On Travel and Other Things 23 



both friendship and protection if required. Nor is there a pleasanter 

 means of forming acquaintance with Spanish country life and customs 

 than a few evenings spent thus at a farm-house or village inn in any 

 retired district of laughter-loving Andalucia. 



For rough living we are of course prepared, and accept the 

 necessity without demur or second thought while travelling. But 

 when more serious objects are in hand — say big -game or the 

 study of nature, objects which demand more leisurely progress, 

 or actually encamping for a week or more at selected points — 

 then we prefer to assure complete independence of all local assist- 

 ance and shelter. 



An expedition on this 

 scale involves an amount of 

 care and forethouo^ht that 



only those who have experi- 

 enced it would credit. For 

 in Spain it is an unknown 

 undertakinof, and to euoineer 

 something new is alw^ays 

 difficult. Quite an exten- 

 siv^e camping- trip can be 

 organised in Africa, where 

 the system is understood, 

 "wath less than a hundredth 

 part of the care needed for 

 a comparatively short trip 

 in Spain where it is not. 

 The necessary bulk of camp- 

 outfit and equipment requires a considerable cavalcade, and this 

 mule-transport (since no provender is obtainable in the country) 

 involves carrying along all the food for the animals — the heaviest 

 item of all. Naturally the cost of such expeditions w^orks out to 

 nearly double that of simple riding. 



But, after all, it is worth it ! Compare some of the miseries 

 we have above but liglitly touched upon — the dirt and squalor, 

 the nameless horrors of clioza ov posada — w'ith the sense of joyous 

 exhilaration felt when encamped by the banks of some babbling 

 trout-stream or in the glorious freedom of the open hill. Casting 

 back in mental reverie over a lengthening vista of years, we 

 certainly count as among the happiest days of life those spent 



Types of Si'anisii Bird-Like 



SERIN {Seriniis hortidanus) 



A true European canary, but its song is harsh 

 and hissing. 



