SWABEY DIARY. 91 
General Sontag, which has retired to Pena Macor, and both armies 
seem tired of the campaign—the French having returned to Salamanca, 
and Lord Wellington having taken up the position of Guarda, where 
report says the army is likely to remain for the winter.—See Map II. 
Ist October.—No pheasant shooting this day, but a hot ride to Pena 
Macor to report the state of the troop to General Sontag, and arrange 
the communication with him and the commissary. No corn in store 
for the horses, this being the third day without it; our parties bring in 
mua sian amcl laa, OM Me GORNS oto 6 5 oo a) Soon 
2nd October.—Went shooting, and saw swarms of red-legged par- 
tridges. Val de Lobo stands encompassed with hills on one side and 
a high mountain on the other, and would be a fertile valley if that 
epithet were in the Portuguese dictionary, or rather if labour were no 
longer its parent. “Wolves, wild boars, and deer abound in these 
mountains, but scarcely any one but the goat-herds, who feed their 
flocks in the mountains, ever see them. Their way of feeding here is 
rather singular: they burn the brush-wood in patches for a considerable 
extent, when the herbage immediately springs up, and they wander in 
this manner from place to place in their district in search of fresh 
pastures. When the people saw us march into Val de Lobo they ex- 
pected, judging from our retrogade movement, a visit from the French, 
and fled to their fastnesses and dug holes for their treasure, for many 
of these unfortunate wretches who have not bread to eat have still a 
collection of money. They have begun to drop in with a mule ora 
jackass, and are on excellent terms with us. 
3rd October.—An order from General Sontag to reconnoitre a road 
to Valverde and make a plan and general report of the country ; this is 
an engineer’s task, but on the principle of “nothing venture nothing 
have,” I volunteered the job, and Taylor accompanying me, we set out 
_ in the hardest rain that ever poured, and were unable to make a single 
observation as we went; we were thus situated eight hours, and after 
dark, having a guide, got to Taletia, in a district hitherto little known. 
Here I cried a halt, and the Juiz de Fora put us into a priest’s house, 
where we received great attention. I had very cunningly, as I thought, 
brought a change in my saddle-bags, but they were wet through, my 
bed being on my mule, with my tarpaulin over it, fared better, so that 
having cooked my supper I made a good night of it. The fare the 
priest set before us was goats’ cheese and water-melon, neither of which 
serve to fill the little gaps that hunger occasions. I had taken the 
precaution to bring a camp-kettle and two days’ rations. I would have 
given something for a glass of wine, but spirits, which are all we can get 
now, I cannot bear. I had a firm friend, however, in my chocolate pot 
and canteen, all of which the mule does me the favour of transporting. I 
should not forget to mention the rapidity of the brooks which rise 
suddenly with the wet and become formidable obstacles in a road; in 
passing one of these we carelessly went over before our guide, who 
took the opportunity de s’eloigner, and one of the men had to gallop 
some distance before he could bring him back ; when he arrived at the 
brook he was obliged to go up to his middle in water, and like a true 
