Smugglers and their Foes 295 
the ordinary sense of the word, there are none and the tracks 
available for pack-animals are few and far between; but there is 
a perfect network of veredas or foot-paths, many of which are 
unknown to any, save those who live in their immediate vicinity, 
or to the gangs of smugglers who habitually use them in their 
nocturnal marches. These daring fellows carry immense packs 
of tobacco, often weighing over 100 |b., and in defiance of the 
legions of Caradbineros or “ preventive men” who picket the whole 
country with horse and foot in the most elaborate manner, contrive 
by means of forced marches by night and hiding amid the rocks 
and high heather by day to run their cargoes. 
Sometimes when climbing about near the summit of some 
lonely sierra, | have come across a gang of these wild folk, lying 
concealed in some rocky ravine. Although it is at times a matter 
of life and death to them should their hiding-place be discovered 
by their natural enemies, the Cavadzneros, when I have suddenly 
come upon such a party, they have shown absolute confidence in 
me and have been most courteous and cheery. They are reckless 
light-hearted folk and usually make jokes as to my evidently having 
been a contrabandista myself in my young days, for how else 
could I know their favourite veredas as | do? “No other English- 
man comes to such places.” 
As the traveller works northward and eastward from this region 
the sierra gets higher and higher, the Serrania of Ronda being from 
4,000 to 6,000 ft. above the sea. Eastward again it rises until the 
Sierra Nevada is reached of which the altitude in places is over 
11,000 feet. The lower sierra has been already described. In the 
higher parts, towards Ronda, the physical conditions are widely 
different from those in the lower sierra. To begin with, all this 
part of the country is of limestone formation and the slopes are far 
steeper and the cliffs more frequent than in the sandstone region. 
Despite the enormous amount of rock there is a good deal of 
