120 



THE AMERICAN POULTERER'S COMPANION. 



the beau ideal of a fowl, the true aristocracy of 

 the genus gallus. It is not wonderful that he 

 should have been a favorite equally with the 

 refined and intellectual Greeks and the hardy 

 and daring Romans. 



The Romans, whose taste for sanguinary spec- 

 tacles is notorious, were extremely partial to 

 the amusement of cock-fighting, and trained 

 birds for that purpose. Indeed the taste for 

 this cruel sport seems to be very general ; the 

 Mussulman natives of India are greatly addict- 

 ed to it, and one species of Jungle fowl called 

 Sonnerat's Jungle Fowl, is in high request. This 

 bird, though smaller than the domestic breed, is 

 superior in spirit and endurance, and usually 

 proves victorious in combat. The Chinese are 

 devoted to the sport ; and the natives of Suma- 

 tra enter into it with so much ardor, that instan- 

 ces, it is said, have occurred of men staking not 

 only their goods and money, but even their 

 children on the issue of a battle. 



In England the same taste long prevailed, 

 but happily the practice, " more honored in the 

 breach than in the observance," is now greatly 

 on the decline, if not obsolete ; it is, indeed, in- 

 compatible with the diffusion of knowledge and 

 the progress of the age, the tendency of which 

 is to humanize mankind, and lead the mind 

 from sordid and debasing pursuits to sources of 

 intellectual enjoyments. 



The Manilla Indians, in common with all 

 Malays, are passionately fond of cock-fighting ; 

 but they are not permitted to indulge at pleas- 

 ure this inclination. An Indian rarely walks 

 out without a cock, and as soon as he meets 

 another Indian with one under his arm, the two 

 birds are set down and immediately engage ; but 

 battles with gaffs or steel spurs are only per- 

 mitted in a place formed for the purpose, which 

 is farmed from the king at a rent of twenty or 

 twenty-five thousand dollars ; here the Indians 

 assemble, and frequently bet on their favorite 

 cocks the whole of what they are worth. The 

 fate of the gamesters is soon decided, for the 

 cocks being armed with sharp spurs, one or the 

 other is killed almost in an instant. 



A cock-pit, like a race-course, in a sporting 

 point of view, in England, was for every person, 

 and selection of company was entirely out of 



the question. The noble lord and the weedy 

 commoner were both at home after they had 

 paid their tip for admission ; and persons who 

 enter the pit to sport a crown, bet a sovereign, or 

 put down their pounds, are too much interested 

 upon the main to consider whom they may chance 

 to " rub against" for the time being. 



Cock-fighting, which among us is regarded 

 as barbarous and vulgar in the extreme, is in 

 Mexico by no means a peculiar amusement. It 

 is universal, and stands second only to the bull- 

 fight. 



Waddy Thompson, in his "Recollections of 

 Mexico," gives a very interesting description of 

 a cock-fight which he witnessed. "When I 

 first visited Santa Anna at Encerro," says Mr. 

 Thompson, " he was examining his chicken 

 cocks, having a large main then depending 

 he went round the coops and examined every 

 fowl, and gave directions as to his feed ; some 

 to have more, others to be stinted. There was 

 one of very great beauty, of the color of the 

 partridge, only with the feathers tipped with 

 black instead of yellow or white ; and the male 

 in all respects like the female, except in size. 

 He asked me if we had any such in this country, 

 and when I told him we had not, he said that 

 if that one gained his fight he would send him 

 to me he was the only one of fifteen which 

 did not lose his fight ; and shortly after my re- 

 turn, when I visited New York, I found the fowl 

 there. I had thought no more about it, and 

 had no idea he would send him. 



" In Mexico there is no variety of sport that 

 produces a more general excitement than the 

 cock-fight. It is not confined, as might be sup- 

 posed, to any particular class of persons. Be- 

 tween the generalissimo of the army and the 

 rawest recruit the President of the Republic 

 and the humblest hind the Archbishop of the 

 Church and the meekest member, there is no 

 difference. In the amphitheatre, side by side, 

 stand the priest and the peasant, the hunter and 

 the herdsman, the shopman and the soldier. 

 In juxtaposition may be seen the old man, 

 whose dangling locks are white as the polar 

 snows ; the slender youth, whose limbs are slow- 

 ly rounding into manhood, and the truant boy, 

 scarce old enough to lisp his Spanish name. 



