BEARS. 
2 3 
Allied Forms. 
not hesitate to drive off the bears from their crops and orchards when armed 
solely with a stick. In addition to its skill as a climber this bear is a good 
swimmer. The young, which are nearly always two in number, are born in the 
spring. 
The small variety from Baluchistan, locally known as the Mam, 
and originally described as a distinct species, under the name of U. 
gedrosianus, is chiefly interesting as inhabiting a country of such a totally 
different nature from the typical habitat of the present species. The Japanese 
black bear ( U. japonicus) is so nearly allied to the Himalayan species that it is 
regarded by some writers merely as a local variety, mainly characterised by 
the white mark on the throat being less distinct. It appears to be very common 
in Northern Japan, where it is of great importance to the Ainos, who use its skin 
for clothing, its flesh for food, and the stones in its gall-bladder for medicine. 
Aino houses are commonly decorated with the skulls of these bears; and, according 
to Miss Bird, “ the Ainos may be distinguished as bear-worshippers, and their great 
religious festival, or saturnalia, as the Festival of the Bear. . . In all Aino houses, 
specially near the chief’s house, there are several tall poles with the fleshless skull 
of a bear on the top of each; and in most there is also a large cage, made gridiron 
fashion of stout timbers, and raised two or three feet from the ground. At the 
present time such cages contain young but well-grown bears, captured when quite 
small in the early spring. After the capture the bear cub is introduced into a 
dwelling-house, generally that of the chief or sub-chief, when it is suckled by a 
woman, and played with by the children, till it grows too big and rough for 
domestic life, and is placed in a strong cage, in which it is fed and cared for, as I 
understand, till the autumn of the following year, when, being strong and well- 
grown, the Festival of the Bear is celebrated. The customs of this festival vary 
considerably, and the manner of the bear’s death differs among the mountain and 
coast Ainos; but everywhere there is a general gathering of the people, and it is 
the occasion of a great feast, accompanied by much sake, and a curious dance, in 
which men alone take part. Yells and shouts are used to excite the bear, and 
when he becomes much agitated a chief shoots him with an arrow, inflicting a 
slight wound which maddens him, on which the bars of the cage are raised, and he 
springs forth, very furious. At this stage the Ainos run upon it with various 
weapons, each one striving to inflict a wound, as it brings good luck to draw his 
blood. As soon as he falls down exhausted, his head is cut off, and the weapons 
with which he has been wounded are offered to it, and he is asked to avenge 
himself upon them. Afterwards the carcase, amidst a frenzied uproar, is distri¬ 
buted among the people, and amidst feasting and riot the head, placed upon a pole, 
is worshipped, i.e. it receives libations of sake, and the festival closes with general 
intoxication.” In another part of the country the neck of the bear is broken by 
means of a pole placed across it, upon which a number of men bring their weight 
together. Somewhat similar customs used to take place in Norway when a brown 
bear was killed. 
The spectacled The spectacled bear of the Peruvian Andes (Ursus ornatus), 
Bear. which is the sole representative of the family inhabiting South 
America, is a small-sized black species, which derives its name from the tawny 
