Page:Pictures of life in Mexico Vol 1.djvu/188

160 now. Exhausted by loss of blood, the bull falls almost immediately, among the plunging spears and the hacking swords; and the poor beast, with prodigious throes and roars of agony, yields up his life a sacrifice to the amusement of the surrounding Christians, who exult in the slaughter, and applaud the actors in the disgusting show.

The affair has given complete satisfaction; but there is yet no sign of adjournment: still the spectators sit, and eagerly discuss the incidents of the hideous exhibition they have just witnessed. The measure of their barbarity is not yet full. A quarter of an hour elapses. After a business-like enjoyment of refreshments, strongly exemplifying their callousness, the doors of the arena are opened again, and this time a bear appears, followed by another bull. The bear is hailed with such extravagant enthusiasm, that his entrance constitutes a sort of triumph—an ovation to the spirit of bloodthirsty cruelty.

It would only disgust the reader to dwell at length on the particulars of this brutal engagement: suffice it to say, that the animals betray the utmost impatience to attack each other, though the bull appears most forward; the bear