24 Travel and Equipment 
At no period was this more clearly brought home to me than 
during my six years at Gibraltar, between 1874 and 1880. That 
was in the days when no railways or other facilities for travel 
existed in the vicinity (for even the road from Algeciras to 
Tarifa was not then constructed) hence every expedition from 
the Rock was limited to riding out between the hours of morning 
and evening gunfire, when the gates of the fortress were opened 
and closed. And closed they indeed were and the keys were 
taken to the Convent, the Governor’s residence, and kept there. 
Every expedition thus depended on the powers of one’s horse 
to carry one far enough a-field at sufficient speed to leave reasonable 
time for sport or ornithology. 
One result was that one became a past master in the art of 
packing one’s kit on horseback, for guns, food, ammunition, ropes 
for climbing, and all other paraphernalia of the naturalist had to be 
thus carried. 
From time to time it was possible to get a few days’ leave, 
generally five to ten days, and then pack-animals were called into 
requisition to carry our supplies and equipment. Everybody 
has heard about the discomfort of travel in Spain, should the 
traveller leave the routes usually followed. There are however 
degrees of discomfort in this as in other things. These can be 
modified to some extent by experience in rough travel and by a 
little forethought, but it is ever a difficult matter to decide upon 
what may and what may not be wanted for a particular trip. So 
long as one intends to stop in small towns or villages, so long will 
this be the case, and every journey must be organized in view of the 
locality to be visited. 
My own experience was that, unless a promising expedition was 
to run the risk of being wrecked for want of the bare comforts of 
life, the only sure way to achieve success was to look upon a 
birdsnesting expedition in a wild country much as a campaign and 
to prepare accordingly for every possible eventuality. 
