Beadle's Half Dime Library Vol. XL, No. 1020 — page 8: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

8 Brazilian was lying on the floor from a terrific blow between the eyes, Just at this moment, several English sailors entered the room, and, sceing that we were Americans, of course took the landlord’s part. The latter was but little hurt and soon got up, mutteripga great string of oaths, the usual consolation of the Spaniard, but, this time, in a much lower voice, and tak- ing care to be out of the reach of Tony’s power- ful fist. ‘“ Hit’s ha hawful mean shame for to see ha poor cuss treated hin that ’ere way,” mused one of the Englishmen to his comrades, in a tone so loud that it was evidently meant for our special bencfit, ‘““That’s so! Shiver my timbers eff I would stand it eff I was the Spanish cuss,” was the elegant rejoinder. ‘* Whoever don’t like it, can take it up when- ever he wants,” bluntly interposed Tony. ** His that’ere remark hintended for me?” ask- ed the first speaker, ‘+ Well, it is,” said Tony, ‘‘ and so is this ’ere,” And before I could guess his intention, or move an inch to hinder if, down went the cock- ney before the same stanch fist of the Yankee sailor. The rest of the Britishérs immediately sprung forward to avenge their comrade’s fall; and, as [ couldn't stand by and see little Tony overpowered, Lalso wentin. There were ten of them, atleast, and we were soon on the verge of destruction, when our cries for help reached the ears of friends outside, and in dashed Old Nick and Bluefish, at the head of a dczen cr more of our lads, when the way that the Britishers and that entire gin-shop was cleaned ouf was a eaution. Three policemen now dropped in, but we dropped them in as summary a way as the rest of them, and made our escape up the street, s This may be a rude picture, but it is one of truth, and I merely give itasasample of sail- ors’ life ashore in foreign parts. But there were other scenes in our Brazilian experience that wcre much more novel and satisfactory than the foregoing. The town it- self -or, rather, city; foritis a large place—is full of interest to the foreigner, The men are mostly very homely, the women very pretty. The higher classes make a great display in a worldly way. I have seen as ele- gant ‘‘ turn-outs’’ here, asin other parts of the giobe. The ladies—some ot them—are attired with unparalleled magnificence. You know it is a country of diam-nds. ‘Che ladies sport a g°od many of them, but they have another kind ef ornament which, perhaps, will be new to most of you. Thisisa pecuiisr kind of firefly which the ladies wear in their hair, 1 have seen them fastened among toe black locks of a Brazilian belle at night-time, when the effect was striking in the extreme. Gambling is very prevalent among the peop ’e. Eiven the lowest classes are infatuated with their favorite game of monte. They play the clothes off their backs, and would piay the hair off their heads, if they wore wigs. They are great lovers of spicy food, Lke all the rest of the South Ainericans,a43 well as the Mexicans. The amount of red peppers which a genuine Spanish- American will cousume at one sitting would make a Yankee sneeze for tha balance of his lifetime. They stew itaud fry it and broil it, and eat it as we do tomatoes, When I was in Mexico, the body of a Mexi- can, who had died of exposure, remained all night exposed on the mountains, where the wolves are as thick as grasshoppers, and we found the body next morzing untouched. i verily believe that Le was so excessively pep- pery that the wolves couldn’t find palate or stomach fcr him. Another favorite article of food is the inevi- table tortillo, This is almost identical with what our hunters and soldierscallslapjacks, It is a sort of pancake in a modified form, and goes very wellona bungry stomach. There are also many lamentable things to wit- nessin Brazil. The condition of the siaves is wretched in the extreme. Never—except, per- haps, it was in the Isle of Franece—did I witness the yoke of slavery fit the neck of the poor ne- groso gallingly as et Rio; and I was told that the condition of the slaves further up the coun- try—especially in the diamond districts—was even more deplorable. But my intention is to devote myself mainly to the fun we bad, so we will quit this distress- ing subject for a livelier theme. Oneof t e greatest attractions which Rio af- forded us was the inevitable bull-fight. Great preparatioz s had bren making for one of these performances before we arrived. Of course, as soon as we ect wind of it on board the Queer Barney Blake, the