150 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
tress than enjoyment experienced — at least, by Eu- 
ropean spectators, to whom the sight of a violent 
death inflicted even upon animals which they na- 
turally hold in dread is, in most cases, a spectacle 
altogether shocking to the better feelings of humanity. 
On the occasion to which I have just referred, after 
the contest between the elephant and buffaloes, a bear 
was introduced before the party assembled to witness 
the sports, and a man undertook to encounter it with- 
out any arms, save a gauntlet made of buffalo horn, 
called a jetty, and described at length in the third 
volume of this work. 
The bear was a large one of its species, and had 
been kept without food for two days, in order to ren- 
der it the more fierce. When first released from its 
den, it paced the ground with a sullen aspect, occa- 
sionally looking up at the spectators and uttering a 
low dismal roar, but showed no symptoms of positive 
exasperation. The moment the man entered, it paus- 
ed, erected itself on its hind legs, and yelled loudly. 
The Hindoo was a tall powerful young man, with 
extremely long arms, a fine expansive chest, and a 
clear beaming eye, expressive of cool determination 
and wary caution. He first commenced operations by 
walking round his adversary, sometimes advancing, 
then retreating — now quickening his pace, then sud- 
denly stopping, all the while distracting the attention 
of his angry foe by numerous contortions of body, oc- 
casionally clapping his hands, striking his chest, and 
springing from the ground with an agility which would 
have surprised the most accomplished “maitre de 
ballet” in Europe. 
