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The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction - Volume 10, No. 272, September 8, 1827 by Various
page 32 of 48 (66%)
appropriate parade, this operation goes on amid the sound of a trumpet,
or the playing of a military band. The horsemen are then remounted anew,
and enter on fresh steeds--the door of the den is again opened--another
furious animal is let loose on the possessors of the ring, till ten or
twelve are thus sacrificed.

The bull-fights in Lisbon are a very inferior species of amusement to
this, though much better than I was led to anticipate. Here the bulls
are generally not so strong or so spirited as the Spanish breed. In the
morning of the sport, the tips of their horns, instead of being left
sharp, are covered with cork and leather. None but one horseman appeared
in the ring at a time--no havoc was of course made among the horses;
bulls were introduced and baited without being killed, and the matador,
though he sometimes displays the same dexterity, never encounters the
same danger as in Spain. In Lisbon the most interesting part of the
sport consists in an operation which could not be practised in Spain,
and is conducted by performers who are unknown where bull-fighting is
more sanguinary. These performers are what they call here _homens de
furcado_, or men of the fork; so denominated from their bearing a
fork with which they push or strike the head of the bull, when he throws
down a man or a horse. After the bull, not destined to be killed, has
afforded amusement enough, these men go up before him, one of them
trying to get in between his horns, or to cling to his neck, till the
rest surround, master him, and lead him out of the area. The _man of
the fork_, who gets between the bull's horns, is sometimes tossed in
the air or dashed to the ground, and in this one of the chief dangers of
the fight consists. On Sunday one of them was dashed down so violently
as to be carried out of the ring in a state of insensibility. Only four
bulls were killed out of the twelve exhibited. The rest being reserved
for future sport, were either dragged out of the ring in the manner
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