Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1898-05-20
FIERCEST OF BRUTES
ODD TRAITS OF THE JAVELlNA OF
THE NORTHWEST.

His FerOcity Is by Word and He VIII
Fight at the Drop of the Hat-The Fate
of a Mail Carrier.
The wild hog of the southwest,
writes II. s. Garfield, is known to ma
turalists as the peccary and to Mexi-
can herders as the "javelina," so call
ed because the spines upon his back
are like spears or javelins. The ami
NAL kingdom does not hold more
cunning, malicious, stealthy and pa
tiently ferocious brute. He is not
/ pretty, but his appearance is as good
as his disposition. He has no morals,
no love of home or family, no graft
tude, no self-respect, no liking even
for his own kind. He will eat any
thing he can swallow and steal any
thing he can eat. Next to inficting
useless and causeless injury, he would
rather fight, and, strong in numbers,
he will fight anything from a 2-year-
old Mexican bay lost in the chaparral
to a puma that has gone a week with
out food. Like any other corsair,
however, his name is linked with one
virtue and a thousand crimes: He
will kill rattlesnakes. He is fond of
their flesh. Certainly no desire for the
betterment of the world leads him to
Stay them. He is not in peril in his
combats with the deadliest monster
of the west. The poisoned fangs are
sent deep into his body, but he goes
away and eats of an herb that no man
has been wise enough to find and re-
turns to dine upon his late foeman.
If everything has it's use in the grand
scheme of creation, the use of the
javelina is to kill rattlesnakes. He
is not good for anything else. His
meat is not edible TO anyone save a
starving man. His hide is valueless
Like other wild animals, the jave-
lima has been beaten back by the ad-
vancing waves of civilization. Tween
ty years ago herds of $50 to 200 were
not uncommon in southwestern Texas.
To-day the largest band does not num-
Der more than fifty. He will not
stand close contact with the works Of
man. He detests the wire fence and
will break it down when he finds it.
He has a peculiar enmity to the do
mesticated dog. Woe betide the
ranch hound that meets him and his
comrades in guilt. The javeina Stays
him forthwith and then of course eats
him. He will root up anything which
he finds planted. Being an omni-
vorous feeder, he will destroy newly
dropped calves and lambs. He is a
2 terror to children who live in lonely
! localities. Ten of him will not hest
tate to attack man. Providence has
been unkind to him in that it has not
7 gifted him with power to climb a tree
But for this defect there would be no
+ escaping him. The javelina is quick
to anger. Indeed, he is in a state OF
, chronic irritation.
e He objects on principle to things
= as they are. He is against the
e government. He is a four-legged an
: archist, hating water and order and
e restraint. His home is any cave in a
| mountain side or hole in river bank
' that he discovers If it be a large
e cave, he is content If a hole in the
- river bank be too small, he will enlarge
it with a good deal of art. He digs
/ out separate chambers and connects
i them with galleries and halls. The
= whole is not unlike the underground
dwellings of the termites, but much
larger.
Manuel Bermaia, who rode the
f mali from old Fort Ewell to Twohig
S was armed, as were all mail carrier.
= in that day, with Winchester under
y knee and revolver buckled to hi.
e waist. He saw a javelina standing il
= the road, shot it, incautiously dis
e mounted to examine it, and was sur
e rounded in an instant by fifty of then
Il that smelled the blood and poured GU
e of the chaparral. His frightened hors,
# plunged away. He managed to gail
t a huisache tree and climbed it. HI
= used up all of the cartridges in hi!
II revolver and in his belt and slew tel
e of the besieging animals. How Ions
5, he remained perched in the tree NJ
= one knows. He must have movet
e about in the branches, for a rotte1
o limb broke with him and he fell. WheI
o he was found only some scattered
r bones and fragments of clothing re
r manned of him. The mail bags hat
e fallen from the horse, and they, too
y were ripped to pieces. The inciden
IS attracted no particular attention. l
e was one of the many unimportan
) tragedies of the southwest. A ney
mail carrier was hired, who let tn
e javelinas alone.
/ Chasing the javelina is a favorit
1, | diversion of the southwestern ranch
It man. He has little to do save watcI
e the increase of his flocks and rol
d shuok cigarettes, and welcomes any
n thing that promises to break the mon
o otony. The wild hog is swift and III.
is firing and frequents only the roughes