CHAMOIS FROM LIFE ON LA LLOROSA, PEnA VIEJA.

EL CORROBLE, PICOS DE EUROPA, ASTURIAS.]

Hours went by and six o'clock came before, on the skyline above, they appeared, five of the _monteros_ each bearing a chamois on his shoulder.

Then, in the 2000-feet ravine towards the north, a third drive was attempted for my special benefit; but the day was far spent, and during the crucial half-hour snow-clouds skurrying along the crests shut out all chance of seeing game. The beaters reported enclosing quite forty chamois, some of which broke downwards through the flankers, the rest pa.s.sing a trifle wide of the guns. This beat is termed "El Arbol."

Long and weary was the descent, and fiendish places we had to pa.s.s ere the welcome camp-fires loomed up through gathering darkness. Those who wish to shoot chamois should commence the undertaking before they have pa.s.sed the half-century.

The successful drive that was thus missed by No. 1 is hereunder described by No. 2. We give the narrative in detail, inasmuch as this day's operation was typical of the system of chamois-shooting as practised in the Asturian mountains.

After leaving No. 1 as mentioned, and while proceeding to our next position, a number of chamois were viewed scattered in three groups on the hanging screes of a second gorge, a mile beyond that which we had intended to beat. After consultation held, it was decided to alter the plan and to send the guns completely round the outer periphery of encircling heights so as to command the pa.s.ses immediately above the game. This involved two hours' climbing and incidentally three detours, scrambling each time down the precipitous moraine to avoid showing in sight of the chamois.

Upon reaching the reverse point, the Conde and I were a.s.signed the most likely posts; and these being also the highest, a final heart-breaking climb up a thousand feet of loose rocks succeeded. Chamois, like ibex, when disturbed instinctively make for the highest ground, hence our occupation of the topmost pa.s.ses. Cheered on by the Conde, himself as hard as steel, the effort was accomplished, and I sank down, breathless, parched, and exhausted, behind a big rock that was indicated as my position. The lower pa.s.ses had meanwhile been occupied by the Padre and by sundry shepherds armed with primitive-looking guns.

On recovering some degree of breath and strength, I surveyed my surroundings. We were both stationed on the topmost arete, in a nick that broke for 80 or 100 yards the rim of a knife-edged ridge that separated two stupendous gorges. On my right, while facing the beat, and not 30 yards away, the nick was terminated by a rock-ma.s.s perpendicular and four-square as a cathedral tower, that uprose some 100 feet sheer.

On the left also rose cliffs though not quite so abrupt. The position was such that any game attempting to pa.s.s the nick must appear within 50 or 60 yards--so, in our simplicity, we thought.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A CHAMOIS DRIVE--PICOS DE EUROPA

Diagram ill.u.s.trative of text. Our positions on arete marked (1) and (2); "Cathedral" on right. Valley beyond full of driving mist (pa.s.sing our power to depict).]

Behind us dipped away the long moraine of loose rocks by which we had ascended; while in front, by stepping but a few paces across the narrow neck, we could look down into the depths of the gorge whence the quarry was to approach, as we feebly attempt to show in diagram annexed.

The panorama from these alt.i.tudes was superb beyond words. We were here far above the stratum of mist which enshrouded our camp and the sierra for some distance above it. We looked down upon a billowy sea of white clouds pierced here and there by the summits and ridges of outstanding crags like islands on a surf-swept coast.

Of bird-life there was no sign beyond choughs and a soaring eagle that our guides called aguila pintada (_Aquila bonellii_, immature). There are wild-boar in the forests far below, with occasional wolves and yet more occasional bear.

Hark! the distant cries of beaters break the solemn silence and announce that operations have begun. Almost instantly thereafter the rattle of loose stones dislodged by the feet of moving chamois came up from beneath our eyrie. So near was the sound that expectation waxed tense and eyes scanned each possible exit.

