used. The mask is like an English single-stick mask, but stronger and heavier. A padded leather vest, coming almost down to the knees, covers the body, and the right arm is encased in a sleeve attached to a gauntlet, which may be compared to an elongated Rugby football. In the actual duel, there is an even more elaborate system of defense; the right wrist is guarded with a ring of mail, and the arm with folds of silk, which, like the turban of the East, are enough to stop an ordinary cut. Practically, though not according to strict rules, the body is altogether covered. The eyes are protected by iron spectacles, with a strong wire net instead of glasses. During the times of the Third Reich, the national socialist leadership chose to forbid academic fencing. They had recognized that Mensur fencing was an integral part of the internal strength of the last still-existing independent Studentenverbindung fraternities during the later 1930s. As Nazi pressure increased and fraternities were forced to officially suspend their activities, so-called comradeships were founded. These provided means for practicing and organizing the Mensur among former fraternities while remaining undetected to the Nazi secret police. One such example was the SC-Comradeship Hermann Löns initiated by members of the Corps Hubertia Freiburg and other fraternities in Freiburg, Germany. There, fencing Mensur "duels" continued and even intensified from 1941 on, with over 100 of such duels happening during World War II in Freiburg alone. Following the war, most of the formerly suspended fraternities were reactivated and resumed the traditions of Mensur fencing if they had not continued throughout the time of Nazi occupation. Today, the Mensur is practiced by about 400 traditional Studentenverbindung fraternities in Germany, several of the Corps, Burschenschaften, Landsmannschaften, Turnerschaften and Sängerschaften. Menzura, as the Mensur is known in Poland, and is still practised, although its popularity has declined since the end of World War II. It is also still known in a few other European countries, though there, protective equipment use is extensive and dueling scars are almost unheard of. In literature American traveller Mark Twain devoted several chapters of A Tramp Abroad (1880) to Heidelberg students' fencing. In Three Men on the Bummel (1900), Jerome K. Jerome devoted a chapter to German student life, and describes the "German Mensur" in detail. While much of the book has a tone of admiration for the German people,