Wild Spain Part 10

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XX.

Page 141.

THE HOME OF THE IBEX--A SKETCH IN THE SIERRA DE GREDOS.]

Such things, however, had but a platonic interest for men weary, drenched and travel-worn: and a terrible shock remained in store, when, upon a low paneless barn, we deciphered, in hieroglyphic symbols, the word _posada_. At the moment of our observing the ill-boding sign, a pig was in the act of entering the portals.

Nothing, however, remained but to make the best of it. The cold was intense, and in the deluge of rain and sleet outside, it was impossible to erect our tent, even had a level site existed. We had with us, however, on this campaign, a genius, and with magic skill Vicente transformed the uncouth den: order replaced chaos: our bedsteads were erected, basins, towels, soap, even chairs and a table appeared as by legerdemain: while a savoury _olla_ with two brace of quarter-pound trout from the burn below, and a stoup of good red wine, stood before us.

We soon had the local hunters collected around us, all old friends--Magdaleno, the crack shot of the sierra, Claudio, Juanito, and little Ramon: but their reports were not encouraging.[32] The snow on the heights was still impa.s.sable: Almanzor and the Lagunas de Gredos were inaccessible, and these regions formed, we knew, the _madre_--the true home of the ibex. The system of the _ojeo_, or mountain-drive, was only practicable as yet (May) on three or four limited areas of the sierra: but there also remained open to us the resource of stalking the ibex. Of this sport we will speak later; but we decided at first to adopt the plan of _monteria_, or big beats.

The first day's _batida_ embraced a huge natural amphitheatre of rock, seven or eight miles in circuit, as roughly depicted opposite. Our men had left before dawn to gain the furthest flank, and we followed soon after, to climb out to the peaks directly above. At first we ascended on little s.h.a.ggy mules, without saddle, stirrups, or bridle--only a single cord to the nose-halter and a padded roller to sit on. The upward route was as follows: one day will serve to describe all. On the lower slopes (8,000 to 4,000 feet), rough pine forest, gradually opening out, and giving place to a zone of brushwood and coa.r.s.e vegetation: above, another zone, of esparto and wiry gra.s.s interspersed with patches of a peculiar gorse and rosemary scrub, and the _piorno_, a tough green shrub, whose bleached limbs closely resemble human skeletons. Here and there one could imagine that the rugged slope had been, at no remote period, the scene of a b.l.o.o.d.y battle.[33] Above this level, plant-life rapidly grows scarcer and more alpine--the bleaberry and gentian, stunted heaths and _piornos_, with beds of purple saxifrage, white and violet crocuses, and a yellow narcissus, the two last right up to the snow.

The riding here grew worse and worse: the little mules scrambled like cats over the naked rocks, but at last even they could no further go, and were left, picketed in rock-stalls, on some hanging shelf. Now came a terrible scramble on foot--hardly a step but needed to be made good by hand-hold also, and then we reached the lower snows. Treacherous ground this, here frozen into miniature glaciers, there soft and "rotten," or, worst of all, hollowed beneath, precipitating one in a moment upon cruel rocks below. Here several minor accidents, and one of a more serious nature occurred: but after all we prefer the snow to the penultimate zone above--the region of naked rock-matrix (in Spanish _canchos corridos_), where smooth slippery faces of granite left no hold either for the snow, or for feet, though clad in hempen-soled _alparagatas_; and every crevice filled level with frozen striae of snow. Ma.s.s above ma.s.s towered these monoliths of living granite, veined and streaked with the narrow snow-lines: and beyond them, stretching away for leagues, came the snow-fields of Gredos, imposing in the majesty of a contemporary glacial epoch, and the silence of everlasting ice.

We had high hopes of success in this first _batida_, for the ground covered was of great extent, traversed by many ravines and corries, and had not been disturbed since the preceding autumn. Yet it proved blank: only a single ibex (male) was enclosed, and it escaped on the right, to snow-fields beyond our reach.

This operation had lasted four hours, during which the cold had been intense, a bitter blast blowing with hurricane-force through the rock-pa.s.ses where we held guard, as through a funnel. At intervals the wind came laden with fine snow or jagged crystalline icicles which ricochetted from the rocks like things of life. At one period--the climax of the storm--if a hundred ibex or wolves had filed past the writer's post, his fingers were too benumbed by exposure to have handled the rifle. The ascent had also occupied four hours--the apparent alt.i.tude (by aneroid) being nearly 8,000 feet--and the return to the spot fixed for our camp would require two more. Hence no time remained for further operations that day, and we returned, sad and empty-handed, to camp.

