BULL-FIGHTS. 



101 



been disappointed at Valparaiso by a sham bull- 

 fight, we hoped here to witness an exhibition wor- 

 thy of the mother country. But the resemblance 

 was, I suspect, not less faulty, though in the op- 

 posite extreme ; for the bulls were here put to 

 death with so many unusual circumstances of 

 cruelty, as not only to make it unlike the proper 

 bull-fights, but to take away all pleasure in the 

 spectacle from persons not habituated to such 

 sights. These exhibitions have been described 

 by so many travellers, that it is needless here to 

 do more than advert to some circumstances pecu- 

 liar to those of Lima. 



After the bull had been repeatedly speared, 

 and tormented by darts and fire^ works, and was 

 all streaming with blood, the matador, on a sig- 

 nal from the Viceroy, proceeded to dispatch him. 

 Not being however sufficiently expert, he merely 

 sheathed his sword in the animaPs neck without 

 the intended effect. The bull instantly took his 

 revenge, by tossing the matador to a great height 

 in the air, and he fell apparently dead in the are- 

 na. The audience applauded the bull, while the 

 attendants carried off the matador. The bull 



