BULL-FIGHT, a contest between men and bulls, conducted as a public spectacle. ' Once popular in Greece and Rome, this form of en tertainment was introduced by the Moors into Spain and universally adopted in the cities of the kingdom, where, as well as in Mexico and some other of the world, it is still much in favor. The bull-fight is held in an arena of greater or less magnificence, called in Spanish the plaza de toros. The bulls are turned out, one by one, with many forms of pomp and solemn ceremonial, into the open space, where they are assailed, first by horsemen, called pica dores, who attack them with the lance; then, when one or more horses have been wounded and one or more men have met with injury or perilous mishap—in which case a crowd of active footmen, called chuks, provided with crimson banners, take off the attention of the bull-- the banderilleros, armed with sharp barbed darts with fireworks and flags attached to them, worry the bull until he is covered with shafts, bleeding and scorched and his glossy hide become! black 'and the explo sion of the fire-works. Then comes the last
act of the tragedy, when the skilful matador enters the arena slowly and alone, clothed in plain black and armed with a long, straight sword and a stick, called a muleta, with a piece of red silk fastened to it. With his sword he seldom fails to give the coup de grace to the tortured bull, sheathing the blade, with one sure thrust, up to the hilt in his body just at the juncture of the neck and spine. Mules drag out the slaughtered carcass, amid the sound of trumpets and acclamations of the spectators; the dead or dying horses are re moved, the arena is strewed with fresh saw dust, another bull is introduced, and so goes on the combat, until perhaps a dozen bulls and a larger number of horses have been slaughtered to delight the spectators. About 1,300 bulls and 6,000 horses are sacrificed annually in Spain to this sport. The Spanish settlers of Mexico and South America introduced bull-fighting to the New World. Consult Sancho, (Machaquito y el renacimiento del toreo) (Madrid 1906).