When the
door of the den which encloses the bull is opened, and the noble animal
bursts in wildly upon this, to him, novel scene--his eyes glaring with
fury--when he makes a trot or a gallop round the ring, receiving from
each horseman as he passes a prick from a lance, which enrages him still
more--when, meditating vengeance, he rushes on his adversaries, and
scatters both horsemen and bandarilleros, by his onset, ripping up and
casting the horses on the ground, and causing the bandarilleros to
leap over the railing among the spectators--or when, after a defeated
effort or a successful attack, he stands majestically in the middle
of the area, scraping up the sand with his hoof, foaming at the mouth,
and quivering in every fibre with rage, agony, or indignation, looking
towards his adversaries, and meditating a fatal rush--the sight combines
every element of interest and agitation which can be found in contempt
of danger, in surprising boldness, and great animal force intensely
excited. The horns of the Spanish bull are always sharp, and never
covered. An animal of sufficient power and spirit to command popular
applause frequently kills five or six horses, the riders taking care to
fall over on the side most distant from the enemy, and being instantly
relieved from their perilous situation by the bandarilleros, who attract
his attention: and the bull himself is always killed in the ring by the
_matador_, who enters in on foot with his bright flag in the left
hand, and his sword in the right, and who, standing before the enraged
animal waiting the favourable moment when he bends his head to toss
him on his horns, plunges his sword into his neck or spine in such a
fatal manner that he frequently falls instantaneously as if struck by
lightning.
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