EXHIBITION IN THE RING. 371 



parade their points, to give the behoklers, as it were, an opj^ortunity to form an estimate of 

 their comparative powers, and to make uj) their hetting-books. They soon retired behind some 

 screens placed for the purpose, where all, with the exception of two, were again clothed in full 

 dress and took their position on seats in front of the spectators. 



The two who had been reserved out of the band, now, on the signal being given by the 

 heralds, who were seated on opposite sides, presented themselves. They came in, one after the 

 other, from behind the screen, and walked with slow and deliberate stej^s, as became such huge 

 animals, into the centre of the ring. Then they ranged themselves, one against the other, at 

 a distance of a few yards. They crouched for a while, eyeing each other with a wary look, as 

 if each were watching for a chance to catch his antagonist off his guard. As the spectator 

 looked on these over-fed monsters, whose animal natures had been so carefully and successfully 

 developed, and as he watched them, glaring with brutal ferocity at each other, ready to exhibit 

 the cruel instincts of a savage nature, it was easy for him to lose all sense of their being human 

 creatures, and to persuade himself that he was beholding a couple of brute beasts thirsting for 

 one another's blood. They were, in fact, like a pair of fierce bulls, whose nature they had not 

 only acquired, but even their look and movements. As they continued to eye each other they 

 stamped the ground heavily, pawing as it were with impatience, and theu stooping their huge 

 bodies, they grasped handfuls of dirt and flung it with an angry toss over their backs, or rubbed 

 it impatiently between their giant palms, or under their stout shoulders. They now crouched 

 low, still keeping their eyes fixed upon each other, and watching every movement, until, in an 

 instant, they had both simultaneously heaved their massive forms in opposing force, body to 

 body, with a shock that might have stunned an ox. The equilibrium of their monstrous frames 

 was hardly disturbed by the concussion, the effect of which was but barely visible in the quiver 

 of the hanging flesh of their bodies. As they came together, they had thrown their brawny 

 arms around each other, and were now entwined in a desperate struggle, each striving with all 

 his enormous strength to throw his adversary. Their great muscles rose with the distinct 

 outline of the sculptured form pf a colossal Hercules, their bloated countenances swelled up 

 with gushes of blood which seemed ready to burst through the skin of their reddened faces, and 

 their huge bodies palpitated with emotion as the struggle continued. At last, one of the 

 antagonists fell, with his immense weight, heavily upon the ground, and being declared 

 vanquished, was assisted to his feet and conducted from the ring. 



The scene was now somewhat varied by a change in the kind of contest between two succeeding 

 wrestlers. The heralds, as before, summoned the antagonists, and one, having taken his place 

 in the ring, assumed an attitude of defence with one leg in advance, as if to steady himself, 

 and his bent body, with his head lowered, placed in position, as if to receive an attack. 

 Immediately after, in rushed the other, bellowing loudly like a bull, and, making at once for 

 the man in the ring, dashed, with his head lowered and thrust forward, against the head of his 

 opponent, who bore the shock with the steadiness of a rock, although the blood streamed down 

 his face from his bruised forehead, which had been struck in the encounter. This manoeuvre 

 was repeated again and again, the same one acting always as the opposing, and the other as the 

 resisting, force ; and thus they kept up their brutal contest until their foreheads were besmeared 

 with blood, and the flesh on their chests rose in great swollen tumors, from the repeated blows. 

 This disgusting exhibition did not terminate until the whole twenty-five had, successively, in 

 pairs, displayed their immense powers and savage qualities. 



From the brutal performance of these wrestlers, the Americans turned with pride to the 



