LIFE IN THE SIERRAS. 17 



Then it is a study to watch that bronzed and swarthy 

 face, after a long and clean right-and-left, and deep is the 

 concentrated expressiveness of the single untranslatable 

 word he utters. The first opportunity is taken to have 

 a quiet examination of the English gun and cartridges, 

 and with what respect he handles these latest develop- 

 ments of power and precision ! One cannot help fearing 

 that upon his next miss some particle of mistrust may, 

 with a sportsman's facility of excuse, find the fault in 

 his old and trusted friend : or that his ever-ready 

 explanation, " las polvoras estaban frias," i.e., the powder 

 was cold! will be associated with treasonable doubts 

 of his old Brown Bess. We hope not. Good, honest 

 fellow, may he ever remain content and satisfied with 

 the old gun, for ■ it affords almost the only solace of his 

 lonely life ! 



In this rough herdsman there beats the kindliest heart : 

 there exist the best feelings of hospitality as he offers 

 you, a brother sportsman, the shelter of his hut and a 

 share of his humble fare, offered with the simple un- 

 affected ease of an equal, and the natural grace charac- 

 teristic of his class throughout the south of Spain. 



Besides these humble and harmless inhabitants, the 

 Spanish sierras have also ever afforded a refuge for the 

 brigand and outlaw, and many deeds of murder and 

 violence are associated with these wild regions. Until 

 the year 1889 the mountain land was dominated by two 

 famous villains known as Vizco el Borje and Melgarez, 

 his lieutenant, who commanded a band of desperadoes, the 

 scourge and dread of the whole southern sierra, from 

 Gibraltar to Almeria. Vizco el Borje held human life 

 cheap : he stuck at no murder, though he sought not 

 bloodshed, for his tactics were to take alive and hold to 

 ransom. All sorts of tales are told of the courage and 

 generosity of this Spanish Bobin Hood. Vizco el Borje 

 robbed only from the rich, and was profuse in the distri- 

 bution of money and plunder among the peasantry. But 

 whatever redeeming features may have existed in this 

 robber chief, Melgarez, his lieutenant, is a very fiend of 



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