Andalucia and its Big Game 8 1 



from the trees, and when droves of domestic swine are turned 

 loose into the woods to feed on these wild fruits. At that date 

 the wild -boars also are in the habit of descending from the 

 adjacent sierras, and wander far and wide over the wooded plains 

 in search of that favourite food. 



When the acorns fall thus and ripe chestnuts strew the 

 ground in these magnificent Estremenian forests, the young bloods 

 of the district assemble to await the arrival of the boars upon 

 the lower ground. Two kinds of dog are employed : the ordinary 

 podencos, which run free ; and the alanos, a breed of rough- 

 haired " seizers," crossed between bull-dog and mastiff — these 

 latter being held in leash. 



Sallying forth at midnight, so soon as the podencos give 

 tongue, the alanos are slipped in order to " hold-up " the flying 

 boar till the horsemen can reach the spot. 



Then for a while hound -music frightens the darkness and 

 shocks the silence of the sleeping woods ; there is crashing among 

 dry forest -scrub, a breakneck scurry of mounted men among 

 the timber, until the furious baying of the hounds and the noisy 

 rush of the hunters converge towards one dark point among the 

 shadows, and in the half-light a great grisly tusker dies beneath 

 the cold steel, but not before he has written a lasting record on 

 the hide of some luckless hound. 



A stiff neck and bold heart are essential to these dare-devil 

 gallops, where each horse and horseman vie in reckless rivalry, 

 flying through bush and brake, and under overhung boughs 

 difficult to distinguish amid moon-rays intercepted by foliage 

 above. Accidents of course occur — an odd collar-bone or two 

 hardly count, but what does annoy is when by mistake some 

 wretched beast of domestic race is found held up by the excited 

 pack. 





G 



