300 



INCIDENTS OF TRAVEL. 



upon him, and perforce he ran round the area, looking 

 up to the spectators for mercy, and below for an outlet 

 of escape. The horsemen followed, " prodding" him 

 with their lances ; and all around the area, men and boys 

 on the fence threw barbed darts with ignited fireworks 

 attached, which, sticking in his flesh and exploding on 

 every part of his body, irritated him, and sometimes 

 made him turn on his pursuers. The matadores led 

 him on by flaring ponchas before him, and as he press- 

 ed them, the skill of the matadore consisted in throw- 

 ing the poiKiha over his horns so as to blind him, and 

 then fixing in his neck, just behind his jaw, a sort of 

 balloon of fireworks ; when this was done successfully 

 it created shouts of applause. The government, in an 

 excess of humanity, had forbidden the killing of bulls, 

 and restricted the fight to worrying and torturing. Con- 

 sequently, it was entirely different from the bullfight in 

 Spain, and wanted even the exciting interest of a fierce 

 struggle for life, and the chance of the matadore being 

 gored to death or tossed over among the spectators. 

 But, watching the earnest gaze of thousands, it was 

 easy to imagine the intense excitement in a martial age, 

 when gladiators fought in the arena before the nobility 

 and beauty of Rome. Our poor ox, after being tired 

 out, was allowed to withdraw. Others followed, and 

 went through the same round. All the padre's bulls 

 were oxen. Sometimes a matador on foot was chased 

 to the fence under a general laugh of the spectators. 

 After the last ox had run his rounds, the matadores 

 withdrew, and men and boys jumped over into the are- 

 na in such numbers that they fairly hustled the ox. 

 The noise and confusion, the flaring of coloured pon- 

 chas, the running and tumbling, attacking and retreat- 

 ing, and clouds of dust, made this the most stirring 



