214 WILD SPAIN. 



or mountain-ravine. What was my vexation to find, after 

 eighteen hours' labour, that it was empty ! On one side 

 lay part of the leg of a kid, and about half a hare, both 

 quite fresh, but the eaglet was gone ; and though we 

 waited till dusk on the chance of the old bird returning, we 

 saw nothing, and had to retrace our wearj^ steps, sticking 

 and stumbling in the dark, to the shepherds' hut, dead- 

 beat and disappointed. 



The choza was a mere hut built of long cauas or reeds, 

 in the form of an extinguisher, the interior being circular, 

 some 15ft. in diameter, occupied by many goats, poultry, 

 and cats — not to mention minor inhabitants, and with a 

 wood fire smouldering in the centre. I had hardly coiled 

 myself in my rug and laid down to sleep on the low mud 

 settee which ran round the back of the den, when a furious 

 outburst of barking took place among the numerous dogs 

 which lay sleeping round the fire. The goatherd opened 

 the door, and there entered an old man, bronze-visaged 

 and wiry, leading behind him a donkey. He was a 

 smuggler, and his packs, crammed with contraband of 

 infinite variety, were soon deposited on the floor, and the 

 donkey hobbled and turned out to find bed and breakfast 

 where it might. Then the ccrrones were unpacked, and 

 their multifarious contents displayed on the mud floor — 

 pins, needles and scissors, buttons, and bobbins of thread, 

 tobacco, tape, and sundry kinds of coloured cloth and bright 

 ribbons. The latter at once " fetched " the feminine portion 

 of the community — alas ! for the chances of sleep for the 

 weary — female nature is everywhere the same, even in the 

 choza of a goatherd buried amidst these lonely sierras, and 

 bargaining and chatter continued well-nigh throughout the 

 livelong night. 



The simple peasants, though unable to comprehend 

 my object, were sincerely distressed at our failure ; and 

 next morning, while we were busy cooking our break- 

 fast under the shade of a spreading laurestinus, came to 

 say there was another eagle's nest on the opposite side of 

 the valley. They had kindly sent a lad at daybreak to 

 make inquiries at a neighbouring farm, four miles distant. 



