There were cattle as well as swine in early Virginia. The obsession of lawmakers with hog-stealing derived, probably, from the ubiquity of this crime. It was more common than theft of other livestock because a) the swine population grew faster than the others; and b) stealing a hog was easier and easier to hide than stealing, say, a cow. The thieves were after meat, generally. A good discussion of this and related issues can be found in the new book by Virginia DeJohn Anderson, Creatures of Empire: How Domesticated Animals Transformed Early America. Doug Deal To subscribe, change options, or unsubscribe, please see the instructions at http://listlva.lib.va.us/archives/va-hist.html