96 MY HORSE ; MY LOVE 



intelligence especially fit him, is the national bull-fight. 

 This, in Lima, is the most perfectly-placed spectacle of its 

 kind in the world. No cruelty is permitted there. It is 

 worth the rider's reputation to let his horse be injured, as 

 those ridden are the very choicest from the haciendas. 

 They are trained to the touch of the knee, both hands of 

 the rider being devoted to exciting the wrath of the bull. 

 As the toreador waves his capa, which conceals from the 

 horse the furious oncoming of the enraged brute, a 

 pressure of the rider's knees against the sides of the per- 

 fectly-trained Arab, causes him to swerve gracefully aside, 

 and the bull is carried on far beyond, by his own 

 momentum. As he returns to the charge the horse again 

 coquettes with danger, until, to the sound of the bugle, he 

 prances out of the arena, to let a second horse and rider 

 take his place. Should a horse be injured in this danger- 

 ous play, instead of exciting the plaudits of the audience — 

 as in Madrid and Mexico, where the most worthless and 

 broken-down are used, and gored to death — the rider would 

 have to encounter the angry curses and contemptuous 

 hisses of the multitude. 



' The matador on foot, whose duty it is to finally kill the 

 bull by a sudden and direct plunge of his long sharp sword 

 through the heart — thus causing him no suffering — shows 

 wonderful courage, agility and cool self-possession. He 

 must strike with unerring aim, or his own life will probably 

 pay the forfeit. 



' The scene is one of exciting and pleasing interest to the 

 audience, which may hold its breath in certain portions of 

 it, but only as we do when our acrobats take a flying leap 

 from the topmost height of the circus tent. The bull, 

 having been killed instantly, is hitched to four gaily- 



