BEAES, 167 



helice the Britisli nomads ceased to keep them, and very few are 

 now to be seen in England, though in some places on the Continent 

 they are occasionally to be met with. 



Eobert Southey ^ observes : " At Bristol I saw a shaved monkey 

 shown for a fairy, and a shaved bear, in a check waistcoat and 

 trousers, sitting in a great chair as an Ethiopian savage. This 

 was the most cruel fraud I ever saw. The unnatural position of 

 the beast, and the damnable brutality of the woman-keeper, who 

 sat upon his knee, put her arm round his neck, called him husband 

 and sweetheart, and kissed him, made it the most disgusting 

 spectacle I ever witnessed." 



However easily bears may be tamed, yet they are rough pets, and 

 have generally to be confined when they are full-grown. In the 

 Field for 1867, " Old Log " gives an account of a bear he owned 

 that had been captured -when a cub. " It was perfectly good- 

 natured and full of frolic, and though apt to scratch suddenly 

 when young, lost all propensity to violence as it grew big 

 and powerful. Its great delight was to wrestle with any one 

 who would so indulge it; standing bolt upright, when its muzzle 

 was about level with a man's chin. On such occasions it would 

 never put forth its great strength, but appear to enjoy rolling 

 over on its broad, bushy back. One of the ofl&cers of the Ram- 

 gurh battalion had a rough, stumpy "tangun" or hill-pony, 

 between which and the bear a singular friendship was struck up, 

 and to watch their antics together was a frequent source of 

 amusement with us. The bear would receive the pony standing 

 upright, in ursine fashion, and after some mutual snuffing and 

 gamboling about, administer a tolerable whack on the latter's face, 

 which was usually returned by a vigorous pawing out of the 

 pony's fore-hoofs, sending the bear head over heels. Sometimes 

 this kind of sham-fight waxed warm, and the squealing and 

 roaring of the combatants prodiiced shouts of laughter even 

 amongst the staid native servants looking on." 



In the year 1847, when Frank Buckland was at Christchurch, 

 Oxford, a hamper arrived for him by the railway, and on its 

 being delivered he proceeded to open it, being unaware of the 

 contents. On the lid being removed there jumped out a creature 



3 " Common-Place Book." 



