THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. 41;; 



It would be hard to say whether the Chinese coolies, who mux- 

 be seen closely packed aloft, with their legs overhanging the 

 arena, are the more eager spectators, or the darker skinned 

 Malays. The money bet is thrown in a heap at the feet of the 

 judge, in the dust of the arena. There is plenty of gold amongst 

 it, and unless a certain amount is staked, the particular fight 

 arranged is not proceeded with. There are loud shouts of offers 

 on one colour or another, the black cock against the red, the 

 brown against the white, and so on. 



The spurs used for fighting are quite different from those 

 formerly used in England, which were conical, and fastened to 

 the natural spurs of the cock, or to the bases of these pared 



COCK-SPUR USED IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FOR FIGHTING COCKS. 



down. The Philippine spurs are curved blades, like those of 

 penknives, and are fastened by a steel loop over the hind toe of 

 the cock, and secured by means of two prongs, which embrace 

 the base of the natural spur.* Hence the bird deals Iris blow at 

 the end of a longer lever. A single blow often lays the opponent 

 dead. The spur blades are kept carefully covered with leather 

 sheaths and as sharp as razors. If a cock runs away, as is some- 

 times the case, he is counted beaten. I was told that some of 

 the cocks survive three or four years, and kill twenty or thirty 

 opponents. 



When not actually fighting their cocks, on the few days 

 intervening between the festivals, the natives train the birds and 

 teach them to fight, squatting opposite one another, and holding 

 the birds by the tails, and allowing them to strike at each other 



* Similar spurs are used in Nicaragua. Thos. Belt, " The Naturalist 

 in Nicaragua," p. 42. London, John Murray, 1874. 



