SIERRA MORÉNA
IBEX
The tourist speeding along the Andalucian railways and surveying from
his carriage-window the olive-clad and altogether mild-looking slopes of
the Sierra Moréna, will form no adequate, much less a romantic,
conception of that great mountain-system of which he sees but the
southern fringe. Yet, in fact, the train hurries him past within a few
leagues of perhaps the finest big-game country in Spain--of
mountain-solitudes and a thousand jungled corries, wherein lurk fierce
wolves and giant boars, together with one of the grandest races of red
deer yet extant in Europe.
True, the Sierra Moréna lacks both the altitudes and the stupendous
rock-ridges that characterise all other Spanish sierras--from Neváda and
Grédos to the Pyrenees. It consists rather of a congeries of jumbled
mountain-ranges of no great elevations, but of infinite ramification,
and lacking (save at two points only) those bolder features that most
appeal to the eye. Were the Spanish ranges all of the contour of Moréna,
the name "Sierra" would not have applied. It is, moreover, a unilateral
range--a buttress, banked up on its northern side by the high-lands of
La Mancha, resembling in that respect the well-known Drakensberg of the
Transvaal.
The Sierra Moréna, typical yet apart, divides for upwards of 300 miles
the sunny lowlands of Andalucia from the bare, bleak uplands of La
Mancha on the north. And in vertical depth (if we may include the
contiguous Montes de Toledo) the range extends but little short of 150
miles.
As a homogeneous mountain-system, Moréna thus covers a space equal to
the whole of England south of the Thames, with a central northern
projection which would embrace all the Midland Counties as far as
Nottingham!
[In any survey of the Sierra Moréna, it is appropriate to include the
adjoining Montes de Toledo. They, as just stated, form a north-trending
pyramidal apex based on the main chain and presenting identical
characteristics, both physical and faunal, though of lower general
elevation. The Montes de Toledo, in short, are an intricate complication
of low subrounded hills--rather than mountains--tacked on to the north
of Moréna, all scrub-clad and inhabited by the same wild beasts. Toledan
stags exhibit the same magnificent cornual development, and there is
evidence of seasonal intermigration as between two adjacent regions only
divided by the valley of the Guadiana--a shortage in one area being
sometimes found to be compensated by a corresponding increase in the
other. Roe-deer are more abundant in the lower range; but the sole
clean-cut faunal distinction lies in the presence of wild fallow-deer in
the Montes de Toledo--these animals being quite unknown in Moréna.[23]]
May we digress on a cognate subject? The Sierra Neváda, though so near
(at one point the two ranges are merely separated by a narrow gap yclept
Los Llanos de Jaén), yet presents totally divergent natural phenomena.
There are points in Moréna--say from the heights above
Despeñaperros--whence the two systems can be surveyed at once. Behind
you, on the north, roll away, ridge beyond ridge, the endless rounded
skylines of Moréna--colossal yet never abrupt. In front, to the
south--apparently within stone's-throw--rise the stupendous snow-peaks
of Neváda--jagged pinnacles piercing the heavens to nigh 12,000 feet.
These peaks may appear within stone's-throw, or say an easy day's ride,
though that is an optical illusion. But narrow as it is, that gap of
Jaén divides two mountain-regions utterly dissimilar in every attribute,
whether as to the manner of their birth in remote ages and the
landscapes they present to-day.
Faunal distinctions are also conspicuous. In Neváda there are found
neither deer of any kind (whether red, roe, or fallow) nor wild-boar,
whereas it forms the selected home of ibex and lammergeyer, both of
which are conspicuous by their absence from Moréna, save for a single
segregated colony of wild-goats near Fuen-Caliente.
* * * * *
Although the Sierra Moréna partakes rather of massive than of abrupt
character, yet there occur at a couple of points outcrops of naked rock
of real grandeur. Such, for example, is Despeñaperros, through whose
gorges the Andalucian railway threads a semi-subterranean course. The
very name Despeñaperros signifies in that wondrously adaptive Spanish
tongue nothing less than that its living rocks threaten to hurl to death
and destruction even dogs that venture thereon.
Another interpretation suggests that in olden days, such were the
pleasantries of the Moors, it was not dogs, but Christians (since to a
Moor the terms were synonymous) that were hurled to their death from the
_riscos_ of Despeñaperros.
