THE TllAINING OF COCKS IN VENEZUELA 79 



care, as much trouble being taken with the feathered 

 gladiators as is bestowed in England on a possible Derby 

 winner. Quite a large number of men in the countries 

 I have mentioned do absolutely nothing else for a living 

 but train cocks. They are called cuidadores de gallos} 

 The first operation a bird undergoes as soon as he enters 

 the gymnasium, which, by the way, goes by the name of 

 una cuerda de gallos,^ is performed by the barber of the 

 establishment — a sort of shave and brush up. Some 

 gymnasiums boast of regular artists, whose birds always 

 look spick and span. These men take as much trouble 

 with the feathers of their charges as a Bond-street tailor 

 does with the clothes of a dandy. After the bird has 

 passed through the hands of the barber and tailor he is so 

 altered in appearance that his own mother would not 

 know him. His head, legs, and posterior are bare, and 

 these parts assume after a short time a bright reddish 

 colour. When he is brought in he is sure to be infested 

 with, parasites such as lice and ticks, so he is given a bath 

 of strong rum, with the result that he usually gets very 

 drunk on the first day of his arrival at his training 

 quarters. To the honour of these feathered pugilists it 

 must be conceded that, unlike human beings, they appear 

 to take no pleasure in getting drunk, thus supplying 

 another powerful argument in favour of the inferiority 

 and utter soullessness of the lower animals. The bird 

 having recovered from his intoxication, and having been 

 dosed with some medicine so as to clear his head, enters 

 on the serious work of training. Every cock is fought in 

 some particular weight," known as his weight. If you are 

 being shown around a training establishment, you will be 

 told, that Zambo is a 3.10 ; that Canagiceij is 3.4 ; and 



' Literally, caretakers of cocks. - Training school for cocks. 



