times was the spear thrust sharply against the boar's sides, but he seemed armour-clad, his enormously thick hide being almost invulnerable ; but at last the right spot was struck, just behind and underneath the fore leg ; the dog, as though he knew all was right, let go his his hold, and T. literallyfrolled the pig over into the bed of the ravine. Here, again, the fight waxed fast and furious. Archie contrived to put in three or four severe axe blows, and I did my possible with as many huge boulders of rock as I could hurl at him over the edge of the bank ; but the boar, taking up his position with hia back to a rock, charged, right and left, keeping even old Crib off, till, by diverting his attention to the right, T. was able to get a fair charge at his left broadside ; and passing the spear completely into and almost through him, somewhere behind the shoulder blade, he literally pinned him down, and Crib, again coming to the scratch, seized him behind the ear, and deliberately sat down by his side, watching the issue of the combat. At least five minutes had theyjto hold him before his struggles ceased ; and there he lay a fine black-and-white fellow, gaunt, bony, and grim, _in the agonies of death, his huge tusks covered with blood and foam, as were also his victors, especially Crib, who received two severe wounds in his foot from being dragged about through the flax and over the sharp scoria and rock. I descended from the bank on which I had surveyed the contest, and after loudly applauding the pluck and activity of T. and Archie, not forgetting old Crib, inquired " Where I should have been in such a fight ? " T. replied, " Where wouldn't you have been? " — a reply which may have seemed very explicit to him, but was by no means clear to me. B. J. G, S.

Encounter with aKangahoo. — The Qippslander of .February lab had the following: — "During the last four months, Thomas Barlow, the Yarram mail contractor, has killed 292 kangaroos in one paddock, belonging to Mr. Win. Buckley, of Wo* ranga. The last was killed on Tuesday. Some being of very large size, there was considerable danger in hunting them. In one instance, where Barlow found an enormous ' old man,' standing in a shallow pond of water, he had tiro dogs with him, one of which attacked the kangaroo, and fearing lest it should be ripped by the infuriated animal he struck at it with a short stick, which snapped in two without hurting the creature. Then commenced a life-and-death struggle. The kangaroo seized Barlow round the neck with his fore-paws, and held him in his em* brace as fast as if he had been in a vice. The two were in this position for about three minutes, being cloiely packed breast to breast. During this time the creature was bumping Barlow on the crown of his head with its mouth, and attempted to raise one of its hind paws to tear him. This he prevented by sticking close to the creature. Whilst in this perilous position one of his dogs seized the kangaroo by one hind leg, and the other jumped upon his master's shoulder, and laid hold of one of the creature's cheeks, who then coolly clasped both the dog and its master, and held them fast. Barlow then made * desperate effort, and managed to trip the kangaroo, when they fell into the water, and lay in a horizontal position. Barlow then managed to get his knife out of his pocket, and. cut the 'old man* throat. It measured eight feet four inches from the crown of I its head to the tip of its tail. During the encounter the victor got terribly bruised about the head, face, and neck. One of his boots was cut through, and his coat torn into ribbons. Barlow, who i« a famed wrestler, and has been engaged in many matches, ■ays he never had such au antagonist to coutend with before, and owes his safety to his presence of |tnind, in keeping no close to the kangaroo as to pre- ' vent its raising its hind foot '"high enough to rip him," <