A PECULIAR SPORT.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 222, 19 September 1903, Page 5 (Supplement)

A PECULIAR SPORT.

HOW TRUFFLES ARE HUNTED

WITH PIGS.

The pig is usually considered to bo a, useless sort of animal until it figares in the pork butcher's shop, but in France a pig is essential to what is undoubtedly the most remarkable 3pprt in the world, namely truffle aunting. Truffles are highly relished at the rich man's table, and are a kind af fungus found underground at the roots of oak trees.

The French pigs take naturally" to truffle hunting, and require practically no training whatever, for they consider truffles to be just as delectable as we do, and scent them out on being'i taken to the hunting grounds, and be"gin to dig with their snouts in the ground to unearth the

prize. • . The truffle industry has swollen to vast proportions of late -years, '•■ and over a million pounds' worth are ox-, ported every season. All .the peasants in such regions as Perigord and Vancluse hunt truffles and keep pigs expressly for this' purpose, for the delicacies average 15s. a pound, and a pig will sometimes find 20tfo, or more in one day.

A truffle hunt is the queerest sight imaginable. Soon after breakfast a bevy of farmers driving their pigs before them set out for the woodlands, or reaching. Vhich, the party, breaks up into pairs, or, as more generally , happens, each pig is compelled to work separately, and is then generally more successful. The hunters ai-e guided by the weather,, for on certain days the scent in unnoticeable, while on others it is particularly strong. The trees searched are those around which no verdure will grow, the soil is loamy and moist, having been sheltered by the brandies overhead, for where the sun is able to pour its heat on the ground all day the truffles will not grow../ '■ ■ ■■'■■ ■ •• \ •'-. .. ;■-•■■ . ■ The pig, when brought to the foot of the tree, walks slowly I'ound it with its nose on the ground, sniffing like a dog. When the truffle.is scented it begins ,to burrow ' with its snout, digging up a long gutter. The farmer then draws the animal away from the spot, and gives it a few acorns as a recompense, a pocket full of which he has brought with him. With his hands he begins to pull away the earth until his fingers encounter the truffle, which in shape resembles a potato, and'is of a dark blue colour, almost black.