The Physician Feels Insulted» 
83. Fever had now taken complete liold of me and notified its pres- 
ence every tliree days in suck a manner, as even to arouse the pity of the 
village Piai-man who during one of the attacks came of his own accord 
up to my hammock, blew into my face, kept on muttering some uniutpj- • 
ligible words between his lips and then started blowing upon me again. 
Though the circumstances under which I was labouring were not condu- 
cive to make me laugh, the inclination finally reached such a pitch, 
that I coiüd no longer restrain myself. Insulted and angered, the sym- 
pathetic pliysician turned away, and on the following day, Avhen the 
fever was still shaking me up, told all his wards that it was my punislr 
ment for having ridiculed his yesterday's incantations. 
Si. ,T^e weariness which the troublesome presence of the fever 
would have otherwise entailed while lying in my hammock, was dissi- 
pated by the strange and funny antics of a young ant-bear [Mijniieco- 
phaga jubatu Linn.). Our huntsmen, on the day after our arrival, had 
brought him home from the savannah, where they had found him in com- 
pany with his mother, but had managed to secure him before making his 
escape on her rescuing shoulders. For the first two days he was uncom- 
lijonly wild, and only rarely ventured from the darkest lurking-place of 
the house. Should anyone approach, he immediately took up the defen- 
sive, but in such a manner that caution was necessary even for the 
bolder ones. While he squatted and pressed the left fore-foot into the 
ground, he let out at the disturber so powerfully with his right that eveiy 
blow with Ms long hard claws would certainly have torn aAvay a not 
inconsiderable piece of flesli. Were he attacked from behind, he altered 
his jjosition as quick as thought, and should it hapj)en to be foom all 
sides he threw himself on his back and hit out with both fore-feet, all the 
time making an ill-tempered and angry noise that was vei-y like the 
gmwYmg of a little pup. Often enougii this was mingled with the loud 
OTOtcry of the young hunting dogs whose friendly intention of playing 
with their new companion would be followed by tlie most piteous sounds 
'from the little stranger. Were He to seize one of them, the latter could 
only be released with the combined help of several Indians from the 
deadly embrace in which he clasped the obtrusive offender with his 
crossed fore-paws. As the ant-bear has neither hole nor habitation 
wherein to have a sleep, it seems that Nature lias supplied him Avdtli 
the long-haired tail as cover from the cooler night and from rain; our 
little prisoner, at any rate, put it to this use. When he lay down to sleep, 
he either drew all his four feet together underneath his belly, or else he 
assumed the position of a f5leeping dog, and spread the tail only over his 
head and fore-part of the hoäy. It was astonishing to me how his entire 
body always felt ice cold. When quiet reigned in the house, he raised 
his pointed snout, sniffed a few times in the air around, got up and ran 
about the place when his trunk-like nozzle almost touched the ground. 
If he got close to a dog or some other object, he immediately squatted on 
his hind feet, stuck his nose in the air, sniffed and investigated in all 
quarters, and then groAvled and groused until he finally moved off agaiii 
on his original track. As a result of all my observations, but particularly 
from the fact that he frequently ran up against articles that stood in his 
