296 WILD SPAIN. 



in winter, when plains are flooded, and valleys water- 

 logged, the death-rate from cold, want, and disease is 

 hardly less heavy than that of summer. Small wonder 

 the great bare-necked scavengers of Nature increase and 

 flourish. 



Passing beneath the twin crags of Las Dos Hermahas, 

 we struck the course of the Majaceite, whose rushing 

 stream, embowered amidst magnificent oleanders, looked 

 more like trout than anything we had then seen in these 

 sierras. Among the mountain streams above Alcala de 

 los Gazules and in the Sierra de la Jarda we have 

 observed its darting form, and further south some large 

 trout have more recently been captured. 



It was necessary to ford the Majaceite, which, in its 

 swollen state and opaque current, was one of those things 

 that bring one's heart into one's mouth ; the bottom, 

 however, proved sound : we plunged through all right, and 

 after some stiffish mountain-riding reached the pueblocito 

 of Algar just as the setting sun was bathing the wild 

 serrania in softest purples and gold. 



The posada was a typical Spanish village inn. Our 

 horses we had ourselves to see quartered in the stable, 

 which occupied one side of the courtyard, while our 

 dinner was being made ready in a small whitewashed 

 room adjoining. The sleeping-quarters above consisted of 

 a single small attic, absolutely devoid of furniture or of 

 contents beyond a pile of sacks containing corn, or " paja " 

 (chaff) , in one corner, and our own belongings, including 

 saddles, mule-pack, &c, &c, which lay littered all over 

 the floor. Three trestle-beds (" catres ") were produced, 

 and in deference to the idiosyncrasies of the crtranjero, a 

 tiny wash-basin was placed on the window-sill — not that 

 there was 'any window, beyond a folding wooden shutter. 

 Dinner consisted of an olla, in which small morsels of 

 pork could be hunted up amidst the recesses of a steaming 

 mass of garbanzos (chick-pea), by no means bad, though 

 we were too hungry to be fastidious. 



A small crowd of idlers, as usual, hung about the open 

 courtyard of the posada, watching for " any new thing,' - 