Two blank days followed, and on the third a hurricane of wind, rain, and driving mist forbade all hope of sport. The first beat next morning was again blank, no ibex being seen; but a second, though covering a much smaller area, enclosed a band of eleven. These, when first viewed, were coming in directly towards the guns, and held this course till lost to sight in an intervening ravine. Shortly afterwards the upper flank of the beaters crested the further ridge, and at once, we saw, they opened out their line, extending upwards towards the snow. These men had already seen that the goats, true to their natural instincts, were seeking to gain the higher ground: and a marvellous sight ensued--to watch, through the binoculars, these hardy mountaineers fairly racing with the fleet-footed ibex, and striving, by sheer speed and strength of limb and lung, to head their flight, and cut off their retreat to the snow-sanctuaries above.

At first one could not believe that biped, however specially organized, could possibly cope, in simple activity, with the wild-goats on their native rocks. Yet, when the game emerged from the gorge, it became evident that the flank-movement had, at least to some extent, succeeded: for the now-alarmed animals, though still tending upwards, had abandoned the idea of direct escape in that direction, and were now ascending the rocks in a slanting course which pointed very little beyond our own positions. The writer, who occupied the upper post, at the foot of some terrific _canchos_, which, in cold blood, had seemed insuperable, now, in the excitement of the chase, found means--_nescio quos_--to surmount the obstacle and gain a "pa.s.s" beyond, by which, it seemed likely, the game might seek escape. More nimble still, our friend Magdaleno had ere this, with winged feet, reached a yet greater height: and here, as the ibex, scudding upwards with surprising speed, pa.s.sed in straggling file, his single ball struck fair a lordly ram, and threw back the rest in dismay. Quickly followed from below the double crack of an "express": but these bullets, fired at 200 yards, produced no perceptible effect.

Turned from their first point, the ibex, now separate and scattered, when next they appeared, were heading, some for the snow-fields direct, others for the lower pa.s.ses: in one of which a five-year-old male offered a chance, at eighty yards, to the ambushed "Paradox"--a chance that was not declined, though only attained at the end of a severe scramble of 200 yards across the rocks. The hollow-fronted ball struck on the ribs, and traversing the vitals, "mushroomed" itself against the shoulder-blade. Presently, from the heights above, rang out three or four reports in quick succession--the upward-bound contingent of ibex were running the gauntlet of our driving-line. A male and two females offered long or random shots to the mountaineers. One of the latter was reported hit--though the pair were followed by a _chivo_, or kid, only ten days old!--but no tangible result was secured by this fusillade.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OUR FIRST OLD RAM--SIERRA DE GREDOS.]

Meanwhile the stricken _macho_ had descended to the depths of the glen, where he was presently descried by our scouts stretched on the shelf of a jutting crag, a mile below. How human eye managed to detect so small an object amidst so vast a chaos of broken ground, rocks, screes, and scrub-clad patches, pa.s.ses understanding: but soon a long "wing" thrown out, turned the flank of his position, and the n.o.ble beast, aroused once more by the rattle of a rifle-ball on the rocks, made a final effort to escape, which was terminated by a "Paradox" bullet at twenty yards'

distance. This, our first old ibex-ram, carried a handsome, ma.s.sive head; but its symmetry was marred by one of the points being broken.

The undamaged horn measured rather over twenty-eight inches.

So pa.s.sed the days with varying incident, which it boots not to recount in detail; sometimes we saw game, more often the reverse. One element alone remained permanent and changeless--the daily labour was extreme.

Strength and physical powers were taxed--aye, strained, almost to the breaking point, and in these contests of lung and limb the wild-goat necessarily held the advantage.

One morning, wind and weather being favourable, it was proposed to double-bank our beaters--that is, to drive two separate valleys at once towards a single dividing spur.[34] The ascent to-day followed the ridge of a deep _garganta_, or rock-abyss, embedded among pines, on one of which was superimposed a pile of branches and sticks--the home of a pair of Black Vultures (_Vultur monachus_). It was almost a solitary tree--one of the few that survived above the pine-zone, finding root-hold in a crevice of the hanging rock: a flat-topped, wind-tormented tree, its spreading branches distorted by the weight of winter's snows. Hard by the nest sat one of these colossal birds, not 200 yards away, though to have reached the spot, across the gorge, might have occupied an hour. An "express" bullet was sent whistling past his monkish cranium; slowly the great wings unfolded, and the vulture flapped heavily down the ravine.

