. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. On Travel and Other Things 23 both friendship and protection if required. Nor is there a pleasanter means of forming acquaintance with Spanish country life and customs than a few evenings spent thus at a farm-house or village inn in any retired district of laughter-loving Andalucia. For rough liviog we are of course prepared, aucl accept the necessity without demur or second thought while travelling. But when more serious objects are in hand—say big-game or the study of nature, objects which demand more leisurely progress, or actually encamping for
. Unexplored Spain. Hunting; Natural history. On Travel and Other Things 23 both friendship and protection if required. Nor is there a pleasanter means of forming acquaintance with Spanish country life and customs than a few evenings spent thus at a farm-house or village inn in any retired district of laughter-loving Andalucia. For rough liviog we are of course prepared, aucl accept the necessity without demur or second thought while travelling. But when more serious objects are in hand—say big-game or the study of nature, objects which demand more leisurely progress, or actually encamping for a week or more at selected points— then we prefer to assure complete independence of all local assist- ance and shelter. An expedition on this scale involves an amount of care and forethought that only those who have experi- enced it would credit. For in Spain it is an unknown undertaking, and to engineer somethino- o. Types of Spanish Uird-Life SERIN {Serinus hmiidanus) A true European canary, bnt its song is harsli and liissing. new is always difficult. Quite an exten- sive camping-trip can be organised in Africa, where the system is understood, with less than a hundredth part of the care needed for a comparatively short trip in Spain where it is not. The necessary bulk of camp- outfit and equipment requires a considerable cavalcade, and this mule-transport (since no provender is obtainable in the country) involves carrying along all the food for the animals—the heaviest item of all. Naturally the cost of such expeditions works out to nearly double that of simple riding. But, after all, it is worth it! Compare some of the miseries we have above but lightly touched upon—the dirt and squalor, the nameless horrors of cJioza or posadct—with the sense of joyous exhilaration felt when encamped by the banks of some babbling trout-stream or in the glorious freedom of the open hill. Casting back in mental reverie over a lengthening vista of years, we certainly count as amon
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