On the foreshore of the Mata Beach, Mangapai, New Zealand, stands the remarkable rock shown above. It is an almost perfect sphere of hard blue rock, shot with white quartz, of an entirely different formation from any other known rocks in the district. The mystery is, of course, to know how it reached its present position on the soft sandstone of the beach. Popular opinion is that in distant ages it was shot from a volcano, since extinct. The rock, which probably weighs twenty tons, rests in a cup like depression in the sandstone formation on which it stands, and is so nicely poised that four strong men, encircling it with their arms and all pushing one way, can set it spinning on its base. [Illustration: THE BULL-THROWER SEIZING THE ANIMAL BY THE TAIL. _From a Photograph._] [Illustration: OVER! THE BULL GOES CRASHING TO EARTH AMID A CLOUD OF DUST. _From a Photograph_] The two snapshots reproduced above illustrate striking phases of an exciting Mexican pastime--that of flooring bulls with the hand from horseback! The rider, galloping after the bull, seizes it by the tail and, passing his leg over the tail for the sake of leverage, pulls the poor beast round sideways until it trips and goes crashing to earth amidst a cloud of dust. Needless to say, the bull-thrower needs a strong hand and steady nerves, or he may find himself in trouble. [Illustration: THE MAP-CONTENTS OF “THE WIDE WORLD MAGAZINE,” WHICH SHOWS AT A GLANCE THE LOCALITY OF EACH ARTICLE AND NARRATIVE OF ADVENTURE IN THIS NUMBER.] [Transcriber’s Note: Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.] End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Wide World Magazine, by Various