ere then passed in review, held in the hands of their
respective owners, and betting at once commenced as to which would
win the victory. In the mean time the two birds seemed quietly
awaiting their time, and by the knowing way in which both surveyed the
surroundings and the assembled people, they really appeared as if they
understood the business in hand. There was no struggling on their part
to get out of the hands of those who held them. Presently they were
passed into the care of the umpires, two of whom officiated, and who
then affixed the steel gaffs to the spurs of the contestants. The two
birds were then placed on the ground inside of the ring, opposite each
other. No sooner did they feel themselves fairly on their feet than
both crowed triumphantly, eying each other with fell intent.

Then commenced a series of bird-tactics, each partially advancing and
pretending to retreat as if to draw on his antagonist, pecking the
while at imaginary kernels of corn on the ground. In the mean time the
audience almost held its breath in anticipation of the cunningly
deferred onset. Presently the two birds, as if by one impulse, rushed
towards each other, and a simultaneous attack took place. The contest,
when the birds are armed with steel gaffs, rarely lasts more than
eight or ten minutes before one or both are so injured as to end the
fight. The money staked upon the fight is won by those backing the
bird which survives, or is longest in dying. When the artificial spurs
are not used, and the birds fight in their natural state, the battle
sometimes lasts for an hour, but is always fatal in the end to one or
the other, or both. Eyes are pecked out, wings and legs broken, necks
pierced again and again; still they fight on until death ensues.
During the fight the excitement is intense, and a babel of voices
reigns within the structure, the betting being loud, rapid, and high.
Thus in a small way the cock-fight is as cruel and as demoralizing as
that other national game, the terrible bull-fight, indigenous to Spain
and her colonies.

Cuba has justly been called the garden of the world, perpetual summer
smiling upon its shores, and its natural wealth and possibilities
baffling even the imagination. The waters which surround it, as we
have seen, abound with a variety of fishes, whose bright colors,
emulating the tints of precious stones and the prismatic hues of the
rainbow, astonish and delight the eye of the stranger. Stately