ly as scavengers until some one discovered that the

ly as scavengers until some one discovered that the flesh was good to eat. Long after the cave man gnawed his first pork chop, pigs still were performing a variety of jobs. In ancient Egypt, pigs were used to tread seed into the ground and thresh grain. Romans swore treaties by touching swords on a pig. Inhabitants of the New For est Jn medieval England were forbidden to keep hunting dogs. But poachers trained pigs to point and retrieve snipe, partridges, rabbits, and other game. Traihed hogs with sens! tive nose6 still sniff out the delicious underground fungi called truffles in southern France. Source of Meat Pigs are most valued, how ever, as quick, reliable sources of meat. They store 35 percent of the energy In their food. In less than four months, a sow can produce a litter of eight or more piglets. The young are ready for market in just six months. Queen Isabella, who enjoyed hunting wild boars, supposed ly encouraged Columbus to take hogs on his second voyage to the New World. Liberated in Cuba and later the mainland, the pig6flourish ed. These early “woods hogs" were admirably suited to go westward with pioneers. The energetic, self-reliant razor backs foraged for roots, i jiyornst b^ecb; mast, insects.