Bears (Asiatic] . 



22 I 



" hattees" who disliked them more than I think they 

 did tigers. Although in Burma bears of the two 

 varieties named are very plentiful they are seldom 

 seen and therefore but seldom shot. They have 

 glossy skins with short smooth hair, muzzle blackish, 

 but face, mouth, and lower jaw a dirty white ; throat, 

 black ; and large heart-shaped white mark in the 

 U. Malayanus, and a chestnut one in the smaller 

 species. The head is flattened and very short ; ears 

 very small, smooth and round. It is very powerful, 

 but somewhat less than the Indian variety. They 

 have immense claws for their size. 



When a youngster I obtained a month's leave, and 

 had been shooting with various success, but as luck 

 would have it, one day I lost my way by attempting 

 to take a short cut, got benighted and slept in the 

 ruins of a village which had been deserted on account 

 of man-eating tigers, and not without great difficulty 

 at last reached Mulkapore, where cholera was raging 

 at the time. My servants urged me to go on, but I 

 was tired and refused to budge. In fact, cholera is 

 so prevalent in India, one gets used to it, and as long- 

 as you are not afraid of it, and don't think about it, 

 you run little or no danger of infection. I engaged 

 the best shikarie, and he promised to show me a 

 famous locality for bears. At the time there was 

 a full moon, and I was up and away by 3 A.M., 

 it being necessary to take up our position close to 

 the bears' dens before daylight, as these beasts feed 

 all night and return to their homes at dawn. We 

 had a long distance to go, but at last, about 5 A.M., 

 when it began to drizzle with rain, we got to the 

 caves and crept almost into them, to keep ourselves 



