A BULL-FIGHT AT DELAGOA BAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10629, 18 December 1897, Page 2 (Supplement)

A BULL-FIGHT AT DELAGOA BAY.

PORTUGUESE CIVILISATION IN ■ AFRICA. • AcoRREsroSDKKT of the Cape Times Rives a description of a " grandioso torneio touro inachieo" given the other day at Delays Bay in honour of the Portuguese Royal Commissioner, Mousinho Albuquerque. It was a rather amusing affair, the bulls failing to enter fully into the spirit of tho Portuguese national sport; but it was a bright and gaudy scene, and attracted 2SUO spectators, which is more than were ever brought together in Lourenee Marques before on any occasion, grave or gay. The afternoon's sport commenced (says the correspondent) with tho appearance of Ssnhor Fortumulo Cngi, who pranced in on a charger from the main entrance. He was beautifully decked out in black satin bodice and side cape, slashed with white satin trimmed with white lace, and a threecornered hat to match, graced with black and white ostrich feathers, brown top-boots. His horse was decorated with ribbons and ostrich feathers, the whole stylo being splondid—an interpretation of the time of Charles I. As master of ceremonies, ho advanced to the front of the Uoyal box, thero bowing profusely for some momonta amidst the cheerß of the audience, and afterwards, in the most polished way, rode around the arena, bowing again and again amidst a perfect ovation. Next entered about thirty footmen, beautifully dressed in true toreador fashion—short Eton jackets ol different coloured plush and velvet, light knee-breeches, white stockings, white starched shirts, bright red neckties, low shoes, with silver buckles, and Spanish broad-brimmed, round hats, peculiar to Madrid and Lisbon. The bull-fighters carried red togas, or theatrical kind ol cloaks, on one arm, used to entice the bull to charge. There are twelve or fourteen of these gentlemen. There are some eight or ten dressed in yellow velvet jackets and crimson breeches, who remove the bull when fighting is finished; and last are the attendants, with long sticks, whose duty it is to attend no the gates on the bull's entrance to the arena. The order is given to open tho stablegate. Everybody is on the tiptoe of expectation and breathless, as wo picture in our imagination a wild bull rushing out bellowing and charging one and all. Here we meet with our first and groat disappointment. The bull has to be progi/cd along and literally pushod into the arena. All the surroundings are perfect, but the bull refuses to charge. There is no getting over tho fact; he is a trok-bull from Swaziland, black -awl-white, with a hide wellmarked with tho unmistakable cuts of the waggon-whip. He stand? there ready to receive the peaceful yoke on his neck rather than to fulfil the expected mission of tossing horse* and men and scattering things generally. All is done that ingenuity can devise to tease the bull into a bad temper; but it is evident that all spirit has been knocked out of the beast long ago in those long* wearisome treks across the endless Bandy flats between Swaziland and Delagoa. At length the horseman plants his lance or dart in the bull's hump. This acts like an electric shock, and makes the animal rear and lash the air with his fore-feet, and shako his head angrily. The lance, owing to its barbed point, sticks in and hangs down, and now Mr. Bull begins to realise his sudden , promotion from tho sleopy waggon to the , centre of attraction of an excited, howling, and applauding audience, and commences to turn the tables in his Afrikander sorb of way. But, after all, there is nob much , danger, aB on top of each horn is fixed a . big brass nob about tho size of a man's fist. The horseman is now handed another lance, and watches his opportunity to get in ! another stab on the neck. It seems the . duty of tho horseman to leave the darb or . lance in the animal. Some English ladies sitting close to the writer were dreadfully [ shocked at first, and remonstrated, saying [ they could nob stand the sight, bub soon . afterwards laughed as heartily as the rest. The horseman gob in two more lances, and . then at a signal stopped, receiving an i ovation of applause as he advanced to the Royal box to bow acknowledgments of his , doxterity. , Tho toroadors aro provided, with two , darts, and stand opposite the bull, holding darts extended at arm's length in the direction of tho bull, expecting the charge. I 11 the bull charges the darts are neatly , planted in the animal's neck or hump, the J operator smartly jumping on one side to p avoid tho rush. There is something very . exciting about this, as all the Portuguese engaged were amateurs. lb is greab fun to j see varying grades of valour in different 3 individuals, One man will shape up to , receive the charge of the bull very much in , earnest; bub ab the last second, when he could plnnb his two darts successfully into J, the animal's neck, he falters and turns tail, -j jumping out of the arena, scrambling over 9 the balustrado head first in the most ignominious way possible. When about a quarter of an hour of this business has gone on, the bull either begins to be really vicious or is entirely cowed, and in either case the besb part of the pantomime business commences. At a sign the ton yellow-jacketed foot-men with crimson breeches come fore ward empty-handed to catch and hold the if bull. The most active of these allows the n bull to charge him ab close quarters, the a man throwing himself botweon the animal's s horns and catching hold any way he can, n his comrades assisting, each catching hold '- of some part, and, literally jumping on top '. of the bull, bring the distracted animal bo

the ground. Then the presentations took place. First the horseman is congratulated by all his admirers mid embraced, while some ribbon or floral decoration is handed down from

the Royal box or principal committee, amidst a shower Of cigarettes, sweetmeats, and small boxes of crystallised fruits and bonbons. Next come the footmen who have successfully stabbed the bull, and, lastly, the man who threw himself upon the worn-out bull's horns, each one bowing to the occupants of the Royal box many times, and then parading around the arena to receive a torrent of hats, which are individually returned by the man in the arena in due acknowledgment.