GUAM ACASTE— SANTA CRUZ 455 



side to straighten her when she grew faint. This procession 

 passed around the plaza and through the principal streets. 

 When we first arrived in Santa Cruz the grass-covered 

 plaza, with the town well under its shed in the center and its 

 border of fairly large higuerones, was entirely open and in the 

 late afternoons was the scene of lively games of "Associa- 

 tion" football among the boys and young men. Professor 

 Tristan told me this game was first introduced into Costa 

 Rica about eight years before among the boys of the Liceo 

 in San Jose and that the latter have carried the game to many 

 parts of the country. On Friday and Saturday the plaza 

 was enclosed by a fence of tree-trunks and boughs, posts 

 being set into the ground and rails tied to these by means of 

 lianas. This was in preparation for the "toros" — bulls — 

 which were one of the chief attractions of the fiestas, begin- 

 ning each of the three days at one o'clock. Two raised plat- 

 forms were also constructed on the north side of the plaza 

 and on one of these we were invited to sit, most of the specta- 

 tors hanging on to the enclosing fences. Some fifteen bulls 

 had been brought to town for the occasion and a separate 

 pen constructed for them next to the churchyard, where 

 they were lassoed and led singly into the plaza by a horseman. 

 The bull was tied in one corner of the plaza while a piece of 

 leather was fastened on its back; a man then seated himself 

 on this saddle and the animal was released. The bull usually 

 rushed away prancing and kicking, the man holding on 

 tightly. Often the bull succeeded in throwing its rider who 

 was then in considerable peril from the fall and from the 

 hoofs as the creature rushed about the enclosure trying to 

 find an opening. Men with pieces of hide or cloth, not often 

 red in color, held or shook these in front of the bull's head 

 as he charged them, the men although on foot leaping aside 

 with much dexterity. If the animal was not very spirited 

 and stood still, a man twisted its tail or prodded or teased 



