Unexplored Spain Part 41

[Ill.u.s.tration: GOLDEN EAGLE HUNTING

(1) The "stoop"--quite vertical. (2) "Got him."

The golden eagle is still common, ornamenting with majestic flight every sierra in Spain. For eagles are notoriously difficult to kill, and, when killed, cannot be eaten; so the goat-herd, with characteristic apathy and Arab fatalism, suffers the ravages on his kids and contents himself with an oath. Only once have we found a nest in a tree; it was a giant oak, impending a ravine so precipitous that from the eyrie you could drop a pebble into a torrent 200 feet below. Usually their nests are in the crags, vast acc.u.mulations of sticks conspicuously projecting, and generally in pairs, perhaps 100 yards apart, and which are occupied in alternate years. Eggs are laid by mid-March, but the young hardly fly before June. It was in this sierra that we made the sketches of golden eagles from life, here and at p. 317.

Bonelli's eagle is another beautiful mountain-haunting species, but of it we treat elsewhere.

From the knife-edged ridge above our eagle's eyrie (height 5500 feet) we enjoyed a memorable view. Due south, 50 miles away, beyond the jumbled Spanish sierras, lay Gibraltar, recognisable by its broken back, but looking puny and inconsiderable amidst vaster heights. Beyond it--beyond Tetuan, in fact--rose Mount Anna, an 8000-feet African mountain; to the right, Gebel-Musa and all the Moorish coast to Cape Spartel, the straits between showing dim and insignificant. To the eastward, beyond the Sierra de las Nieves aforesaid, stands out boldly the long white snow-line of Nevada, its majesty undimmed by distance and 140 miles of intervening atmosphere. To the west we distinguish Jerez, 40 miles away, and beyond it the s.h.i.+ning Atlantic.

From one point there lies almost perpendicularly below, the curious mediaeval village of Grazalema, jammed in between two vast cinder-grey rock-faces--its narrow streets, white houses, and india-red roofs resembling nothing so much as a toy town. No s.p.a.ce for "back-streets,"

each house faces both ways; yet Grazalema is one of the cleanest spots we have struck--how they manage that, we know not.

Immediately beneath Grazalema is a bird-crag that contains a regular "choughery," hundreds of these red-billed corvines nesting in its caves and crevices. As neighbours they had lesser kestrels and rock-sparrows (_Petronia stulta_), while the roofs of the caverns were plastered with the mud nests of crag-martins. We also noticed here alpine swifts, and a great frilled lizard escaped us amid broken rocks.

Within the limits of a chapter even the more notable spots of a great serrania cannot all find place; but the rock-gorge known as the Yna de la Garganta will not be overpa.s.sed, though no words of ours can convey the stupendous nature of this place, a chasm riven right through the earth's crust till its depths are invisible from above; and overshadowed by encircling walls of sheer red crags, broken horizontally at intervals, thus forming, as it were, tier above tier, and flanked by a series of bastions and flying b.u.t.tresses apparently provided to support the vast superstructure above.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

By climbing along the rugged central tier, one overlooks from its apex, as from the reserved seats of a dress-circle, the whole domestic economy of a vulture city in being. Every ledge in that abyss was crowded; many vultures sat brooding, their heads laid flat on the rock or tucked under the point of a wing. Elsewhere a single grey-white chick, or a huge white egg, lay in full view on the open ledge, nestled, apparently, on bare earth; and behind these each niche or cavern had its tenant. The rocks around a nest were often stained blood-red, and one vulture arrived carrying a ma.s.s of what appeared carrion in its claws. Another brought a wisp of dry esparto-gra.s.s athwart her beak and deposited it in her nest.[61]

While we watched this scene a smart thunderstorm pa.s.sed over, with the result that shortly afterwards the vultures spread their huge wings to dry, displaying att.i.tudes some of which we endeavour to sketch--see also p. 9.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "WING-DRYING"]

