COCK-FIGHTING. 99 



tention to improve; since cock-fighting,* and 

 the gambling it implies, is here as enthusiastically 

 enjoyed as amongst other of the Malay people. 

 The steel spurs, with which they arm the heels 

 of their game-cocks for the combat, are murder- 

 ous weapons, nearly four inches in length, broad, 

 flat, and both pointed and edged. Only one leg 

 of the bird is thus artificially armed, and the 

 spur is fixed under the sole of the foot, in a very 

 complicated manner. The rajah has many of 

 these fighting birds, which he keeps fastened 

 by the leg to the balcony of his house. It is the 

 sole duty of one slave to attend upon them, and 

 certainly, in size, plumage, and noble bearing, 

 they afford the finest models of game-cocks it is 

 possible to conceive. For the table, however, 

 they do not maintain the same superiority over 



* The Malays, throughout Asia, pursue this barbarous 

 amusement with extreme ardour. Their fowls are bred, 

 selected, and trained with great care. A losing cock is 

 not allowed to live ; and an amateur will often stake the 

 liberty of himself, his wife, and children, upon the success 

 of his favourite bird. The punctilio of the game is, conse- 

 quently, somewhat great. Should one of the two conflicting 

 cocks be slain, the victory is not given to the survivor, 

 unless he exhibits sufficient vigour to peck his dead foe, 

 plucked and otherwise disfigured, a stated number of times, 

 before a cocoa-nut shell, perforated with holes and floating 

 on water, has time to fill and sink 



H 2 