These rock-formations are superbly abrupt. Great detached crags, massive
and moss-marbled, jut perpendicular from ragged steeps, or vast
monoliths protrude, each in rectilineal outline so exact that one
wonders if these are truly of nature's handiwork, and not some fabled
fortalice of old-time Goth or Moor. Despite its striking contour,
however, its crags and precipices are too scattered and detached (with
traversable intervals between) to attract such a rock-lover as the ibex,
and no wild-goat has ever occupied the gorges of Despeñaperros.
A similar rock-region, but more extensive and continuous, is found near
Fuen-Caliente--by name the Sierra Quintána. This range, though its
elevations barely exceed 7000 feet, forms the only spot in the Sierra
Moréna at which the Spanish ibex retains a foothold.
Thereat the writer in 1901 endured one of those evil experiences which
from time to time befall those who seek hunting-grounds in the wilder
corners of the earth. It was in mid-February that, forced by bitter
extremity of weather, we fain sought refuge in the hamlet of
Fuen-Caliente clinging at 5700 feet on the steep of the sierra, as
crag-martins fix their clay-built nests on some rock-face. Fuen-Caliente
dates back to Roman days. Warm springs, as its name implies, here burst
from riven rock, and stone baths, built by no modern hand, attest a
bygone enterprise. To this day, we are told, the baths of Fuen-Caliente
attract summer-visitors; we trust their health benefits thereby. Surely
some counter-irritation is needed to balance the perils of a sojourn
within that unsavoury eyrie. We write feelingly, even after all these
years, and after suffering assorted tribulations in many a rough
spot--Fuen-Caliente is bad to beat.
Having tents and full camp-outfit, we had thought to live independent of
the village _posada_. One night, however, as we climbed the rising
ground that leads to the higher sierra there burst in our faces an
easterly gale (_levante_), with driving snow-storms that even a mule
could not withstand. Nothing remained but to seek shelter in the village
below.
Here my bedroom measured twelve feet by four, with a door at each end.
The door proper was reached by a vertical ladder; the second might
perhaps be differentiated as a window, but could only be distinguished
as such by its smaller size--both being made of solid wood. Thus, were
the window open, snow swirled through as freely as on the open sierra;
if shut, we lived in darkness dimly relieved by the flicker of a
_mariposa_, that is, a cotton-wick reposing in a saucer of olive-oil.
Under such conditions, with other nameless horrors, we passed three days
and nights while gales blew and snow swirled by incessant.
On the fourth morning the wind fell, and snow had given place to fine
rain. These _levantes_ usually last either three or nine days; so,
thinking this one had blown itself out, we packed the kit and set out in
renewed search of ibex, Caraballo, with accustomed forethought, buying a
bunch of live chickens, which hung by their legs from the after-pannier
of the mule. On the limited area of Quintána, ibex offer the best chance
of stalking.
Mules are marvellous mountaineers. The places that animal surmounted
to-day passed belief. Two donkeys that belonged to the local hunters,
Abad and Brijido, who accompanied us, soon got stuck, and had to be left
below.
By three o'clock we, mule and all, had reached the highest ridge of
Quintána, and encamped within a few hundred feet of its top-most
_riscos_.
To set up a tent among rocks is never easy; even specially made iron
tent-pegs find no hold, and guy-ropes have to be made fast, as securely
as may be, to any projecting point.
Hardly had the sun gone down, than the easterly gale blew up again with
redoubled force. All night it howled through our narrow gorge and around
its pinnacled rock-minarets, with the result that at 11 P.M. the
ill-secured guys gave way, and down came our tent with a crash. Two
hours were spent (in drenching rain) remedying this; and when day broke,
an icy _neblina_ (fog) enveloped the sierra, shutting out all view
beyond a few yards. The cold was intense, and a little dam we had
engineered the night before was frozen thick. The fog held all that day
and the next. Nothing could be done, though we persisted in going out
each day, as in duty bound, for a few hours' turn among the crags--how
we prayed for _one_ hour's clear interval that might have given that
glorious sight we sought! At dusk the second night snow fell heavily,
and later on a thunderstorm added to our joys. Frequent and vivid
flashes of lightning lit up the darkness, and caused the surviving
chickens (which in common charity we had had tethered inside the tent)
to crow so incessantly that sleep was impossible. Presently we noticed a
sharp fall in temperature--the men had brought in a cube of ice, the
solidified contents of one of our camp-buckets, which they proposed to
melt at a little fire kept burning in the tent! But this was too much,
even though it meant "no coffee for breakfast."
The frost and fog continuing, on the third morning the men proposed we
should move lower down the hill, to some _cortijo_ they knew of, thereat
to await milder weather.
