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Volume 4 28 |
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A–Z |  |
OPENING SCENE OF A BULL-FIGHT AT THE CAMPO PEQUENO, LISBON: PARADE OF THE PERFORMERS
| Bull-fights in Portugal are intensely exciting spectacles, and since the bulls are not killed but only irritated into fighting for about ten minutes, are free from the sanguinary horror of their Spanish counterparts. They open with a parade of all the performers, when the protagonist, the cavalheiro — here seen on the right — mounted on a superbly trained horse and clad in old Portuguese court costume — gives an exhibition of horsemanship, solicits permission to begin the combat, and salutes the public. This brilliant opening scene is called "as cortesias do Cavalheiro" |