deil come out of the sea, and that he had chased her, roaring and gaping at her heels." One of the bravest of the villagers got a Bible and an old sword to "cunger the deil;" but while he was uttering his threats, along came the creature with such a loud "grumph," that the poor man fell down half dead with fright, and all the rest fled, and then from windows and house-tops peeped at the "monster," until one fellow cried out that it was "the gude man o' the brow's grumphy," and gradually the alarm subsided.
This same pig seems to have frightened many persons at different times, as did another which escaped by some means from a vessel which put into Glencaple Quay, just below Dumfriesshire, and was hunted as a wild beast, and at last slain with a pitchfork by a man, who was termed "stout-hearted Geordy" all the rest of his life for the performance of this valorous exploit.
In 1760 there was scarcely a parish in Dumfriesshire which could muster twenty swine, but within ten years of that time they gradually began to increase, and each farmer took to keeping one or two, and from 1775 to 1780 the trade became pretty considerable. This increase was chiefly owing to the exertions of Lord Graham, of Netherby, who encouraged the breeding and rearing of swine among his tenants by every means in his power, and was the chief institutor and supporter of a market at Longtown, in Cumberland, for the sale of swine and pork.
The next step were the establishments of pig-markets in several other principal towns in the southern parts of Scotland, and small premiums offered on every market-day to the owners of the finest pig or the largest number of good swine brought to the market. Where thirty or forty years ago there was not a pig to be seen, as much as 400l. or 500l. worth of hogs and bacon, or pork, are now sold every market-day. This alteration is ascribed by some persons to the extension of the cultivation of the potato, and the consequent increased facility for feeding and fattening swine; but it may, doubtless, be also attributed to the increasing demand for animal food, the more extended views of farmers and agriculturists of the present day, and an appreciation of the profit and advantage arising from the keeping of these valuable animals.
There is a very good kind which are well made, white in color, have short upright ears, fatten quickly and on little food, and come early to maturity. Crosses with the Chinese have been tried, but they produce too delicate an animal, and consequently have fallen into disrepute. It would, however, be needless to enter into an account of all the varieties of swine now existing in Scotland, as, in describing the English breeds, we shall have to speak of all those which of late years have been introduced into Scotland, and either crossed with the original small, dark, prick-eared Scottish pig or with each other, or retained in their natural state. Henderson says that hundreds of
