C'l^P-^^'-] COCK FIGHTING. 357 



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 

 his 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 sometimes 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 without doing injury. The Chinese shopkeepers 



COCK-SPUR USED IN THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FOR FIGHTING COCKS 



usually keep a pet cock tied by a string to a peg on the path 

 outside the door, and slip out and have a friendly set-to with 

 a neighbour's cock, in the intervals between the arrivals of 

 customers. 



Papal indulgences for sins, and even for crimes, are still 1 ui^s^ •*„ 

 sold in the Philippines, by the Government, at its offices all 1 . . -.• ' 

 over the country, at the same counters with tobacco, brandy, | 

 and lottery tickets, and other articles of which the Government : 

 retains the monopoly. The perpetual right to sell indulgences 

 in Spain and its colonies was granted to the Spanish Crown 

 by the Pope in 1750. In 1844-45 the Government received 

 from this source of revenue upwards of ^58,000.! 



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

 in Nicaragua,'" p. 42. London, John Murray, 1S74. 



f For the most valuable and exhaustive account of the Philippine 

 Islands, see F. Jagor, " Reisen in den Philippinen." Berlin, Wiedmann, 

 1873. For account of Sale of Indulgences, see s. loS. 



