The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-28

abridged Portuguese bull fight at Mon
tenor q NOVo, a small place across the
Tagus, near enough to the capital to
be fairly accessible to energetic sports,
but outside Of the municipality of Lis
bon. There when the curse of each
bull neared its end a number Of sturdy
fellows, wearing the red or green cot
ton nghtcaDs ana other distinctive
and gaudy hnery Of the AlcmtejO farm
labOrCr, entered the ring, carrying
pitChfOrks. There were about ten of
these furCadS. one of them, who act
ed as leadcr-cabO dos furcadOS-fOr
that turn, carried no pitchfOrk. The
cabO, leaving his followers lounging
oXpectantly about the barrier, walked
jauntily toward the eXasperated bull,
took off his cap and Haunted it, call
ing, "Oh, BOc!" Doe" put down his
head and prepared to charge, The
furcado threw away his nishtcap,
crooked his elbows, clinChed his hands,
lowered himself bending both knees.
AS soon as the bull, after taking good
aim and giving his usual preliminary
toss of the horns started on his charge,
the furcado, keeping his face to the
enemy, began stepping backward at a
nearer the bull, the more rapid the
mans retrogressiOn. When the bull
reached him, his bent elbows We're
sticking far out on either side, his
cinchod hands were both at his shoul-
ders, but not to strike, only to keep
the hand out of the way of a chance
blow. The shock of the bulls fore.
head against the mans chest was di-
int l,r 10 ha Il
bull were both moving in the same
direction, and exactly at that moment,
as the horns were brought into the de-
sired position, the furcado's two strong
arms came down behind them and his
hands We're locked like a wrestler's
under the bulls throat. At the same
moment the bent knees gripped the
brute's muzzle. Certainly this pega is
one of those things which, if a man
| cannot do well, he had better not try
! at all.
By instinct a bull always tosses as
soon as he hits his object. But the
| furcados grip being secure, the toss
was Intellectual. The furCado was lift
ed two or three feet from the ground
with the bulls head. If he had loosed
| his hold he would have gone up thirty
| or forty feet by himself and expired
when he hit the sawdust. The bull
! then tried trampling, but in vain, then
another toss or two, then reared and
plunged, believing, snorting and slob-
| bering. At last when the bull began to
show signs of exhaustion under the Sc
we're pressure OF that arm grip on his
| throat and knee grip on his nose, the
corps of furCadOS came forward, One
caught the animal by his TAIL others
| threw themselves on him all over, like
a swarm Of gigantic flies. Two, keep
| ing hold of their forks ,proded him from
| behind. Then the Cabo dos furcados
further exhibited his skill and nerve
by the decisive suddenness Of his let
ing hold Of their forks, prodded him
and picking up his red night cap, bow
ed acknowledgement to the applause
while his subordinates showed, pulled,
and persuaded Doe" out through the
open doors of the arena.
In Lisbon ana wherever the pega is
no longer praCticed, the Portuguese
| bull fight ends for each individual bull.
with a familiar, dissonant changing Of
some twenty copper bells attached to
| the necks of as many docile oxen. The
| oxen come running into the arena,
| driven by a man i'm the furcado cos
| tune with long road. These oxen be-
| long to the same farm as the weary,
vexed, disappointed bur, with the
l sheaves Of banderlhas hanging from