THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2328, 13 October 1898, Page 49

THE SKETCHER.

BULL FIGHTS IN LIMA. EXCITING PERFORMANCES PLEASANT FOR ALL HANDS SAVE THE BULL. " There's only one place in the world where one can see the genuine old Moorish bull fight to-day,".said 'a young civil engineer wh."> has knocked about in all quarters of the globe, " and that is Lima , Peru. I've sciii the fights in Spain, and they are enough to disgust a butcher ; but I Avouldn't ask any better entertainment than a Lima bull fight. Theie isn't any cruelty, or blood, or butchery about it doAvn there; but it is tremendously exciting. The corrida is held on Sunday, as it is in Spain, and everybody goes. The- Government officials have a private box, and all the grand stand plays are apimrently made for their especial benefit. One of the great features of the fight is the beauty of the horses. You know how the •Spaniards blindfold poor, decrepit old brutes an I lead them into the ring, and then deliberately expose them to goring by the bull ; but you don't see any of that in Lima. The horses are the finest that can be procured and of great value. They have been highly trained, and are quick and agile as cats. I believe they enjoy the sport quite as much as the men do, and in all the fights I attended I never saw a horse so much as scratched. "The first thing on the programme at a Lima corrida is a drill by infantry soldiers. They salute the officials and retire ; and then, at a bugle call, all Avho are to take part in the pei'formance come, in gay attire, and march up to the Government box. The official gives a signal, and the riders line up opposite the gate. Often there are Avomen among them, and some of them are beauties. The gates are thrown open and the bull rushes in and makes a plunge for the riders. You ought" to see those horses. There's no blind, cataleptic, old street-car nag among, them, and no goring and disemboAvelling' and all that business which Spanish Avomen and children seem to enjoy. The horses prick uo their ears, and arch their necks, and wheel, and dodge, and run, and seem to be having the best sort of time. Sometimes they will have to rear and Avheel like light- ■ nine on their hind legs in order to let the ] bullplunge past ; and they've been knoAA'n Lo ! leap oA^er the bull. The horses, Avhose I riders are waiting to have their turn latfer, , dance and prance, and quiver with excite- ; ment, and act as if they were Avild to get into the game. " The bulls are fine, too. They are bred ' just for the ring, and kept where they hardly ever see a man ; because the wilder the bull is the more blindly he fights, and the less dangerous he is to the men and the horses. I was told that the bulls were worth 1000 dollars each, and sometimes more. They are always in splendid condition, and after the fight the flesh is distributed among the poor. When the bull finds he can't catch the horses he turns around and starts for the capeadores, Avho dodge him and flaunt gaycoloured scarfs in his face, until he gets so mad that he tears up the ground. The most dangerous trick is to run ahead of the bull, trailing the scarf just in front of his nose. I tell you it makes you gasp to Avatch it ; but just when it seems as if the bull Avei'e ready to gore the man jumps the fence. Sometimes the fellow Avill stand while the bull rushes at him, aud just as the bull lowers his head to gore, the man Avill plant one foot betAveen the horns and jump right over the tail, lauding on his feet. I never saw one of the chaps hurt, and their skill is simply wonderful. " The banderillos are clever, too. They carry the little sticks, decorated Avitli bright paper and ending in a tiny hook, and they j catch the hook in the thick skin of the bull's neck. It isn't cruel, because it isn't any j worse than a pin prick ; but the things I dangle and work the bull into a fury, and j then the espada comes in and does his" Avork. He carries a little 'red cloth and a small straight sword. The bull makes a lunge at j the cloth, and the first time he comes at I it in the right position the espada presents j his sAVord and drives it between the bull's shoulder blades. The bull, by the force of his charge, drives the SAvord to its heart, and stops, lets himself clown gently, and dies without airy sign of pain. There are only a feAV drops of blood, if any, because the hermorrhage is internal ; but if the espada does bungle things, Avhich is a very rare occurrence, a man stabs the bull at the base of the skull. " You see no man or horse is hurt in this Moorish bull fight ; and as for the bull, he is put into a bad temper, but he doesn't kuoAv he is going to be killed, and his death is more SAvift and painless than the death an animal meets in the slaughterhouse of any city. The poor people get food through the corrida, and altogether it is a great slioav, an:l not as brutal as the average football game ; but a bull fight in Spain— Avell, that's different." — NeAv York Sun.