Then from the heights on the left, and already above us, sprang into view a band of five chamois lightly skipping from ledge to ledge with an agility that cannot be conveyed in words. The Conde and I fired simultaneously. The beast I had selected pulled himself convulsively together, sprang in air, and then fell backwards down the abyss whence he had just emerged. So abrupt was the skyline that no second barrel was possible; but while we yet gazed into s.p.a.ce the rattle of falling stones right _behind_ attracted attention in that direction, and a chamois was bounding across that loose moraine (or "ca.n.a.l" as it is here called) by which we had ascended. He flew those jumbled rocks as though they were a ballroom floor, offering at best but a snapshot, and the bullet found the beast already protected by a rock. Hardly, however, had cartridges been replaced than three more _Rebecos_ followed along precisely the same track, and this time each gun secured one buck.

Note that all these last four animals had come in from our _right_, that is, they had escaladed the "cathedral"; though by what earthly means they could surmount sheer rock-walls devoid of visible crack or crevice pa.s.ses human comprehension. For myself, having regarded the cathedral as impa.s.sable, I had kept no watch on that side.

For the next half-hour all was quiet. Then we heard again the rattle of hoofs somewhere down under, and on the sound ceasing, had gently raised ourselves to peer over into the eerie abyss in front, when a chamois suddenly poked his head over the rocks within fifteen yards, only to vanish like a flash.

From this advanced position, in the far distance we could now distinguish the beaters, looking like flies as they descended the opposite circle of crests, and could hear their cries and the reverberation of the rocks they dislodged to start the game. An extra burst of clamour denoted game afoot, and a few seconds later another chamois (having once more mocked the cathedral barrier) darted across the moraine behind and fell within a score of yards of the previous pair, though all three were finally recovered several hundred feet below, having rolled down these precipitous screes. The first chamois I had shot had fallen even farther--at one point over a sheer drop that could not be less than 100 feet. His body was smashed into pulp, every bone broken, but curiously the horns had escaped intact. We were much struck by the clear emerald-green light in the eyes of newly killed chamois.

The beaters being now close at hand, we scrambled down to rejoin the Padre who had occupied the _puesto_ next below ours. We found that worthy man very happy as he had succeeded in putting two slugs into a chamois-buck, to which the _coup de grace_ had been given by Don Serafin lower down.

A curious incident occurred as we made our way to the next beat where "No. 1" was to rejoin us. Suddenly the rugged stones that surrounded us were vivified by a herd of bouncing chamois--they had presumably been disturbed elsewhere and several came our way. A buck fell to a long shot of our host; while another suddenly sprang into view right under the Padre's feet. This, he averred, he would certainly have killed had he been loaded with slugs (_postas_) instead of ball.

The six chamois brought into camp to-night included four bucks and two does. We had not ourselves found it possible to distinguish the s.e.xes in life, though long practice enabled the Conde to do so when within moderate distance. All six were of a foxy-red colour, and the horns measured from seven to eight inches over the bend.

Chamois are certainly very much easier to obtain than ibex. Not only are they tenfold more abundant, but, owing to their diurnal habits, they are easily seen while feeding in broad daylight (often in large herds) on the open hillsides. They never enter caves or crevices of the rocks as ibex habitually do.

Chamois might undoubtedly be obtained by stalking, though that art is not practised in Spain. The excessively rugged nature of the ground is rather against it; for one's view being often so restricted, there is danger while stalking chamois, which have been espied from a distance, of "jumping" others previously unseen though much nearer. Driving, as above described, is the method usually adopted. Few beaters comparatively are required; the positions of flankers and stops are often clearly indicated by the natural configuration of the crests.

Dogs are occasionally employed. The game, in their terror of canine pursuers, will push forward into precipices whence there is no exit; and then, rather than attempt to turn, will spring down to certain death.

The best foot-gear is the Spanish _alpargata_, or hemp-soled sandal.

They will withstand two or three days' wear on the roughest of rocks and only cost some eighteenpence a pair. Nailed boots are useless and dangerous.

Similar days followed, some more successful, others less, but all laborious in the last degree. Both limbs and lungs had well-nigh given out ere the time arrived to strike camp and abandon our eyrie.

During the descent to Bulnes we noticed a goat which, in feeding along the crags, had reached a spot whence it could neither retreat nor escape, and by bleating cries distinctly displayed its fear. Now that goat was only worth one dollar, yet its owner spent a solid hour, risking his own life, in crawling along ledges and shelves of a fearful rock-wall (_pared_) to save the wretched animal. We looked on speechless, fascinated with horror--at times pulses well-nigh stood still; even our hunters recognised that this was a rash performance. Yet that goat was reached, a la.s.so attached to its neck, and it was drawn upwards to safety.

