MOUNTAIN SHEEP. 73 



of the summit-region where they can watch the move- 

 ments of the game. At a given signal the first galgos 

 are slipped, and, though they may fail to overtake the 

 fugitives, they will put them to hard shifts before they 

 reach the uplands, where they have to run the gauntlet 

 of the second detachment. If the dogs understand their 

 business, they will co-operate and keep their game to- 

 gether till they can make a simultaneous attack ; for, if 

 the herd scatters, the first victim will generally prove 

 a scapegoat for the rest. Going straight up-hill the 

 cimarrons often improve their start by dashing up a 

 cliff where the pursuer has to turn to the left or right, 

 but on level ground the tables are turned, and, once 

 abreast of his game, the hound makes short work of 

 it, dashes ahead of the nearest good-sized sheep, 

 often a nursing ewe, and, suddenly turning, flies at her 

 throat in true wolf style and le rasga la vida, as the 

 Spaniards express it, " tears out her life," at the first 

 grip. The galgo does not remove his prey, but stays 

 on the spot and summons the hunter by a peculiar 

 howl, repeated at shorter and shorter intervals if he 

 has reason to fear that snow-drifts or prowling wolves 

 will make his post untenable. Professional cimarron- 

 hunters generally carry a meat-bag, as contact with the 

 hairy coat of the deer-sheep often inflicts the human 

 skin with cosqidllas (" sheep-tickle"), a persistent itch 

 that sometimes spreads from the hands to the chest, 

 but, strange to say, cannot be traced to any visible 



