[7] The sporting incidents here narrated occurred twenty years ago, viz., in March, 1872. This was the authors' first shooting expedition together: for which reason we place its record in the first chapter.
[8] Avetarda is old Spanish, the modern spelling being Abutarda.
[9] The grand secret of success in this sport (as elsewhere remarked) is to place the guns close up to the game. The means by which the primary object is attained can hardly be set down on paper—nothing but practice, quick and good judgment, and a sportsman's instinct will effect it. In more than one instance we have found a deadly line ambushed within 150 yards of the most watchful bustards, and on ground where, to a novice, the feat would certainly be set down as impossible.
[10] The expression "Bull-fight" is a very inadequate interpretation of the Spanish Corrida, or Fiesta de Toros, even in its modern form, and conveys no idea of the magnificent spectacular displays of the middle ages. Then, the national heroic life was but reflected in the arena, in scenes embellished with all the stately accessories and colouring dear to semi-Oriental minds. The mimic pageantry of to-day is but a relic of former grandeur.
[11] Spanish writers, however, jealous for the national origin of the sport, insist that the "Fiestas de Toros" were born in Spain, that there alone have they increased and flourished, and that in Spain will they continue while time lasts.
[12] On this point, Sanchez de Nieva writes ("El Toréo," published at Madrid, 1879):—"The Arabs were much given to bull-fighting, and highly skilled in the lidia, whether mounted or on foot. It must, however, be borne in mind that these encounters took place in Spain, and that the so-called Arabs were in reality Spaniards—the Moorish domination having then lasted for seven centuries. It may be stated, without fear of error, that nearly all the inhabitants of this country, after the first two centuries, were, though born in Spain, Arabs in origin."
[13] Attempts were made by other countries to imitate the Spanish spectacle. Italy, in 1332, celebrated a tauromachian festival which has left a sad record on the page of history. No fewer than nineteen Roman gentlemen, and many of lower rank, perished on the horns of the bulls. After this tragic event bull-fights were prohibited in Italy, though for a time revived by the Spanish in that country after their conquest of Flanders and the Low Countries.
[14] De Bedoya's "Historia del Toréo" (Madrid, 1850) gives Francisco de Romero as the first professional lidiador of the modern epoch.
[15] The better-bred animals are always the more harmless, if not molested.
[16] The following are some of the best known garrochistas of recent years: Señores Don Antonio Miura, Don Faustino Morube, Don Miguel Garcia, Don Guillermo Ochoteco, Don José Silva, Don Fernando Concha, Don Agusto Adalid, Don Angel Zaldos, Don Manuel Sanchez-Mira, Marques de Bogaraya, Marques de Guadalest, Don Frederico Huesca, Marques de Castellones, &c.