The descent into the unseen depths beneath was rewarded, despite a terrible scramble--part of the way on a rope--by discovering a fairy grotto filled with pink, azure, and opalescent stalact.i.tes and stalagmites. The bed of the canyon, which from above had appeared to be paved with sand, now proved to consist of boulders ten feet high. After threading a devious course through these for half-a-mile we reached the mouth of the grotto. Its width would be nearly 200 feet and height about half that, the form roughly resembling the quarter of a cocoa-nut. The dome, in delicate colouring, pa.s.ses description--the apex bright salmon-pink, changing, as it pa.s.sed inwards, first into clear emerald, then to dark green, and finally to indigo; while the reflected sunlight filtering down between the rock-walls of the canyon caused phantasmagoric effects such as, one thought, existed only in fairyland.

The cavern was backed by pillars of stalact.i.tes resembling the pipes of a mighty organ, and of so soft and feathery a texture that it was surprising, on touching them, to find hard rock. The floor also was composed of great smooth stalagmites, deep brown in colour.

From outside, one saw the sky as through a narrow rift between the perpendicular walls which towered up 300 feet; and above that level there again uprose the vultures' cliffs already described.

One evening we detected afar a cavern which showed signs of being the present abode of a lammergeyer. Ere reaching it, however, a keen eye descried one of these birds in the heavens at an alt.i.tude that dwarfed the great _Gypaetus_ to the size of a humble kestrel. Presently, after many descending sweeps, the lammergeyer entered another cavern 2000 feet higher up--in fact, close under the sky-line, among some scanty pinsapos. The hour was 4 P.M., and after a long day's scramble, the writer s.h.i.+ed at a fresh ascent. Not so my companion, L., who set off at a run, and within an hour had reached the eyrie. It proved empty, though the leg of a freshly killed kid lay half across the nest. This was presumably the alternative site, used, this year, merely as a larder; but time did not that night admit of further search.

The writer beguiled the two-hours interval in interviewing a wild gipsy-eyed girl of twelve, whose name was Josefa Aguilar, and whose vocation in life to attend a herd of swine. Throughout Spain, whether on mountain or plain, one sees this thing--a small boy or girl spending the livelong day in solitary charge of dumb beasts, goats or pigs, even turkeys--and the sight ever causes me a pang of regret. Probably I am quite wrong, but such hardly seems a human vocation--certainly it leads nowhere. In intervals of pelting her recalcitrant charges with stones, Josefa told me she lived in a reed-hut which was close by, but so small that I had overlooked its existence; that she never went to school or had been farther from home than Zahara, a village some few miles away.

She asked if I was from Grazalema, and on being told from England, she repeated the word "Inglaterra" again and again, while her bright black eyes became almost sessile with wonderment. Josefa's frock was hanging in tatters, torn to bits by the th.o.r.n.y scrub. I gave her some coppers to buy a new one, and with a little joyous scream Josefa vanished among the bush.

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAMMERGEYER ENTERING EYRIE]

Darkness was closing in ere L. returned; then great thunder-clouds rolled up, obscuring the moon, and oh! what we suffered those next three hours, scrambling over rock and ridge, through forest and thicket--all in inky darkness and under a deluge of rain.

On returning to this remote ridge (having ascended from the opposite face), we soon renewed our friends.h.i.+p with the lammergeyer--when first seen, it was being mobbed by an impudent chough. Then it sailed up the deep gorge below us, pa.s.sing close in front, and after clearing an angle of the hill, wheeled inwards and with gently closing wings plunged into a cavern in the crag. We felt we had our object a.s.sured; yet on examining these mighty piles of rocks--a couple of hours' stiff climbing--it was evident we were mistaken, for no nest, past or present, did they reveal. It was on yet a third stupendous crag, quite a mile from the alternative site first discovered, that this year these lammergeyers had fixed their home. The nest was in quite a small cave in the rock-face; more often (as described in _Wild Spain_) the lammergeyer prefers a huge cavern in the centre of which is piled an immense ma.s.s of sticks, heather-stalks, and other rubbish--the acc.u.mulation of years--and lined with esparto-gra.s.s and wool. The eggs always number two and are richly coloured, whereas the griffon lays but one, and that white. Although laying takes place as early as January, yet the young are unable to fly before June. Our princ.i.p.al object this year was to sketch the lammergeyer in life, and in this several rough portraits serve to show that we succeeded--so far as in us lies.

