REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
113 
esting by the hour together. Their antics do not seem as amusing in 
cages as in pits. The spice of seeming danger in being able to almost 
touch one of them in the open was almost always fascinating to many 
minds, but the danger was decidedly only fanciful, for a bear cannot 
leap even a very narrow chasm. It can climb almost anywhere a fly 
can ; but it cannot spring at all, and so a pit is the safest of all enclosures 
for Mr. Bruin. 
Many wild stories used to be circulated about fearful and wonder- 
ful happenings in the bear pit, even to the extent that a careless nurse 
once upon a time dropped a baby over the railings and it was promptly 
gobbled up by the beasts. But it is needless to say that such emana- 
tions from horror’s brain were entirely without foundation in fact. The 
worst thing that happened there arose from the never-ending cruelty 
of people who thought that teasing the dumb animals was the highest 
form of amusement. Bear baiting was irresistible. They would put 
dainties upon the ends of sticks or umbrellas, and hold them just beyond 
the reach of the eager animals, for the pleasure of seeing them strain 
dangerously across from the pole and almost topple over in their desire to 
get at the proffered morsel. This was thought to be great fun, but the 
old story of what is fun for one might be death for another was never 
truer than in this case. One day a valuable black bear of simply huge 
size did overstrain. He overbalanced and fell to the bottom of the pit, 
sustaining injuries grievous enough to kill him the following day. 
A bear pit is a very difficult thing to keep in good order, and keepers 
have a rather anxious time in attending to it. A den is built in one 
side, and this has a large iron grating that can be lifted or dropped 
by the manipulation of a heavy weight. The bears are enticed into the 
den by biscuit or other delectable morsels, or else guided into it by 
means of a long bamboo. Then the grating is let down, and a ladder 
is lowered by which the man descends to do the necessary work, as well 
as replenish the food bin and refill the water trough. Behind the bars 
the bears are well-nigh frantic in their impatience to get at the food and 
fresh water, and, incidentally, at the man who is so near and yet so 
far away. After ascending the man pulls his ladder away before he 
thinks of raising the grating, because if he left that there one second 
after the bears were released, the nimble things would be half-way up 
and he would be compelled to have a serious argument with two mutinous 
prisoners. 
One Sunday morning, in his haste to get through his work, a young 
man forgot to remove the ladder when he left the pit. Not stopping to 
look behind him, he did not know that advantage had been taken of 
