AN ODD MEXICAN SPORT.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 363, 23 April 1903, Page 3

AN ODD MEXICAN SPORT.

IterMtnlst Pitted Agrarian* Ood &sfc» other by th« Yootfes BMW to «hj« Death, "The Mexican boys in Lower California," said a returned traveler, relates the Detroit Free Press, "havea curious habit of catching the tarantulas, with which the country abounds, and matching them in deadly combat, betting their centavos with all the enthusiasm of a gambler at Monte Carlo. "It was my fortune to witness 1 one of these combat*, and, while I would not care to adopt the eport aw a regular thing, I found the experience. interesting as an illustration of a ousioua custom. "The deadly arena was compose! o& a large tin pan, the flaring side* oi which held the combatants prisonesv and yet allowed them plenty of room to fight in. When the hideoue-looldag things were thrown in the pan they eyed each other for a moment and then clutched like a couple of tigers, while the Mexican youths yelled words of encouragement to their favorites. "From the comments that I heard I took it that there were fine points to the game that I did not understand. All I saw was a horrible, hairy ball from which protruded in all directions a number of hairy leg* that suddenly grew still, at death claimed t&fi S#B» tims." .... . .*-*-*» ---jSs&j