152 WILD SPAIN. 



display of national types and characteristics at the great 

 provincial "fairs" — such as that at Talavera — offer 

 pictures of Spanish rural life abounding in interest, and 

 well worthy of study and observant description. But the 

 pen must be directed by sympathy and understanding, or 

 the result will merely be so much more of that silly 

 writing and grotesque "wit," with which we are already 

 only too well acquainted. Pero ! .' . . . vamonos ! 

 To our ibex. 



Well, the narrow col or neck, connecting the Eiscos 

 with the neighbouring heights, being thus contaminated— 

 for the wild goat will never cross a path or suffer the 

 propinquity of man — the ibex of that sierra form an 

 isolated colony, absolutely cut off from all contact with 

 their fellows. That such should be able to survive on 

 so limited a space — their territory is but eight miles 

 by four — amidst a nation of tiradores, is partly due to 

 a curious local circumstance. A pair of guardias civiles, 

 the military police of Spain, is stationed close below the 

 col. Here is the explanation. None of the serranos pay the 

 gun-license, — twenty shillings, — and capture, red-handed, 

 means disarmament. Hence the presence of this pair of 

 civil guards signifies nothing less than security to the 

 isolated ibex of the Eiscos ; their withdrawal would be the 

 signal for extermination within a few years. 



We had already pitched our tent on a slope above 

 the col (5,600 feet), just within the lower fringe of 

 snow, and were wondering at the non-arrival of our 

 hunters. They had taken a short cut across the 

 mountains, and should have been the first to reach the 

 spot. But after enjoying a delicious bathe in an adjoin- 

 ing burn, and setting on the olla to stew on an impro- 

 vised anafe (a hollowed trench, in the deep centre of 

 which was kindled a fire), we suddenly saw them all 

 appear, leaping down the opposite slope with the agile 

 bounds of wild animals. They had simply lain hidden 

 for hours, reconnoitring the movements of the civil 

 guards ! Their first act on arrival was to hide their guns 

 among the green piomales. Again, when one evening the 



