viz.; the prevalence of the Mohammedan religion, and the sandy, open nature of the country; for it is chiefly in well-wooded if not cultivated districts that we find swine, their nature and habits alike unfitting them for dry sandy deserts.
AFRICA.
In this quarter of the globe again, we meet with but few swine, until we approach the south-eastern parts, and for the same reasons which we have just given. In Abyssinia they are to be found, but they are not held in much estimation. They have been imported into New Holland, Caffraria, and the Cape of Good Hope, but are not kept to any extent, on account of the difficulty of feeding them. In most of these places pork is chiefly used as food for the lower classes, and but little care or attention is bestowed upon the animals; and the breeds greatly resemble the Chinese variety, but are somewhat less, being short-legged, round-bodied animals, of a black or dark brown color, the bristles few and almost as fine as hairs, and the tail terminated by a tuft.
The Coast of Guinea used to possess a breed of swine which have been exported thence as an article of commerce, especially to the new settlements in America and to some parts of the East Indies, and were held in high estimation at that time. But the cessation of the intercourse induced by the slave-trade, and the discovery of more valuable breeds, have rendered these almost forgotten. These animals were large in size, square in form, of a reddish color, the body covered with short, bristly hair, and smoother and more shiny than almost any other variety of the porcine race; the tail very long, and the ears long, narrow, and terminating in a point. This variety is also found in Brazil.
EUROPE.
We now find swine almost universal, and every where, more or less, an object of special care and attention, both as furnishing a valuable kind of animal food, and an article of commerce.
MALTA.
Coming up the Mediterranean Sea we find the small black Maltese breed, the bodies of which are almost bare and smooth, and which fatten so aptly and afford such delicate pork. Spain then offers its breeds, none of which are, however, held in great estimation out of their native country. The chief of these is a short-headed, long, yet round-bodied, dumpty-legged variety, of a reddish-brown or copper color; the skin fine and the bristles slender; it is small in size, very