There remain notes of later vernal developments in these beautiful sierras; but alas! this chapter is already too long, so over the taffrail they go.

CHAPTER x.x.xVI

SERRANiA DE RONDA (_Continued_)

II. THE SIERRA BERMEJA

The Sierra Bermeja, standing on Mediterranean sh.o.r.e, demands a page or two if only because it affords a home to three of Spain's peculiar and rarer guests--the pinsapo, the ibex, and the lammergeyer.

Our earlier experience in Bermeja, our efforts to study its ibex--and to secure a specimen or two--are told in _Wild Spain_. Suffice it here to say that the characteristic of these Mediterranean mountains is that here the ibex habitually live, and even lie-up (as hares do), among the scrubby brushwood of the hills--a remarkable deviation from their observed habits elsewhere, whether in Spain, the Caucasus and Himalayas, or wherever ibex are found. But since brushwood clothes Bermeja and other Mediterranean hills to their topmost heights, the local wild-goats have literally no choice in the matter. Still, such a habitat must strike a hunter's eye as abnormal, and is, in fact, a curious instance of "adaptation to environment."[62]

During December 1907 we spent some days in Bermeja in an attempt to stalk the ibex--a difficult undertaking when game is always three-parts hidden by scrub. On former occasions we had secured a specimen or two by stalking (here called _raspageo_) and "driving"; but whatever chance there might have been was this time annihilated by incessant mists enshrouding the heights in opaque screen. Thus another carefully organised expedition and unstinted labour were once more thrown away!

[Ill.u.s.tration: LAMMERGEYER

[Drawn from life in Sierra Bermeja, March 1891.]]

On December 19 we drove the "Pinsapal." This, commencing near the highest tops, 5000 feet, extends down a tremendous conch-shaped ravine, merging at the base into pine-forests--chiefly, we believe, _Pinus pinaster_. This "drive" lasted two hours, mist sometimes densely thick, at others clearing a little; but only allowing a view varying from twenty to eighty yards. This, coupled with constant drip from the gigantic pinsapos and a bitter wind blowing through clothes already soaked, was ... well, comfortless and pretty hopeless to boot. Twice the dogs gave tongue--and it could be nothing but ibex here; while D., who was posted on the left, heard the rattling of hoofs as a herd pa.s.sed within, as he reckoned, 200 yards. A second lot, followed by dogs, was heard though not seen on the extreme right. The pinsapos at this season, and in such weather, form a favourite resort, for we saw more sign hereabouts than on the high tops. A _levante_ wind in winter always means mist--and failure.

The ibex in winter hold the high ground unless driven down by snow. In spring and summer they come lower--even to cork-oak levels--presumably to avoid contact with tame goats, then pasturing on the tops.

The east wind and fog continuing a whole week, though we tried all we knew, every effort was frustrated by atmospheric obstruction. To drive ibex successfully, the skilled training of the dogs is essential.

Formerly there were goat-herds who possessed clever dogs of great local repute. But these days of "free-shooting" have pa.s.sed away, and the ibex of Bermeja with those of other Spanish sierras have recently fallen under the beneficent aegis of "protection."

Bird-life in winter is scarce. We noticed a few redwings feeding on berries; jays, partridges, and many wood-pigeons picking up acorns.

