Unexplored Spain 



as a damask serviette. Living captives at least give form ; but 

 that is all. Tlie loss of freedom, with all its contingent perils, 

 involves the loss of character, the pride of life, and of independ- 

 ence. Once remove the first essential element — the sense of 

 instant danger, with all that the stress and exigencies of wild-life 

 import — and with these there vanish vigilance, carriage, spright- 

 liness, dignity, sometimes even self-respect. 



Not a man who has watched and studied wild beasts and wild 

 birds in their native haunts, glorified and ennobled by self- 

 conscious aptitude to prevail in the ceaseless " struggle for 

 existence," but instantly recognises with a pang the different 

 demeanour of the same creatures in captivity, albeit carefully 

 tended in the best zoological gardens of the world. 



To Mr. Joseph Crawhall (cousin of one author) we and our 

 readers are indebted for a series of drawings that speak for 

 themselves. 



Further, we desire most heartily to thank H.R.H. the Duke 

 of Orleans for notes and photographs illustrative both of Baetican 

 scenery and of the wild camels of the marisma ; also the many 

 Spanish and Anglo-Spanish friends whose assistance is specifically 

 acknowledged, passim, in the text. 



Should some slight slip or repetition have escaped the final 

 revision, may we crave indulgence of critics ? 'Tis not care that 

 lacks, but sheer mnemonics. In a work of (we are told) 150,000 

 words the mass of manuscript appals, and to detect every single 

 error may well prove beyond our power. We have lost, moreover, 

 that guiding eye and pilot-like touch on the helm that helped 

 to steer our earlier venture through the shoals and seethino- 

 whirlpools that ever beset voyages into the unknown. 



A. C. 

 W. J. B. 



British Vice-Consulate, Jerez, 

 December 1910. 



