Sierra Moréna 161 
(Rather should a Christian die 
Than let a head of game pass by.) 
A word here as to the game and its habits. The lairs of wild- 
boar are invariably in the densest jungle and on the shaded 
slope where no sun ever penetrates. There is always at hand, 
moreover, a ready salida, or exit, along some deep watercourse 
or by a rocky ravine or gully—rarely do these animals show up 
in the open, or even in ground of scanty covert. It is usually 
the strongest arbutus-thickets (madronales) that they select for 
their quarters. 
It is seldom that wild-boar are “ held-up” by the dogs during 
a beat—the old tuskers never. 
Deer, on the contrary, avoid the denser jungle, lying-up in 
more open brushwood and invariably on the sunny slope. Though 
their “beds” (camas) may be on the lower ground, they 
invariably seek the heights when disturbed, and then select a 
course through the lighter cistus-scrub or across open screes, 
knowing instinctively that thus they can travel fastest and best 
throw off the pursuing pack. 
Owing to the wide areas of each beat, a monteria in the 
sierras is confined to a single drive each day, the guns usually 
reaching their posts about eleven o'clock, and remaining therein till 
late in the afternoon. In the lowlands, as already described, four, 
five, and even six batidas (drives) are sometimes possible during 
the day. 
A Mownrerra av Mezquitituas (Province or CérDoBA) 
A glorious ride amid splendid mountain scenery all lit up 
with southern sunshine—the narrow bridle-track now forms 
a mere tunnel hewn out of impending foliage; anon it descends 
abrupt rock-faces, in zigzags like a corkscrew, apt to make 
nerves creep, when one false step would precipitate horse and 
rider into a half-seen torrent hundreds of feet below. Some 
eight miles of this, and by eleven o’clock we have reached our 
positions at Los Llanos del Peco. 
These positions extend for over a league in length (there 
are twelve guns), occupying the crests and “passes” of a lofty 
ridge whence one enjoys a bird’s-eye view of a world of wild 
mountain-land. 
My own post commanded a panorama of almost the whole 
M 
