There is no public square in Noya, and there is no bull-ring, but Noya has her bull-fights four times a year, as regularly as the seasons. On these occasions a street serves the purpose of a ring; the two ends are blocked by tribunes filled with spectators, and the balconies of the houses on both sides overflow with ladies and gentlemen. A Noya bull-fight is conducted in this way:--The men rush at the bull--which is practically a tame one from the neighbouring hills--and try to aggravate it; at length they succeed, and it plunges at them, whereupon they turn their backs and flee before it in a crowd, falling at last in a heap, one on top of another, those who come last and fall on top getting their clothes rent by the horns of the bull, to the immense gratification of the spectators; it ends in the bull becoming the _matador_ and the men playing the part usually assigned to the bull. There is a poetical description of one of these performances, by Enrique Labarta Posé. We are told, in running verse, how the town was placarded with “A Grand Bull-fight,” and how the inhabitants gathered from far and near on a sweltering August day--the feast day of Noya’s patron saint, San Bartolomé. When the company had assembled--all the children, all the young people and all the old ones--the president rose and waved a handkerchief, as the signal that the performance should now begin. Music burst forth, a door opened, and--a bull appeared; but such a quiet, gentle creature! he actually walked along as if he were going to pay a call--to chat with a fellow-bull in the neighbouring field. The men now rushed at the poor creature; one pulled its tail, another beat its back, another ran a stick into its side till the president felt so sorry for it that he gave the signal for its withdrawal. Another bull then appeared. The men simply threw themselves upon it, and the bull bore their onslaught with the serenity of a martyr at the stake! and without moving a hair. Again the president’s heart was touched; he signalled, and the victim was allowed to go. A third bull now came forth to the sound of more music, and a similar scene was enacted. At last some one roused the president, who had dozed away in his chair, and that gentleman now brought the performance to a close amid the ringing cheers of a delighted audience. All the students who had come to Noya for Easter returned to Santiago by coach on Sunday, to be ready for work on Easter Monday, which is not Bank Holiday in Galicia.