Boy Privateer. | i TT LLL LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LL LL LLL A Te Sk BNR AN NS ad NE BA Fish, every man was wild to see the show. The dear little captain wished to oblige us all; but, asall could not go, it was decided who should, by lots. It was my fortune to be one of the lucky ones, So, onan exceedingly bright morning in the month of July, we—about twenty of us—landed at Rio to see the bull-fight. The affair was to take place at a distance of several miles from the city, and we had taken the precaution, sev- eral days beforehand, of securing conveyances, These were nothing to boast of. They consisted of one barouche, an old-fashioned transporta- tion wagon, and a light, rickety affair, with shafts about fifteen feet long, which is of very | frequent use in Spanishcountries (vide Havana). We made some wry faces at seeing these turn- outs, but the horses attached to them looked spry, and we were resolved to make the kest of the bargain. We were soon seated, or, rather, heaped upon the sorry vehicles, the drivers cracked their long whips,and away we went through the narrow streets of Rio, singing songs, yelling discordantly, and getting outside of a large amount of bad alcohol. At length we reached the plains back of the city—the pampas—the broad, glorious, rolling pampas; and we could see tho inclosure where the bull-fight was to take place, together with the flag-decorated, red-roofed buildings sur- rounding it. A vast concourse had preceded us there, but we had secured seats beforehand, and had no difficulty in reaching our places. ‘Those Brazilians in our immediate vicinity must have rem >mbered for alongtimethecrowd of Yankeo | privateersmen, These Spanish peoplo have ways | and manners very singular to a foreigner. While we were waiting for the bulls, all the la- dies amused themselves with smoking their uni- versal cigarettcs and fanning themselves. They never stop smoking, save, perhaps, to make and | light a new cigar, and it has often been a matter | of reflection to me, how they could keep up that everlasting fanning of their pretty faces. They never stop. The fin keeps moving incessantly. They must be very powerful in the right arm. Tam sure it would make m9. or any otherstrong | man, very tired toswing one vf those fans for | half an hour, yet these pretty ladies keep it up | continually and never seem fatigued. Woile waiting for the bulls, the men either talk to the ladies or play monte among them- selves. They frequentiy quarrel during their games, talk very boisterously, lay their hands on their knives, and look very savage. But gaming quarrels among them very seldom go any further, We had plenty of time to observe all these things, as we were fully half an hour before the time, as was almost everybody else. We spent a portion of our time in eating Brazil-nuts, oranges, bananas and and other fruit, with now aud then a cheer or two for the Qn-er Fish and the flag that flew at her peak. The native po- iicemen would bob up and down abouf us, en- deavoring to maintain better order, but not lik- nlg to arrest any individual one of us, while they did not dare to attempt a whole arrest, All this weary interval of waiting an American eaferer wouli have filled up with strains of music; but not until almost at the moment of the commencement of the performance, did the Brazilian musicians (wretched ones) discourse their strains, At last, however, the band pealed out, and the performers came running into the ring, The fizhters of the bull, on this occasion, wereof two classes. One class consisted of men, dressed in | tightsandspangles, afterthe manner of ourci: cus | actors. Thesemen boreredscarfsor flags, where- | = Se AC * an Se re Ne with to blind the beast, while each of them car- ried anumber of little darts at his belt. The | darts werea sort of fireworks. one of the various | wodes adopted for the torture and goading of the bulls. The other class consisted of the matadores, whose duties are of a more san guinary nature than their brothers cf the arena. Most of them on this occasion were mounted, and armed with spears, but the most famous were on foot, armed simply witha long, | sheathless rapier. These latter are in a bull- | fiehuing country about the same as first-class | theatrical performers are in America and Eng- | land. . They become very famous when success- ful, and star it through tke country in the same | way as our actors. The main office of the star matadore is to give the finishing blow to the bull—the hight of the accomplishment being in the art of killing at a single, graceful