This incident occurred on the Naranjo de Bulnes, a dolomite mountain which stands out like a perpendicular and four-square tower, in the central group or _ma.s.sif_ of the Picos--that known as Urriales. The actual height of the Naranjo is given as 9424 feet, which is exceeded by those of either of the other two groups to east and west respectively.

But its abrupt configuration gives the Naranjo by far the most imposing, indeed appalling appearance, far surpa.s.sing all its rivals, while its lateral walls of sheer rock, some of which reach 1500 to 2000 feet vertically, long lent this peak the reputation of being absolutely unscalable. That feat has, however (after countless failures), been accomplished, in the first instance by Don Pedro Pidal, Marquis de Villaviciosa de Asturias, who was accompanied in the ascent by Gregorio Perez, a famous chamois-hunter of Can.

At Arenas de Cabrales we bade farewell to our kind host, despatched Caraballo with the baggage to Santander, thence to find his way to Jerez as best he might, by sea; and ourselves drove off through the hills forty miles to the railway at Cabezon de la Sal, there to entrain for Bilbao, Paris, and London.

On August 19, 1881, at a royal _monteria_ above Aliva and Andara H.M.

Don Alfonso XII. recovered the same evening (lying dead around his post) no less than twenty-one chamois. Thirteen more, which had fallen into the abyss beneath, were brought in next morning, and nine others later, making a total of forty-three chamois actually recovered, besides those that had lodged in such inaccessible spots that their bodies could not be reached.

At another royal shoot held 1st and 2nd September 1905 H.M. King Alfonso XIII. killed five chamois, the total bag on that occasion being twenty-three.

THE PICOS DE EUROPA DECLARED A ROYAL PRESERVE

In 1905 the freeholders of those villages in the three provinces of Santander, Leon, and Asturias, which lie encircling the Picos de Europa, offered to H.M. King Alfonso XIII. the exclusive rights of hunting the chamois throughout the whole "Central Group." His Majesty was pleased to accept the offer, and in the following year commissioned the Marquis of Villaviciosa de Asturias (the intrepid conqueror of the Naranjo) to appoint guards to preserve the game.

Five such guards were appointed in 1906, their chief being the aforementioned Gregorio Perez, representing the region of Can, the other four representing those of Bulnes, Sotres, Espinama, and Valdeon.

The chamois in the four regions named can be counted in thousands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: TYPES OF SPANISH BIRD-LIFE

HOOPOE (_Upupa epops_)

The crest normally folds flat, backwards (as shown at p. 69), but at intervals flashes upright like a halo.]

CHAPTER XXIX

HIGHLANDS OF ASTURIAS

(1) THE TROUT IN SPAIN

The Asturian Highlands--a maze of mist-wreathed mountains forested with birch and pine, the home of brown bear and capercaillie, and on whose towering peaks roam herds of chamois by hundreds--form a region distinct from the rest of Spain.

Rushing rivers and mountain-torrents coursing down each rent in those rock-ramparts attracted our earliest angling ambitions. Some of those efforts--with rod and gun--are recorded in _Wild Spain_, and we purpose attempting no more--whether with pen or fly-rod. For the Spanish trout is given no sort of sporting chance, and lovely streams--a very epitome of trouting-water--that might make the world a pleasanter planet (and enrich their owners too) are abandoned to the a.s.sa.s.sin with dynamite and quicklime, or to villainous nets, cruives, and other engines of wholesale destruction with which we have no concern.

Never since the date of _Wild Spain_ have we cast line on Spanish waters, nor ever again will we attempt it. Spain which, from her French frontier in the Pyrenees right across to that of Portugal on the west, might rival any European country in this respect stands well-nigh at the foot of the list. Not in the most hara.s.sed streams of Norway, nor in her hardest-"ottered" lakes, have the trout so d.a.m.nable a fate dealt out to them as in northern Spain, and for twenty years we have abandoned it as an angling potentiality--or, to put it mildly, there are countries infinitely more attractive to the wandering fisherman.