94 SPORT AND TRAVEL PAPERS 



preliminary arrangements for the next match. The birds were 

 certainly magnificent animals, in splendid condition and perfect 

 plumage. There were cocks everywhere some carried under the 

 owner's arm, others standing about on the ground, their liberty 

 restricted by a string attached to one leg ; there were many 

 more tied up all round the yard, and the surrounding sheds 

 were full of them, each bird, however, confined in a cage or 

 fastened to the wall to prevent his indulging his fighting pro- 

 pensities on his own account, and before the owner's money had 

 gone on. A long time it always took to arrange a match ; the 

 cocks had to be compared as to size and weight, they had to be 

 introduced to one another in order to judge by their demeanour 

 whether they would be likely to fight or not. At last, however, 

 the preliminaries are completed, and the bets satisfactorily 

 arranged, the master of the ceremonies rings his bell and the 

 arena is cleared of everybody except the owners of the two cocks 

 about to fight, and the two individuals on whom the most 

 important task of tying on the spurs devolves. Great skill is 

 required for this, which but few can boast of. The spurs are 

 most murderous weapons, and nearly three inches in length 

 shaped like a scythe and sharp as a razor. They are kept in a 

 red velvet case, and are, I believe, made at Birmingham. After 

 examining several at last one is chosen and tied on to the left 

 leg, over a leathern guard fitting over the pared-down natural 

 spur. When this has been satisfactorily accomplished, and the 

 blade guarded by a leathern sheath, the cock is placed in the 

 arena and his blood thoroughly aroused by means of thrusts 

 made at him by another bird held in the hand. At last every- 

 thing is ready, the sheaths are removed and the cocks face each 

 other. After a good deal of sparring and pretending to pick up 

 grains of corn in a perfectly unconcerned manner, while all the 

 time the birds edge towards each other, the attack is made, and 

 in much less than a minute all is over ; the weapons are so 

 murderously sharp that one stab suffices, the cruelty, therefore, 

 if indeed there be any at all, is vastly less than when in 

 England, formerly, the birds, armed with a short spur only, had 

 to inflict many wounds before death, generally from sheer 

 exhaustion, at last put an end to the battle. During the 

 intervals between the fights the musicians played on the 

 marimba some very pretty airs, without, however, very much 



