Besides these religious ceremonies, shows of a more worldly character were exhibited. Among these was the Moorish equestrian game, called, in Arabic, _El Jeerid_, and in Spanish, _Cañas_, from the reeds which, instead of javelins, the cavaliers dart at each other, as they go through a great variety of graceful and complicated evolutions on horseback.[61] _Fiestas Reales_, or bull-fights, where gentlemen enter the arena, were also exhibited on this occasion. To diversify, however, the spectacle, and indulge the popular taste, which requires a species of comic interlude, called _Mogiganga_, a dwarf, whose diminutive limbs required to have the stirrups fixed on the flap of the saddle, mounted on a milk-white horse, and attended by four negroes of gigantic stature, dressed in a splendid oriental costume, fought with one of the bulls, and drove a full span of his lance into the animal’s body--a circumstance which was deemed too important to be omitted by the historiographers of Seville. [61] Gentlemen of the first rank, who are members of the associations called _Maestranzas_, perform at these games on the King’s birth-day, and other public festivals. Horsemanship was formerly in great estimation among the Andalusian gentry, who joined in a variety of amusements connected with that art. Such was the _Parejas de Hachas_, a game performed by night, at which the riders bore lighted torches. When Philip the Fourth visited Seville, in 1624, one hundred gentlemen, each attended by two grooms, all with torches in their hands, ran races before the king. This was the only amusement which, according to the established notions, could be permitted in Lent. The most curious and characteristic of the shows was, however, an allegorical tournament, exhibited at the expense of the company of silk-weavers, who, from the monopoly with the Spanish Colonies, had attained great wealth and consequence at that period. It is thus described, from the records of the times, by a modern Spanish writer. “Near the Puerta del Pardon (one of the gates of the cathedral), a platform was erected, terminating under the altar dedicated to the Virgin, which stands over the gate.[62] Three splendid seats were placed at the foot of the altar, and two avenues railed in on both sides of the platform to admit the Judges, the challenger, the supporters or seconds, the marshal, and the adventurers. Near one of the corners of the stage was pitched the challenger’s tent of black and brown silk, and in it a seat covered with black velvet. In front stood the figure of an apple-tree bearing fruit, and hanging from its boughs a target, on which the challenge was exposed to view. [62] The reader must be aware that this was an imitation of a foot tournament, an amusement as frequent among the ancient Spanish knights as the jousts on horseback. It is called in the Spanish Chronicles _Tornéo de a pié_.