THE DOMESTIC FOWLS. 263 



be tolerated by any other nation of the world. In the former an 

 unlimited number of cocks are pitted, of which only the last sur- 

 viving bird is accounted the victor. Thus, suppose there was at first 

 sixteen pair of cocks: of these, sixteen are killed; the remaining six- 

 teen are pitted a second time ; the eight conquerors of these are pitted 

 a third time ; the four conquerors a fourth time ; and lastly, the two 

 conquerors of these the fifth time: so that (incredible barbarity!) 

 thirty-one cocks must be inhumanly murdered in a single battle. 



" Are these yonr sovereign joys, Creation's lords ? 

 Is death a banquet for a godlike soul ?" 



The greatert rivals of the English in the practice of cock-fighting, 

 are the inhabitants of Sumatra and some other parts of the East 

 They indeed pay, perhaps a greater attention to the training and 

 feeding of the birds. They arm one of the legs only, not with a 

 slender gaff', but with a little implement in the form of a scimeter, 

 with which the animals make the most terrible destruction. The 

 Surnatrians fight their cocks for vast sums: a man has been known 

 to stake his wife or children, and a son his mother or sisters, on the 

 issue of a battle. In disputed points, four arbitrators are appointed; 

 and if they cannot agree, there is no appeal but to the sword. Some 

 of these people have a notion that their cocks are invulnerable: a 

 father on his death-bed has, under this persuasion, been known to 

 direct his son to lay his whole property on a certain bird, fully per- 

 suaded of consequent success. 



THE DOMESTIC FOWLS* 



The domestic fowls are too well known to need much description 

 There are many varieties, the 

 most conspicuous of which are 

 the Cochin China, Crested, 

 Bantam, and Bankiva. The 

 Game Fowl was formerly in 

 great request for the cruel 

 sport of cock-fighting, an 

 amusement which, although 

 happily now almost extinct, 

 was in great vogue but a few 

 years since. The Java Fowl, 

 of which the enormous Cochin- 

 China bird is a variety, is sup- 

 posed to be the origin of the 

 barn-door fowl. The cock 

 has been long celebrated for his 

 warlike propensities, and his 

 habit of greeting the approach 

 of morn by his " shrill clarion " 