Vultures are comparatively scarce in this part of Spain--far more so than in Andalucia. We only noticed one small colony in the Sierra de Gredos; and of its six or eight pairs, our beaters, who pa.s.sed close below their eyries, declared that two were of the black species. The Black Vulture is not known to nest either gregariously or on rocks: yet we have twice in Andalucia noticed them _apparently_ doing both these things--a.s.sociated with Griffons--but without, on either occasion, reducing the observation to proof. The above statement, however, tends to confirm the fact. Bird-life, as in most mountain-regions, was not abundant here. Buzzards soared over the pines, and the song of our common thrushes and blackbirds rang through the woods as at home. Higher up were ring-ousels and redstarts, wheatears (_Saricola aurita_ and _S.

stapazina_), black chats (_Dromola leucura_), skylarks and t.i.tlarks--all these breeding. Besides these, we also observed the Egyptian Vulture, the Alpine pipit (_Anthus spipoletta_), and Alpine accentor (_Accentor collaris_), both common, the blue thrush, rock-thrush, nuthatch, and Dartford warbler: and on May 10th, at 5,500 feet, after a stormy night, picked up, in a disabled state, a pretty little bluethroat (_Cyanecula wolfi_, Brehm) of the _unspotted_ variety, with entirely blue gorget. This little wanderer had doubtless perished by the severities of weather encountered in crossing this lofty range on his pa.s.sage to the north. During an afternoon's trouting in a hill-burn on May 13th, the following additional species were observed (alt.i.tude 5,000 feet)--ortolans, cirl-and corn-buntings, stonechats, wagtails, crag-martins, and sandpiper.

Ravens and choughs tenanted the crags, and the red-legs were met with very high up. Both in this sierra, in Nevada, and other alpine ranges, we have kept a strict look-out for ptarmigan, but not a sign of them have we met with. They are unknown to the _cazadores_ of the sierras, and it appears certain that none exist in Spain, save in the Pyrenees.

On some precipitous rocks adjoining one of our posts to-day was an eyry of some large bird of prey--either a lammergeyer or some eagle, whose young brood kept up a plaintive, chattering wail while we were there.

The spot, however, was inaccessible owing to deep snow and tremendous _canchos_ which intervened. One day, close to the snow-line, we came across a fat, blue-grey little beastie, apparently of the dormouse tribe (_Liron_, in Spanish), but he got to earth, or rather rock, ere we could capture him.[35] But we must return to our ibex.

Though, as regards venison, this day's operations proved fruitless, yet it remains memorable for the magnificent spectacle afforded of the wild ibex on his native heights. As the beaters, looking at the distance like mites or fleas, gradually drew in towards the peaks of "El c.u.mbrasco," a herd of eight ibex were observed slowly picking an upward course towards the _picachos del canon_. Disturbed, apparently, by some goatherd below, these ibex never offered any promise of a shot; yet the spectacle they presented, while still wholly careless of danger, the easy grace of every movement and spring-like step as they bounded from rock to rock, was one of those rare views of wild life one seldom enjoys and never forgets.

The ibex took the snow about midway between our two lines, and on the glacier-foot, below the "Cannon Rock," they halted as though to court admiration--the grand wide sweep and graceful curve of the horns carried by two old rams set off in sharply defined outline against the snowy background.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXI.

Page 143.

IBEX-HUNTING--THE TWO OLD RAMS AT THE "CANNON-ROCK."]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PEAKS OF GREDOS.]

Other days were devoted to stalking the ibex--each, with his _cazador_ and a single gun-carrier, on a separate hill; and this was perhaps the hardest work of all, involving almost incessant climbing, scrambling, and walking on the worst of ground from morning till long after dark.

But in this sport we have hitherto met with no success, either on this or other occasions. The Spanish ibex is so scarce, so rarely seen on the move by daylight, and so wedded to snow-fields beyond human reach, that it is by mere chance they are found in situations where a stalk is possible--very different to the descriptions we have by such men as Kinloch and Macintyre, of the sport that ibex afford in the Himalayas.

There it would seem that _Capra sibirica_ is not infrequently to be found resting, feeding, or moving about by day on mountain-sides considerably below the snow, and in situations where it is possible for the stalker to approach them _from above_. In Spain, where the wild-goats are much hara.s.sed, we have never had the luck to fall in with such opportunities: though that such _do_ occur is demonstrated in a subsequent chapter ("Ramon and the two big Rams"). Here, in Gredos, and also in the Andalucian sierras, it has not hitherto been our good fortune to fall in with ibex where a stalk was even remotely possible.

Though ibex might be in sight daily, they have been found either on open ground or snow, or in crags surrounded by snow--either position equally inaccessible to human beings--save on two occasions, both towards evening, when goats have been descried on somewhat lower ground than usual; but, alas! on the opposite mountain-side, far away, and separated from us by an intervening gorge, to cross which and re-ascend the further slope would have occupied well nigh half a day. Had such opportunities but occurred _in the morning_, instead of the evening, it is just possible that this record of our ibex-stalking days might not have resulted in a blank.

