BEARS. 23 



not hesitate to drive off the bears from their crops and orchards when armed 



solely with a stick. In addition to its skill as a climber this bear is a good 



swimmer. The young, which are nearly always two in number, are born in the 



spring. 



The small variety from Baluchistan, locally known as the Mam, 

 Allied Forms. . . . J -,•,-, • -, 



and originally described as a distinct species, under the name of U. 



gedrosianus, is chiefly interesting as inhabiting a country of such a totally 

 different nature from the typical habitat of the present species. The Japanese 

 black bear ( U. japonicus) is so nearly allied to the Himalayan species that it is 

 regarded by some writers merely as a local variety, mainly characterised by 

 the white mark on the throat being less distinct. It appears to be very common 

 in Northern Japan, where it is of great importance to the Ainos, who use its skin 

 for clothing, its flesh for food, and the stones in its gall-bladder for medicine. 

 Aino houses are commonly decorated with the skulls of these bears ; and, according 

 to Miss Bird, " the Ainos may be distinguished as bear- worshippers, and their great 

 religious festival, or saturnalia, as the Festival of the Bear. . . In all Aino houses, 

 specially near the chief's house, there are several tall poles with the fleshless skull 

 of a bear on the top of each : and in most there is also a large cage, made gridiron 

 fashion of stout timbers, and raised two or three feet from the ground. At the 

 present time such cages contain young but well-grown bears, captured when quite 

 small in the early spring. After the capture the bear cub is introduced into a 

 dwelling-house, generally that of the chief or sub-chief, when it is suckled by a 

 woman, and played with by the children, till it grows too big and rough for 

 domestic life, and is placed in a strong cage, in which it is fed and cared for, as I 

 understand, till the autumn of the following year, when, being strong and well- 

 grown, the Festival of the Bear is celebrated. The customs of this festival vary 

 considerably, and the manner of the bear's death differs among the mountain and 

 coast Ainos ; but everywhere there is a general gathering of the people, and it is 

 the occasion of a great feast, accompanied by much sake, and a curious dance, in 

 which men alone take part. Yells and shouts are used to excite the bear, and 

 when he becomes much agitated a chief shoots him with an arrow, inflicting a 

 slight wound which maddens him, on which the bars of the cage are raised, and he 

 springs forth, very furious. At this stage the Ainos run upon it with various 

 weapons, each one striving to inflict a wound, as it brings good luck to draw his 

 blood. As soon as he falls down exhausted, his head is cut off, and the weapons 

 with which he has been wounded are offered to it, and he is asked to avenge 

 himself upon them. Afterwards the carcase, amidst a frenzied uproar, is distri- 

 buted among the people, and amidst feasting and riot the head, placed upon a pole, 

 is worshipped, i.e. it receives libations of sake, and the festival closes with general 

 intoxication." In another part of the country the neck of the bear is broken by 

 means of a pole placed across it, upon which a number of men bring their weight 

 together. Somewhat similar customs used to take place in Norway when a brown 

 bear was killed. 



The spectacled The spectacled bear of the Peruvian Andes (Ursus ornatus), 



Bear. which is the sole representative of the family inhabiting South 



America, is a small-sized black species, which derives its name from the tawny 