By this time, however, the cold had penetrated deep into throat and
chest, which felt raw and inflamed, leaving the writer almost
speechless. We therefore decided to abandon the whole venture, and
struck camp, still wrapt in that opaque shroud of driving sleet.
Crossing over the highest ridge of the sierra, between crags of which
only the bases were visible, we descended on the south side; here we
organised a "drive" amid the jungles that clothe the lower slopes. Two
lynxes and three pigs were reported as seen by the beaters. Only one of
the latter, however, came to the gun, and proved to be a sow, bigger by
half than any wild-pig we had then seen in Spain. We regretted having no
means of weighing this beast, which we estimated at well over 200 lbs.
clean. A remarkable cast antler picked up at this spot carried four
points on the main beam, as well as four on top--length 34-1/8 inches,
by 5-3/4 inches basal circumference.
The "defences" of the ibex in the Sierra Quintána lie among some fairly
big crags forming the eastern and southern faces of the range. The
shooting at that time was free; hence the goats were never left in peace
by the mountaineers, who all carried guns, and used them whenever a
chance presented itself. The result was that the few surviving goats had
become severely nocturnal in habit, spending the entire day in caves and
crevices in the faces of sheer and naked precipices.
Some of their eyries appeared absolutely inaccessible to any creature
unendowed with wings. One cave, though it had no visible approach, was
situate only some eight or ten feet above a ledge in the perpendicular
rock-face. One morning at dawn two ibex having been seen to enter this
cave, at once a couple of the wiry goat-herds thought to reach them from
the ledge below, one lad actually climbing on to the other's shoulders
as he stood on that narrow shelf. In its rush to escape, however, the
leading ibex upset the precarious balance, and the poor lad was
precipitated among the tumbled rocks in the abyss below.
Riding homewards through inhospitable brush-clad hills towards the
railway (forty miles away), we put up one night at a village named, with
unconscious irony, Cardeña Real. In the small hours broke out another
terrific disturbance--shrieks, squeals, barking--all the dogs gone mad.
The night was pitch-dark with rain falling in torrents; but next morning
we ascertained that a pack of wolves had carried off the landlord's pigs
from their stye, not fifteen yards away--indeed, three mangled porkers
lay piled up against the wall of our hovel.
The contingency of pigs being worse off than ourselves had not
previously occurred to us. Thus ended, in a cycle of catastrophe, our
first wrestle with _Capra hispánica_ in Moréna; but initial failure only
served to stimulate further efforts later on. Winter, moreover, is no
season for camping in these high sierras; May is more favourable, but
the early autumn is best of all.
At this period (1901) the surviving ibex had fallen to a mere handful.
Fortunately here, as elsewhere in Spain, there was aroused, within the
next five years, the tardy interest of Spanish landowners to save them.
[Illustration: HEADS OF SPANISH IBEX.
(A) SIERRA DE GRÉDOS--MADRIGAL DE LA VERA.
Length 26-1/2 in. Circum. 10-1/8 in. Tips, 22-1/8 in.
(B) SIERRA NEVADA.
Length 29-3/4 in. Circum. 8-1/8 in. Tips, 20-7/8 in.
(C) SIERRA DE GRÉDOS, BOHOYO. 29-1/8 in.
(D) VALENCIA, SIERRA MARTES. 21-3/4 in.]
The owner of the sierras above mentioned (the Marquis del Mérito) has
favoured us with latest details respecting both the ibex and other wild
beasts therein.
The wild-goat (he writes) is the most difficult of all game to
shoot, proof of which is afforded by the fact that in the lands
which I hold in the Sierra Quintána (although until recent years
these were unpreserved and in the neighbourhood of a village where
every man was a hunter) yet the local shooters had not succeeded in
exterminating the species. Its means of defence, over and above its
keen sight and scent, consist chiefly in the inaccessible natural
caves of those mountains, in which the wild-goats invariably seek
refuge the moment they find themselves pursued. In these caves the
goats were accustomed to pass the entire day, never coming out to
feed except during the night.
To-day (since free shooting has ceased) they begin to show up a
little during daylight, and in other ways demonstrate a returning
confidence. Nevertheless they display not the slightest inclination
to abandon their old tendency to betake themselves, immediately on
the appearance of danger, to the vast crags and precipices which
lie towards the east of the sierra, and which crags afford them
almost complete security. The most effective method of securing a
specimen to-day is, as you know, by stalking (_resécho_). For this
animal, when it finds itself suddenly surprised by a human being,
is less startled than deer, or other game, and usually allows
sufficient time for careful aim to be taken--indeed, it seems to be
the more alarmed when it has lost sight of the intruder.
