224 BEASTS AND MEN 
penetrating odour. We imagined that the Hindoo was about 
to make a decoction from these plants to wash out the sores 
—but no such thing. He merely tied the branches securely to 
the buffalo’s tail. This so irritated the animal that it lashed 
its tail about, hitting itself over the snout in its endeavours 
to tear off the branches. The constant contact of the snout 
with the shrub very quickly produced a remarkable effect. | 
cannot say whether the worms in the abscess were stupefied by 
the odour, or whether they merely disliked it and endeavoured 
to escape from it. But certain it is, that without further 
trouble they all fell out of their own accord, so that we were 
immediately able to wash out the abscess, and the creature 
was soon completely healed. This affords an interesting 
illustration of the variety of experience which I have collected 
in the course of my business. 
Although this method of healing seems pretty simple, it is 
not more simple than many of the methods which I regularly 
adopt. Except in cases of infectious diseases, I have all my 
lite confined myself to old-established and well-known 
remedies. I rarely call in a veterinary surgeon, and, indeed, 
it would be impracticable for me to do so whenever any of 
my thousands of animals happens to get a cold in the head 
or a pain in the toe. Common-sense is the most necessary 
qualification for dealing with these minor ailments. A 
careful examination has to be made of the sick animal, and 
then one has to take the best means available for getting 
it right again. 
As an instance of my method of procedure in such matters, 
I may recount the story of a polar bear which I purchased 
about forty years ago from the Zoological Garden at Copen- 
hagen. He was an unusually fine and large specimen and 
had been there several years, being probably about twelve 
years old. Owing, however, to the inadequate arrangements 
of the space allotted to him he was suffering from a complaint 
which is very common among polar bears. If any one will 
watch these creatures in a Zoological Garden he will observe 
