A Hill Pass of the Pyrenees 



been superb. From the heights above, cascades broke in 

 spray at our feet. The main river thundered through its 

 narrow channel, holding in its deep pools trout of great size. 

 Before us, now and again, a water ouzel darted down stream, 

 flying only a few feet above the water, as is its habit; and 

 once, making its way southwards at a great height, I saw 

 what might have been a booted eagle, but the distance was 

 too great to permit of identification. 



At length, after a twenty-mile tramp, we reached our home 

 for the night and found a Russian hunter, who had taken up 

 his quarters in this wild spot for the stalking of the "izard ** 

 (chamois) and an ibex — Ihex pyrennaica — which, I believe, 

 is now well-nigh extinct in the Pyrenees, as, indeed, through- 

 out Spain. Its decrease has apparently been brought about, 

 not so much by the rifle of the stalker, as by the inroads of 

 illness caused by the migration of domestic goats into its 

 haunts. 



Accompanying the Russian was quite a retinue of stalkers 

 — a fine, healthy body of men, carrying, each of them, the 

 orthodox stalking-glass of the Highlands. During the week 

 the party had been installed at the inn a few chamois had 

 been seen, but not a single animal of any kind had been 

 secured. Next morning it rained in torrents, but just before 

 the hour when we started out on the return journey, the sky 

 lifted somewhat and we had hopes of a good day. But before 

 we reached the head of the glen and commenced our climb 

 across the "col," a northerly gale had sprung up and was 

 bringing with it sheets of rain, while on the hilltops the 

 drifting snow could be seen caught up into the sky in powdery 

 clouds. As we started the climb a company of swallows 

 swept round from the storm-swept sky into the shelter of the 

 hill face. Flying from a northerly direction, the travellers 

 had evidently essayed to make the northward crossing of the 

 pass on the way to their summer quarters, but had been driven 

 back by the violence of the storm and the blinding drift. 



Gradually we left the sheltering hillside and found our- 



9 



