42 
DOTTINGrS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. III.-B. S. 
country round is either yery dusty in the dry season, 
or very muddy in the wet, I could never bring myself 
to look upon these rides as anything else than a duty 
which one owes his constitution. The moneyed classes 
are fond of indulging in “monte” and similar kinds 
of gambling, and the poorer frequent certain licensed 
places for playing lotto, which on week-days are open 
at night only, but on Sundays at earlier hours. The 
cockpit, to which I was induced to pay a visit, is also 
a great source of attraction, and frequented by both 
rich and poor. The cocks were furnished with very 
sharp knives at the spurs, and cut each other to pieces 
in a moment, so that the real strength of the respec¬ 
tive combatants never could be fairly tried. There 
was a great deal of heavy betting going on, and at 
the termination of every fight much confusion, but 
little heed being taken of the repeated ringing of the 
umpire’s bell. I felt quite ashamed to find myself in 
this place, never having entered a cockpit before, and 
vowed there and then,—as I did at my first and last 
bull-fight,—that I would never be present again at 
such a brutalizing amusement. A few soldiers with 
muskets were standing outside to preserve order, 
and see that nobody entered without paying; the 
money taken at the doors going towards defraying the 
government tax, rent of the place, umpires’ fees, 
etc. If you enter with boots on, you have to pay 
a much larger sum than when you take your boots 
off, not because the place is so nicely carpeted that 
it would suffer by the tread of them,—far from it, 
there being only the bare ground,—but because the 
