74 THE BULL-FIGHT. 



the square, in which the combatants, either on foot or on 

 horseback, make their appearance: after them two officers 

 of justice, in black robes, and of a grave deportment, ad- 

 vance to the president of the spectacle, and request to 

 have an order for the entertainment to commence. A sig- 

 nal is then given, and the animal, which had been pre- 

 viously shut up in a cabin, with a door opening to the 

 square, rushes forward, and is received by the spectators 

 with the loudest acclamations. The picadores, or combat- 

 ants, on horseback, dressed in the ancient Spanish man- 

 ner, and armed with a long lance, begin the contest ; and 

 if the bull, without provocation, dart upon them, a favor- 

 able opinion is entertained of his courage ; and if, after 

 being wounded and repulsed, he return to the charge, the 

 most enthusiastic expressions of joy are heard ; but if he 

 is struck with terror, and seems anxious to avoid his an- 

 tagonists, he is hooted and hissed by all the spectators, 

 and loaded with reproaches and blows by those who are 

 near him. If after all this his courage cannot be roused, 

 large dogs are let loose against him, and after being torn 

 and mangled, in the estimation of the Spaniards he per- 

 ishes ignobly. The most animated, as well as the most 

 bloody scene, is exhibited with the combatant on horse- 

 back ; for the irritated and wounded animal .sometimes 

 attacks and overturns both horse and rider; and when the 

 latter is dismounted and disarmed, he is protected from 

 immediate danger by the combatants on foot, who endeavor 

 to provoke and divert the bull's attention, by shaking be- 

 fore him pieces of cloth of different colors ; but, in at- 

 tempting to save the dismounted horseman, they are them- 

 selves exposed to great hazard ; for the bull sometimes 

 pursues them, when they escape by dropping a piece of 

 colored stuff', against which the deceived animal exerts all 

 his rage : or, if this resource fail, the combatant springs 

 over a barrier six feet high, which incloses the inner part 

 of the arena. In some places this barrier is double, form- 



