The Spanish Fighting- Bull 201 



Nowhere can the exciting scenes of the Tentadero be witnessed 

 to greater advantage than on those wide level pasturages that 

 extend from Seville to the Bay of Cadiz. Here, far out on 

 spreading vega ablaze with wild fiovvers, where the canicular 

 sun flashes yet more light and fire into the fiery veins of the 

 Aiidaluz — here is enacted the first scene in the drama of the 

 Tort'O. For nges these fiower-strewn plains have formed the 

 scene of countless tentaderos, where the young bloods of 

 Andalucia, generation after generation, rival each other in feats 

 of derring-do, of skill, and horsemanship. 



The remote estancia presents a scene of unwonted revelry. 

 All night long its rude walls resound with boisterous hilarity — 

 good-humour, gaiety, and a spice of practical joking pass away 

 the dark hours and by daylight all are in the saddle. The young 

 bulls have previously been herded upon that part of the estate 

 which affords the best level ground for smart manoeuvre and 

 fast riding, and the task of holding the impetuous beasts together 

 is allotted to skilled herdsmen armed with long gctrrochas — four- 

 yard lances, with blunt steel tip. All being ready, a single bull 

 is allowed to escape across the plain. Two horsemen awaiting 

 the moment, spear in hand, give chase, one on either flank. The 

 rider on the bull's left assists his companion by holding the 

 animal to a straight course. Presently the right-hand man, rising 

 erect in his stirrups, plants his lance on the bull's off-fiank, near 

 the tail, and by one tremendous thrust, delivered at full speed, 

 overthrows him — a feat that bes^^eaks a good eye, a firm seat, 

 and a strono- arm. Some youns^ bulls will take two or more falls ; 

 others, on rising, will elect to charge. The infuriated youngster 

 finds himself faced by a second foe — a horseman armed with a 

 more pointed lance and who has been riding close behind. This 

 man is termed el Tentadoi\ Straightway the bull charges, 

 receiving on his withers the garrocha point ; thrown back thus 

 and smarting under this first check to his hitherto unthwarted will, 

 he returns to the charge with redoubled fury, but only to find 

 the horse protected as before. The pluckier spirits will essay 

 a third or a fourth attack, but those that freely charge Uvice are 

 passed as fit for the ring. 



Should a young bull Hvice- decline to charge the Tentador, 

 submitting to his overthrow and only desiring to escape, he is con- 

 demned — doomed to death, or at best to a life of agricultural toil. 