The rutting season occurs in November and December, and the kids,
usually one or two in number, are born in May, the same as domestic
goats. These kids have a terrible enemy in the golden eagles, since
their birth coincides with the period when these rapacious birds
have their own broods to feed, and when they become more savage
than ever. To reduce the damage thus done, I am now paying to the
guards a reward for every eagle destroyed, and this last spring
took myself a nest containing one eaglet, shooting both its
parents.
The dimensions of horns I am unable to put down with precision, but
there was killed here an ibex (which was mounted by Barrasóna at
Córdoba) measuring 85 centimetres in length (= 33-1/2 inches). Of
the last, which was killed by Lord Hindlip, as shown in photo I
send, the length of horns was 68 centimetres (= 26-3/4 inches).
The dimensions of the best ibex head obtained by us in this sierra were:
Length, 28 inches; basal circumference, 8-1/4 inches.
WOLVES
These animals, which perpetrate incredible destruction to game, are very
abundant in Moréna, yet rarely shot in the _monterías_ (mountain-drives).
This is not due to any special astuteness of the wolf, but simply
because, while waiting for deer, sportsmen naturally lie very low, thus
giving opportunity to wolves to pass unseen; while, on the other hand,
when boars only are expected, and sportsmen therefore remain less
concealed, the wolf is apt to detect the danger before arriving within
shot.
In May and June the she-wolves produce their young; but it is difficult
to discover these broods, since at that period they betake themselves to
remote regions far away from the haunts frequented in normal times.
There is, however, one method of discovering them which is known to the
mountaineers as the _otéo_, or watching for them over-night, thus noting
precisely where each she-wolf gives tongue. If on the following morning
the howl is repeated at the same spot, it is a practical certainty that
that wolf will have her brood in that immediate neighbourhood.
Thereupon at daybreak the hunters proceed to examine every bush and
brake in the marked spot, which invariably consists either of strong
brushwood or broken rocks. All around the actual lair for a hundred
yards the ground is traced with footprints and scratchings, which
usually lead to its discovery; but should it not be found that day, it
is completely useless to seek for it on the following, since the moment
that a she-wolf perceives that her whelps are being sought, she at once
removes them far away. To exterminate wolves, strychnine is extensively
used, giving positive results.[24] At the same time it is always better
to supplement its use by searching out with practical men the broods of
wolf-cubs at their proper season.
The photo facing p. 158 shows a magnificent old dog-wolf, scaling 93
lbs. dead-weight, which we obtained in the Sierra Moréna, near Córdoba,
in March 1909.
LYNX, OR _GATO CERVAL_
This animal breeds in April and May, and the number of young is
generally two. If captured, the majority of the young lynxes die at the
period when they change from a milk diet to solid food, and one may
imagine that the same thing happens in the case of the wild lynxes,
since otherwise it is difficult to explain why an animal, whose only
enemy is mankind, should remain so scarce. Their food consists of
partridges, rabbits, and other small game.
RED DEER
With the red deer of these mountains, as elsewhere in Spain, the rut
(_celo_) depends upon the autumn, which season may be earlier or later;
but the _celo_ always takes place between mid-September and mid-October.
The calves are born at end of May or early in June, and suckled by their
mothers till the following autumn.
The casting of the horns, together with the change of hair, varies in
date, depending on the state of health in each individual. It generally
occurs in May, but in very robust animals we have seen cases in April,
and in the _barétos_, or stags of one year, in March. The development of
the new horn is complete by the end of July, and in August occurs the
shedding of the velvet. The horn at first is of a white bone-colour, but
gradually darkens, the final colour depending on the nature of the bush
frequented, the blackest being found in those stags which inhabit the
gum-cistus (_jarales_).
Although it is currently believed among country folk that the age of a
stag can be determined by the number of his points, this is incorrect,
the horn development depending solely on the robustness of the animal.
It frequently happens that a stag carries fewer points than he did the
year before.
When the hinds are about to bring forth, they isolate themselves,
seeking spots where the brushwood is less dense, and leaving the calf
concealed in some bush. The habits of a hind when giving her offspring
its first lessons in the arts of concealment and caution are interesting
to watch. Shortly after daybreak the mother suddenly performs a series
of wild, convulsive bounds, leaping away over the bush as though in
presence of visible peril, thus alarming the youngster and teaching it
to seek cover for itself. This performance is repeated at intervals
until the calf has learnt to lie-up, when the hind will do the same, but
at some distance, although in view. She only allows her progeny to
accompany her when it has acquired sufficient strength and agility to
follow, which is the case some twenty or thirty days after birth.