It is, however, fair to add that we have never tried ibex-stalking in _summer_, when the obstruction of the snow would naturally be much less; the goats, on the other hand, have then a vastly extended field to roam over.

II.--RISCOS DE VALDEREJO.

Far away to the eastward, a triple-peaked mountain filled the whole horizon. From the distance it appeared to be composed solely of barren grey granite, and only spa.r.s.e patches and striae of snow adorned its crests. This was the Riscos de Valderejo, and on its heights there roamed, we were told, a good band of ibex, including some _machos_ of the first rank.

To this sierra we projected a spring campaign. The distance (by road) from the nearest available base was some thirty miles, along smiling valleys redolent of historic interest; past castellated monasteries and fortresses, relics of feudal times, now abandoned to farmers, and to storks, whose nests lined the battlements; for the plough had long superseded the sword, and now the deep glens glory in husbandry and viticulture. Here corn and vine grow beneath olive, fig, and chestnut: verily fruit and grain seem to jostle each other--it is hard to conceive a more fertile scene; the air vocal with the melody of nightingales and orphean warblers, and the ringing note of golden orioles. The peasantry live in crazy, ramshackle hamlets, whose quaint picturesqueness is beyond our power to describe, but spend their _al fresco_ lives in the field or the vineyard, doing a modic.u.m of work, and a maximum of rest, eating, sleeping, or chatting, in happy, contented groups beneath the grateful shade of the chestnuts.[36]

Our road was a marvel of extravagant engineering, executed and maintained regardless of expense. It is only another of the many anomalies of Spain that in rich provinces, such as Andalucia, where there are carriages and traffic, there should be no roads; here, in the wilds of Castile, where there are neither traffic nor wheeled carriages, the road-system is magnificent. The explanation appears to be: in the one case, the Government says "you have money, and can make your own roads,"--in the other, "there is no money, so we will provide roads,"

even though they are not required.

The Riscos de Valderejo is an isolated mountain, cut off from neighbouring heights by deep gorges on all sides, save where a high, but narrow "neck" connects it on the west with the main range. Across this neck (5,000 feet) is carried the northern highway--the _carretera de Avila_, along which is carried on at intervals a frequent transit of mule-teams, droves of cattle, sheep, and the like. At the time of our first visit this traffic was almost continuous, for the ancient "Fair"

of Talavera (40 miles away) was drawing supplies from all the provinces of Spain: fine young mules from far Galicia, horses even from the Asturias, cattle, goats and sheep, including a few merinos, from pastoral Leon. By day or night the monotonous tinkle of the _cencerros_ (cattle-bells) ceased not on this and many another highway and byeway for many a weary league around Talavera.

Such is still, in Spain, the far-reaching power of the "Feria," or Fair: an inst.i.tution antiquated and out of date in modern lands. Yet the business and bustle, the display of national types and characteristics at the great provincial "fairs"--such as that at Talavera--offer pictures of Spanish rural life abounding in interest, and well worthy of study and observant description. But the pen must be directed by sympathy and understanding, or the result will merely be so much more of that silly writing and grotesque "wit," with which we are already only too well acquainted. _Pero!... vamonos!_ To our ibex.

Well, the narrow _col_ or neck, connecting the Riscos with the neighbouring heights, being thus contaminated--for the wild goat will never cross a path or suffer the propinquity of man--the ibex of that sierra form an isolated colony, absolutely cut off from all contact with their fellows. That such should be able to survive on so limited a s.p.a.ce--their territory is but eight miles by four--amidst a nation of _tiradores_, is partly due to a curious local circ.u.mstance. A pair of guardias civiles, the military police of Spain, is stationed close below the col. Here is the explanation. None of the _serranos_ pay the gun-license,--twenty shillings,--and capture, red-handed, means disarmament. Hence the presence of this pair of civil guards signifies nothing less than security to the isolated ibex of the Riscos; their withdrawal would be the signal for extermination within a few years.

We had already pitched our tent on a slope above the col (5,600 feet), just within the lower fringe of snow, and were wondering at the non-arrival of our hunters. They had taken a short cut across the mountains, and should have been the first to reach the spot. But after enjoying a delicious bathe in an adjoining burn, and setting on the _olla_ to stew on an improvised _anafe_ (a hollowed trench, in the deep centre of which was kindled a fire), we suddenly saw them all appear, leaping down the opposite slope with the agile bounds of wild animals.

