398 Voyage of the Novara. 



crowd of curious sight-seers of both sexes are hastening 

 through tlie Alameda Nueva to the arena, there to gloat over 

 the bloody scene. Fully 12,000 to 15,000 human beings 

 throng into the confined area ; each hastily deposits his half 

 dollar {2s.) of entrance-money, so as to get the chance of a 

 better seat. One would think it must be to a splendid soul- 

 elevating drama that they are flocking to listen to, whereas it 

 is but the torture of a wretched herbivore that excites their 

 depraved curiosity. The reader will excuse me for not reiter- 

 ating the loathsome details of an often-told spectacle. 



It is a fact of considerable historic interest that bull-fights 

 are now confined to the Spaniards and to their coloured de- 

 scendants, in the various regions of the globe whither her do- 

 minion has extended, and it seems but a fit pendent, that the 

 laws of the same nation should, in the latter half of the nine- 

 teenth century, condemn to the galleys Roman Catholics who 

 venture to embrace Protestantism. 



We wish here to add one single remark of our own on a 

 feature of the entertainment which we have not seen men- 

 tioned elsewhere, viz. what becomes of the flesh of the 

 animals thus killed. It is forthwith cut ujd in quarters quite 

 close to the arena, and sold at a reduced price to the 

 populace, although it is a well-known physiological fact, that 

 the meat of any animal killed in a state of rabid agony can- 

 not be eaten without prejudice to the health. The negroes, 

 however, erroneously maintain that meat thus killed is far 

 more tender than that of cattle slaughtered in the ordinary 