Having noted the spoor of a single hind at the breeding-time, one may
follow to the spot where she is suckling her young. But so soon as one
observes the prints of these spasmodic jumps with which the mother
instils into her offspring a sense of caution (as above described), one
may then begin leisurely to examine every bush round about. In one of
these the calf will be found lying curled up without a bed and with its
nose resting on its hip.[25] It will at first offer some slight
resistance, but once captured, may be set free with the certainty that
it will not make any attempt to escape.
The only enemies the full-grown stag has to fear are mankind and the
wolf, but chiefly the latter, since not only do single wolves destroy in
this sierra large numbers of the newly born calves, but, worse still,
when a troop of wolves have once tasted venison they commence habitually
to hunt both hinds and even the younger stags, which they persistently
follow day after day till the deer are absolutely worn out. They then
pull them down, the final scene usually occurring in some deep ravine or
mountain burn.
The calves of red deer, as happens with ibex kids, are also preyed upon
by golden eagles.
DEER-SHOOTING
As regards sport, the best results are only attainable by _monterías_,
or extended drives, assuming that the district is thickly jungled, and
generally of elevated situation. There is also a system of shooting at
the "roaring-time," but that is uncertain owing to the rapidity of the
stag's movements, the thick bush, and the risk of his getting the wind.
Practised trackers are in the habit of hunting _á la greña_, which
consists in observing the deer at daybreak, selecting a good stag, and
afterwards following his spoor at midday (at which hour deer, while
enjoying their siesta, are quite apt to lie close) and shooting as he
springs from his lair (_al arrancár_).
[Illustration: RED DEER HEADS, SIERRA MORÉNA.
ZAMUJAK, JAËN.
Points 16. Length 38-3/4 in.
VALDELAGRANA.
Points 16. Length 40-5/8 in.]
SIERRA QUINTANA.
Points 15. Length 37-1/2 in.
RISQUILLO.
Points 14. Length 36-3/4 in.]
A really big stag is nearly always found alone, or should he have a
companion, the second will also be an animal of large size. Such stags
are never seen with hinds, excepting in the autumn (_celo_).
The system of the _montería_, or mountain-drive, is described in detail
in the following chapter.
TABLE OF SPANISH IBEX HEADS
Measured by the Authors, or other stated Authority.
+------------+---------+-------------------+----------+----------------+
| | | Width. | | |
| Locality. | Length. +---------+---------+ Circum- | Authority. |
| | | Tips. | Inside. | ference. | |
+------------+---------+---------+---------+----------+----------------+
| | ins. | ins. | ins. | ins. | |
| Moréna | 33-1/2 | ... | ... | ... | Marq. Mérito |
| | | | | | (p. 158).|
| Pyrenees | 31 | 26-1/2 | ... | 8-3/4 | Sir V. Brooke. |
| Neváda | 29-3/4 | 22-1/4 | 20-7/8 | 8-1/4 | At Madrid. |
| Grédos[26] | 29-1/4 | 23-1/4 | ... | 9-1/2 | Authors. |
| Do. | 29-1/8 | 23-1/8 | 21 | 9-7/8 | M. Amezúa. |
| Do. | 29 | 22-1/2 | ... | 9-1/4 | Authors. |
| Pyrenees | 29 | 23 | ... | 10 | Sir V. Brooke. |
| Neváda[26] | 29 | 23 | 18-3/4 | 9 | Authors. |
| Do. | 28-1/4 | 24-1/2 | 22 | 9-1/16 | Do. |
| Moréna | 28-1/2 | ... | ... | 8-1/4 | Do. |
| Bermeja | 28 | 19 | ... | 8-1/4 | Do. |
| Moréna | 26-3/4 | ... | ... | ... | Lord Hindlip. |
| Grédos | 26-1/2 | ... | 22-1/8 | 10-1/8 | At Madrid. |
| Pyrenees | 26 | 21 | ... | 10 | Sir V. Brooke. |
| Sa. Blanca | 26 | ... | ... | 8-3/4 | P. Larios. |
| Grédos | 24-1/8 | ... | ... | 8-1/4 | Authors. |
| Pyrenees | 22-3/4 | 18-3/4 | ... | 9-1/2 | E. N. Buxton. |
| Sa. Blanca | 22 | ... | 14 | 7-3/4 | P. Larios. |
| Valencia | 21-3/4 | 16-3/8 | 17 | 7-7/8 | P. Burgoyne. |
+------------+---------+---------+---------+----------+----------------+