SPAIN 313 



morrnl (knapsack) and go and spend days on the Sierra, sleeping in some of the 

 caves or under a ledge of rocks. He more often stalked the rams than waited for 

 them on the passes, or puertos, and, even when successful, what he got for the skin 

 and flesh would hardly give him a moderate day's wage. There are few left of 

 this class of mountaineers, and those that now shoot over the Sierra from time to 

 time, form large batidas (battues), driving and slaughtering everything that comes 

 within range. Happily, ibex are not so easily surprised, else they must have become 

 extinct long since. 



On my first attempt at stalking on Sierra Blanca, I w-as so fortunate as to get a 

 bi_g ram with horns measuring 22 inches, but missed another. My friend and companion. 

 Captain W , who had shot big game a good deal in India, and who, alas ! afterwards 

 met his death there on the polo ground, also got another head somewhat bigger than 

 that which fell to my share, and I have never had a blank week on the Sierra in the 

 autumn, though I have often returned empty-handed in the spring. 



Sierra Blanca is an isolated ridge of hills of limestone rock, extending about ten 

 or twelve miles from north to south, and from six to eight miles wide. On the west and 

 south the river Verde separates it from Sierra Real and Palmitera, and on the north side 

 it is cut off by the river Ojen. High up in the centre there is a large, flat, sandy valley 

 surrounded by high peaks, and very much like the mouth of a volcano. On one side 

 of this valley is a farm enclosed by an olive plantation and some pine trees, and this 

 I make my headquarters when ibex- shooting. The higher parts of the Sierra have 

 little or no brushwood, and some portions are nothing but clean boulders of rock. 

 Some of the slopes are covered with esparto grass and others with fine short grass, 

 while on the lower parts of the hills there are coarse heather, broom, and gorse, with 

 locust-bean trees and some pines. 



One should be as early as possible on the peaks and passes {puerfos), whence 

 a good view of the slopes and conies of the opposite hills can be obtained, so as to 

 spy them carefully with a glass. It is necessary to search these from different angles, 

 as often, with the enormous walls of rock, nooks and corners are most difficult to see 

 into, and, should they hold ibex, these may easily escape detection. There are some 

 ravines of so intricate a nature that they cannot be searched without walking or creeping 

 up to them, and this I generally do after having scanned them well with a glass. 



When ibex are seen on fairly open slopes, or in accessible ravines, with some 

 patience stalking can be accomplished when one has the wind in the right direction. 

 To manage this latter is a most difficult thing, as the wind shifts and alters so much in 

 direction in the ravines and valleys. 



