Unexplored Spain 



awaits but the wand of a magician to recall its people to front 

 rank. Neither by despotic methods nor by the power that is 

 only demonstrated by violence will the change be brought about, 

 but by the enlightenment that has learnt to leave unimitated the 

 follies of the past, and unused the forces of coercion. 



Such a leader, we believe, to-day wields that wand. May he 

 be spared to restore the destinies of his country. 



It was in Spain, remember, that, more than 2000 years ago, 

 the fate of Carthage and, later, that of Rome was decided. To 

 the latter Imperial city Spain had given poets, philosophers, and 

 emperors. It was in Spain that there dawned the earlier 

 glimmerings of popular liberties, as such are now^ understood. 

 Self-government with municipal rights were recognised by the 

 Cortes of Leon previous to our Magna Charta. Individual 

 guarantees, freedom of person and contract, and the inviolability 

 of the home were granted by the Cortes of Zaragoza in 1348 — 

 more than three centuries before our Habeas Corpus was signed 

 in 1679. A land with, such traditions and achievements, with 

 its tw^enty millions of inhabitants, cannot long be held back 

 outside the trend of liberal expansion. 



The pursuit of game, alike with other aspects of Spanish 

 things, is not exempt from startling surprises. A ramble 

 through the cistus-scrub, with no more exciting object than 

 shooting a few redlegs, may result in bagging a lynx ; or a 

 handful of snipe from some cane-brake be augmented by the 

 addition of a wild-boar. It is not that game abounds, but that 

 the country is wide and wild, abandoned to natural state and 

 combining conditions congenial to animal-life. Of the big-game 

 that is obtained or of its habitats, there is no approximate 

 estimate, nor do precise knowledge or records exist. Each 

 village in the sierra or higher mountain-region lives its owai life 

 apart. Communication with other places is rare and difficult, 

 nor is it sought. One must go oneself to the spot to ascertain 

 with any sort of accuracy what game has been, or may be 

 obtained thereat. This means finding out every fact at first- 

 hand, for no reliance can be placed on reports or hearsay evidence. 

 Nor does this remark apply to game alone : it applies universally 

 in wilder Spain. The Englishman straying in these lone scenes 

 finds himself amongst a kindly but independent people where 

 sympathy and a knowledge of the language carry him further 



