68 ANIMALS IN MENAGERIES. 



purpose of cooling him, the keepers would throw 

 buckets of water over his body : this seemed to give 

 him an extraordinary degree of pleasure. 



The Malay Bear. 



Ursus Malayanus, Raffles, Horsjield. Bruang, Malays. ( Fig. 9. ) 



An adult and healthy individual of this playful and 

 remarkably docile bear, was alive, six years ago, in the 

 Tower menagerie. As a species it was first made known 

 to naturalists by the late Sir Stamford Raffles ,• and 

 subsequently M. Duvaucel furnished us with a more 

 ample and satisfactory account. Dr. Horsfield has like- 

 wise explained its structure with his usual precision. 

 It seems, like all the other bears of India, to be entirely 

 destitute of that savage and ferocious disposition which 

 more or less belongs to all those species inhabiting colder 

 regions. Sir Stamford kept one of these animals in his 

 possession two years, and observes, that " when young it 

 becomes very tame :" the individual alluded to " was 

 brought up in the nursery with the children ; and when 

 admitted to my table, as was frequently the case, gave 

 a proof of his taste by refusing any wine but Cham- 

 pagne. The only time I ever knew him out of humour 

 was when no Champagne was forthcoming. He was natu- 

 rally so playful and affectionate, that it was never found 

 necessary to chain or to chastise him : it was usual for 

 this bear, the cat, the dog, and a small parrot to mess 

 together and eat out of the same dish. His favourite play- 

 fellow was the dog, whose teazing and worrying was al- 

 ways borne and returned with the utmost good humour and 

 playfulness. As he grew up he became a very powerful 

 animal, and in his rambles in the garden he would lay 

 hold of the largest plantains, the stems of which he could 

 scarcely embrace, and tear them up by the roots." * 



In a state of nature, M. Duvaucel remarks that this 

 species, although not very common in any part of India, 



* Linn. Trans, xiii. 254. 



