84 A NATURALIST IN THE GUIANAS 



ferocious breed are reared specially for the ring. The 

 emasculated animals seen at the corridas de toros'^ at 

 Ciudad-Bolivar are not the fierce brutes who kill horses, 

 toreadors, and matadors in the rings of Seville and 

 Madrid. One great improvement in the sport as con- 

 ducted in Venezuela, although but few Spaniards, I am 

 sure, would consider it an improvement, is the elimination 

 of the picadors with their horses. Since Byron composed 

 his splendid stanzas on the bull-ring of Seville so much 

 has been written about bull-fighting in Spain, that a long 

 description of the poor imitation of a Spanish corrida 

 de toros to be seen at Ciudad-Bolivar could not be other- 

 wise than tame ; therefore I have thought it best not 

 to attempt one. In some of the smaller towns where no 

 regular construction for bull-fighting exists, the people 

 find a way of gratifying their ingrained love of this form 

 of sport by letting an ox loose in the principal street, the 

 inhabitants having closed their doors and the ends of 

 the street being barricaded. The llaneros or cowboys of 

 the country, who are experts in the use of the lasso and 

 can successfully dodge the wild rush of an infuriated ox, 

 amuse themselves and the spectators who are safe behind 

 the bars of their windows by torturing the poor animal 

 until he is thoroughly exhausted. Another form of 

 amusement indulged in on Sunday afternoons in some 

 of the streets of the towns, is tilting the ring.^ To an 

 arrangement stretched across the street, rings are attached 

 by long ribbons of various colours. The competitors, 

 mounted on the swiftest horses they possess or can borrow, 

 and armed with long slender poles, assemble at one 

 end of the street. They ride, either singly or by twos 

 and threes, at a furious pace along the street and, when 

 ' Bull-figbts. - Carriras de cintas. 