They had simply lain hidden for hours, reconnoitring the movements of the civil guards! Their first act on arrival was to hide their guns among the green _piornales_. Again, when one evening the dreaded pair was reported to be ascending towards our eyry, the stampede was electric--each man seized his gun and all disappeared like rabbits among the rocks. The incident serves to show the effective power wielded by this fine corps in rural Spain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Plate XXII.

OUR CAMP ON THE RISCOS DE VALDEREJO.

Page 152.]

The conformation of this sierra was simple--on the north side the slope was gradual, though abrupt: on the south almost perpendicular: that is, it formed a sheer rock-wall some three miles long and perhaps 2,000 feet high, measuring from the head of the talus.[37] We found here a herd of nearly a score of ibex, ensconced in well-frequented lairs among the loose rocks and _piornales_ along the highest ridge (they had not been disturbed for months), and on so limited an area felt sure of more certain success than on the boundless sierras of Gredos, with their snow-sanctuaries always open to the ibex. But matters were not so simple, nor were the goats. Here, too, they had their sanctuaries. We will not weary the reader with merely sporting detail, but go at once to the point. After being "hustled" for two or three days (during which the big males always managed to keep out of shot), the ibex-leaders evidently realized the gravity of the situation: a vote of urgency was carried, and the Riscos declared in a state of siege. The s.p.a.ce at their command was limited: there were no snow-fields available: and they resolved to seek safety in those impenetrable rock-walls and _canchos_ which flanked their stronghold on the south. Into these they retreated: and from them, no power of ours could dislodge the ibex, though among the slanting _canchos_ on the western flank our intrepid rock-climbers despatched a couple of slouching wolves. By sheer force of reasoning power and sagacity, the ibex had found a retreat as secure as the _mer de glace_ of Almanzor. Long may they live to enjoy it!

[Ill.u.s.tration: IBEX-HUNTERS OF GREDOS--A SKETCH BY THE CAMP-FIRE.]

The retreat, however, was not gained, on one occasion, without loss--we, too, had learned by past experience. Already the driving line had appeared on the eastern heights, suggesting that another beat was to prove blank: not a sign of game had appeared--nothing save the Alpine choughs[38] and crag-martins, Alpine swifts, and a pair of peregrines gyrating in the upper air: at intervals also a pair of golden eagles, whose huge eyrie projected from a rocky pinnacle, pa.s.sed over in stately flight, their broad square tails deflected very conspicuously sidelong, to guide their aerial evolutions. Here purple tufts of saxifrage lent colour to the barren greys: and amidst the fringe of snow grew delicate mauve and white crocuses: on a granite rock, hard by, warbled l.u.s.tily a little songster, not unlike our hedge-sparrow, but whose scientific name is _Anthus spipoletta_, its tender blue-grey throat swelled with song.

Suddenly a new sound diverted instant attention from all such things--it was a loud "sneeze," twice repeated: and I knew that some wild animal stood close behind the big rock which concealed me. Then followed the clatter of h.o.r.n.y hoofs rattling on rock: and a few moments later, upon the very ridge where I lay, not ten yards from the muzzle, appeared a pair of ibex. Hardly a whole instant did they pause--pictures of high-strung wild nature, and quivering in every nerve--a lovely spectacle. At ten yards' range (_a boca de jarro_ in Spanish phrase), my right barrel missed fire: and simultaneously the ibex were gone--had leaped off the ridge and down among the rocks a dozen yards below. They were, however, still near enough; and the second bullet sent the largest pitching forward on its knees, all but dividing the spine. It instantly recovered its feet, and the pair went on: but on a rock-ledge a quarter-mile away they stopped, and one lay down: a long range, random shot from the express, and the other went on alone: but the stricken beast was already dead. And then, on the rocks close by, I perceived a little wild kid, long of limb and somewhat ungainly in form, but of infinite grace in movement. Tame and confiding seemed the little mite; yet on approach, it bounded off down those broken rocks, with a speed and agility that defied pursuit. These two ibex were, in Spanish words, a _cabra_ and a _chivata_.

Five other ibex (two males) sought to reach the refuge of the main rock-wall by a lower pa.s.s, where two guns were posted. Here, as they scrambled slantingly up the perpendicular face, one bullet sped true, and the best _macho_ fell back, struggling to maintain a foot-hold. This his paralyzed quarters forbade, and soon what little life remained was extinguished as the stricken animal fell bouncing from rock to rock till it finally lodged in a cleft of a projecting spur. He proved an eight-year-old ram, with horns measuring nearly twenty-eight inches in length, with a circ.u.mference of over nine inches and a "sweep" of nearly twenty-three.