Vultures rarely appear here, but both golden and Bonelli's eagles were observed, and in one mountain-gorge a pair of lammergeyers have their stronghold, where in 1891 we examined both their eyries, one containing a young _Gypaetus_ as big as a turkey. That was in March, at which season hawfinches abounded in the pines, and at dawn the melody of the blue thrush recalled Scandinavian springs and the redwing's song.

Another small bird caused recurrent annoyance while ibex-driving. With a loud "Rat, tat, tat," resembling the patter of h.o.r.n.y hoofs on rock, its song commences; then follows a hissing note as of a heavy body pa.s.sing through brushwood--for an instant one expects the coveted game to appear. No, confound that bird! it's only a blackstart.

We extract the following scene from _Wild Spain_:--

On the lifting of a cloud-bank which rested on the mountain-side, I descried four ibex standing on a projecting rock in bold relief about 400 yards away. The intervening ground was rugged--rocks and brush-wood with scattered pines--and except the first 50 yards, the stalk offered no difficulty. I had pa.s.sed the dangerous bit, and was already within 200 yards, when in a moment the wet mist settled down again and I saw the game no more. Curiously, on the fog first lifting, an eagle sat all bedraggled and woe-begone on a rock-point hard by, his feathers fluffed out and a great yellow talon protruding, as it seemed, from the centre of his chest. Then a faint sun-ray played on his bronzed plumage: he shook himself and launched forth in air, sweeping downwards--luckily without moving the ibex, though they took note of the circ.u.mstance.

In the lower forests here are some pig and roe-deer. A far greater stronghold, however, for both these game-animals is at Almoraima, belonging to the Duke of Medinaceli, some six or eight leagues to the westward. Almoraima covers a vast extent of wild mountainous land of no great elevations generally, but all wooded and jungle-clad. On the lower levels grow immense cork-forests. Here, during a series of _monterias_ in February 1910, in which the writer, to his lasting regret, was prevented from taking part, a total of 19 roe-deer and 52 boars was secured. The two best roebuck heads measured as follows:--

Length (outside curve). Circ.u.mference. Tip to Tip.

No. 1 9-1/2" 3-1/2" 3-5/8"

No. 2 9-1/4" 4-3/8" 3"

III. SIERRA DE JEREZ

These mountains (being within sight of our home) formed the scene of our earliest sporting ventures in Spain. It is forty years ago now, yet do we not forget that first day and its anxieties, as we rode by crevices that serve for bridle-paths, along with a too jovial hill-farmer, Barrea by name, who persisted in carrying a loaded gun swinging haphazard and full-c.o.c.k in the saddle-slings--that it was loaded we saw by the s.h.i.+ny copper cap on each nipple! Our objects that day were boar and roe-deer; but presently a partridge was descried sprinting up the rugged screes above. Out came the ready gun, and next moment all that remained of that partridge was a cloud of feathers and scattered anatomy. The ball had gone true. Barrea casually shouted to a lad to pick up the pieces, himself riding on as though such practice was an everyday affair. My own experience of ball-shooting being then limited, I reflected that if such were Spanish marksmans.h.i.+p, I might be left behind! On a.s.sembling for lunch, however, some vultures were wheeling high overhead, and it occurred to me to try my luck. By precisely a similar fluke, one huge griffon collapsed to the shot, and swirling round and round like a parachute, occupied (it seemed) five minutes in reaching the ground--1000 feet below us.

That afternoon the antics of two strange beasties attracted my attention and again my ball went straight. The victim was a mongoose, and with some pride I had the specimen carefully stowed in the mule-panniers--never to see it more! The mongoose, we now know, owing to its habit of eating snakes, has acquired a personal aroma surpa.s.sing in pungency that of any other beast of the field, and our men, so soon as my back was turned, had discreetly thrown out the malodorous trophy.

A boar-shooting trip to the Sierra de Jerez formed the first sporting venture in which the authors were jointly engaged; for which reason (though the memory dates back to March 1872) we may be forgiven for extracting a brief summary from _Wild Spain_:--