The Bears 



119 



wandering throngli the \yoocls to gather this harvest, not forgetting to 

 it comes across." 



roo 



every tree which 



The Indian Sloth-bear. 



Few people would belie\-e that this awkward and ugly beast is so formidable as it is. It 

 is tlie commonest Indian species, seldom eats flesh, prefers sucldng up the contents of a white 

 ants' nest to any other meal, and is not very large; from 200 Ihs. to 300 lbs. is the weight of 

 a male. ]'ut the skull and jaws are very strong, and the claws long and curved. As they are 

 used almost like a pickaxe when the bear wishes to dig in the hardest soil, their effect upon 

 the human body can be imagined. 



Sir Samuel Baker says that there are more accidents to nati\es of India and Ceylon from 

 this species than from any otlier animal. 



^Ir. Watts Jones writes an interesting account of his sensations while being bitten by 



[n,si,i,r .^ / 



A 1.H()^^ N J 1 \R JN >I AK( II ( 1 1\~1 r I - 

 The photogra]ih shows a hear feedint; on insectSj possihiy large auts, ivhich he licks rip from the ground, after scratching them ont with his chaws, 



one of these bears : " I was following up a bear which I had wounded, and rashly went to the 

 mouth of a cave to which it had got. It charged. I shot, but failed to stop it. I do not know 

 exactly what happened next, neither does my hunter who was with me ; but I l)elieve, from the 

 marks in the snow, that in his rush the bear knocked me over backwards — in fact, knocked me 

 three or four feet away. A\'hen next I remember anything, the bear's weight was on me, and 

 he was biting my leg. He bit two or three times. I felt the flesh crush, but I felt no jiain 

 at all. It was rather like having a tooth out with gas. I felt no particular terror, though I 

 thought the bear had got me ; but in a liazy sort of way I wondered when he would kill me, 

 and thouglit what a fool I was to get killed by a stupid beast like a bear. The shikari then 

 very pluckily came up and fired a shot into the bear, and he left me. I felt the weight lift 



off me, and got up. I did not think I was much hurt. 



The main wound was a flap of 



flesh torn out of the inside of my left thigh and left hanging. It was fairly deep, and I could 

 see all the muscles working underneath when I lifted it up to clean the wound." This anecdote 



