150 WILD SPAIN. 



or snow, or in crags surrounded by snow — either position 

 equally inaccessible to human beings — save on two occa- 

 sions, both towards evening, when goats have been descried 

 on somewhat lower ground than usual ; but, alas ! on the 

 opposite mountain-side, far away, and separated from us 

 by an intervening gorge, to cross which and re-ascend the 

 further slope would have occupied well nigh half a day. 

 Had such opportunities but occurred in the moniintj, instead 

 of the evening, it is just possible that this record of our 

 ibex-stalking days might not have resulted in a blank. 



It is, however, fair to add that we have never tried ibex- 

 stalking in summer, when the obstruction of the snow 

 would naturally be much less ; the goats, on the other 

 hand, have then a vastly extended field to roam over. 



II. — PiISCOS DE VaLDEREJO. 



Far awa}' to the eastward, a triple-peaked mountain 

 filled the whole horizon. From the distance it appeared to 

 be composed solely of barren grey granite, and only sparse 

 patches and stride of snow adorned its crests. This was 

 the Eiscos de ^'alderejo, and on its heights there roamed, 

 we were told, a good band of ibex, including some machos 

 of the first rank. 



To this sierra we i^rojected a spring campaign. The 

 distance (by road) from the nearest available base was 

 some thirty miles, along smiling valleys redolent of historic 

 interest ; past castellated monasteries and fortresses, relics 

 of feudal times, now abandoned to farmers, and to storks, 

 whose nests lined the battlements ; for the plough had 

 long supei'seded the sword, and now the deep glens glory 

 in husbandry and viticulture. Here corn and vine grow 

 beneath olive, fig, and chestnut : verily fruit and grain 

 seem to jostle each other — it is hard to conceive a more 

 fertile scene ; the air vocal with the melody of nightingales 

 and Orphean warblers, and the ringing note of golden 

 orioles. The peasantry live in crazy, ramshackle hamlets. 