thrust of | tbe sword. : When the performers had taken their posi- tions, a signal from the majer domo caused the opening of a suspicious-looking dosr at the up- | per end of the arena, and out bounded an enor- { | ‘right behind the shoulder-blade. finale. mous black bull, with a bellowing noise, and lashing his sides furiously with his tail. The game now commenced in earnest. The ball was opened by one of the horsemen couching his spear and rushing in to the attack, - But, quick as a wink, and es lively asa cat, the bull leaped on one side, avoided the thrust, and ripped up the matadore’s steed, killing him in- stantly. The po: r bull-tighter was hurled high in the air, and fell tothe ground. I looked to see him destroyed instantly. But now the flag- bearers rushed in, flinging their red scarfs over the animal’s horns, and engaging his attention until their discomfited comrade recovered, and was enabled to limp out of thering. The other horsemen, three in number, now spurred for- ward, and succeeded in inflicting several painful wounds, Infuriated with agony, the bull rushed at them blindly, this way and that: but they glided away from him, and inflicted new wounds. At last the flagmen (I forget what the Span- ish name fcr them is) rushed in and flung their little darts into the animal's side. The torch was appliid immediately afterward, and the bull was transformed into an enormous fiery porcupine, and a very frightful-looking figure he cut. Although considerably enfeebled by loss of blood, the ungovernable fury of the bull sustained him for another assault, when he gored another horse and tossed the rider almost to the top of the pavilion. But now the master of ceremonies gave the signal, and one of the Pore matadores stepped out, sword in and, There were three of these men. They had re- mained standing motionless in a very noncha- lant way, waiting for the signal of the coup de grace, ‘The one who now stepped out to the task, was a lithe, handsome fellow. With a light bound, be sprung at the side of. the bull, avoided the side-sweep of his angry horn, and plunged his weapon in the animal’s neck. A storm of hisses burst from the audience, for the blow was not the death-blow; and tie matadore recovered bis sword and returned to his former position; for one of the rules of the bull-fight is that the blow which is intended to eee must aot be repeated, if it be unsuccess- ful. And now, at another signal from the major domo, an old matadore, who had stood gravely in front of us throughout the entire perform- ance, now advanced easily toward the buil, who made a staggering charge uponhim. But he easily evaded the charge, gained the animal’s side, and drove in his thin sword to the hilt, This time it was the coup de grace. The bull stumbled for- ward, and then fell to the ground dead, while a thundering cheer greeted the successful mata- dore, who bowed carelessly, as if he was used to it, wiped his sword, and quietly resumed his former position. i at Now the supernumereries entered the ring, with a wagon, to remove the dead bull and — horses and other débi is. Several other bulls, more or less formidable, — were disposed of in rapid succession. But the greatest bull was reserved for the A hum went through the audience as he | Sprung into the arena. 1 think I never saw a | nobler animal than this bull. He was of a _ bright bay, and as glossy as the costliest satin. | Hiseyes were brilliant and large, The strength as displayed in the splendid limbs and glorious neck was prodigious, All ‘‘our crowd” sent up a rousing cheer as soon as this animal made its appearance. Well, the usual through with at first. The horsemen charged; one of the horses was killed; the flag-bearers charged, and one of them was killed. The fire- works kad become exhausted; so that part of the show—a very disgusting part to me, The mas- ~— ter of ceremonies seemed loth to give the | signal for the death of this noble beast. — I must say — had to be skipped. And while he was deliberating, the bull made sudden and most’ effective charge performance was gone © N / upon all the horsemen and flagmen, who ~ were. very injudiciously, all grouped together, The result was that two horses were immediate- ly overthrown and disabled, ore of the flagmen — was immediately killed, and another one badly hurt, while one of the three matadores,* who bad been in the group, was tossed high into the * Matadoreis a name applied generally to the men who attac the bull, either on horse or on feot; but — the dis'inctive and legit applie to whose ee COn cy —-) meaving of the term |