BULL-FIGHTING 83 



proceeds furiously. Amidst the din of voices may be heard 

 ' I am for the red cock, twenty pesos.' ' Thirty on the 

 black.' ' Fifty on the red.' ' Done.' 



The setters stand before the judge, arrange the terms 

 of combat, and fix upon the length of time beyond which 

 it is to cease. ^ The spurs of the birds are thrust into 

 limes and withdrawn, there being a widespread belief that 

 the acid juice of limes renders innocuous any poison with 

 which an unscrupulous setter may have smeared the steel- 

 like weapons of his bird. Each setter fills his mouth 

 with water, which he blows on his charge in a cloud of 

 fine spray. This is an art in itself, acquired only by long 

 practice ; if anyone who reads this be incredulous on the 

 point, let him try. 



And now the birds stand face to face in the arena, 

 with a crowd of excited men and boys watching their 

 every movement. Slowly they draw together, each one 

 cautiously noting every action of his adversary. Perhaps 

 there is a wild rush in which one bird is killed outright as 

 if struck by lightning, but this happens rarely, even the 

 best fighters taking several minutes to dispose of an 

 opponent. Covered with blood, with the skin hanging 

 from their heads and necks, sometimes stone blind, stag- 

 gering and falling, but still trying to inflict some deadly 

 injury, unyielding to the last, these noble birds lay down 

 their lives while a mass of howling humanity is making 

 wagers on the result. 



Every town of any importance has its bull-ring, where 

 toreadors and matadors from Spain display their skill or 

 lack of it. In Venezuela bull-fighting is a tame affair 

 when compared with the sport in Spain, where bulls of a 



* Thirty minutes is the time usually fixed upon. If at the end of the 

 thirty minutes the fight remains undecided, it is declared a dr^w. 



G 2 



