Unexplored Spain Part 37

These specially selected _replazas_ number thirty, and are sold for the entire season, the prices varying from 150 for No. 1 down to about 6 for No. 30.

These thirty "reserved stalls" having been disposed of in public compet.i.tion, the remaining mid-water positions (for which the charge is a dollar or two per day) are then apportioned by drawing lots. Finally, licences are issued at a few pesetas to shoot from the foresh.o.r.es or from small launches stationed among the reeds at specified spots, but which the licensee must not quit during the shooting.

The sum that finally filtered through to the State during forty years varied between 7500 and 23,000 pesetas (say 300 to 900), a record price being obtained in 1868, namely, 40,000 pesetas. The munic.i.p.ality of Valencia is seeking to obtain the cession of the Albufera from the State.

The gun-posts used are either flat-bottomed boats which can be thrust into a sheltering reed-bed; or, should no cover be available, sunken tubs masked by reeds or rice-stalks. The posts are fixed nominally at a rifle-shot (_tiro de bala_) apart--say 200 yards.

Regular fixed shoots take place every Sat.u.r.day throughout the season, with, however, certain small exceptions, aimed partly at securing to the fowl a period of rest and quiet on their first arrival, and partly due to the festivals of St. Martin and St. Catherine being public days and free to all.

The species of ducks obtained on Albufera do not differ from those at Daimiel. On these deeper waters pochards and the various diving-ducks are more conspicuous than on the shallower rice-swamps of the Caldereria.

(2) THE CALDEREiA

In contrast with the Albufera (and with Daimiel) the Caldereria is not a natural lagoon, but simply the artificial inundation of rice-grounds (_arrozales_), such inundation being necessary for the cultivation of that grain.

The rice-grounds of the Caldereria belong to the three adjacent communes of Sueca, Cullera, and Sollana--held in a joint peasant-proprietors.h.i.+p.

The flooding of the _arrozales_ was commenced in 1850, the original object being the cultivation of rice, combined with the taking of wildfowl in nets (_paranses_). It was, however, early seen that the enormous quant.i.ties of wild-ducks attracted to the spot were of almost equal value with the grain-crop, and the fame of the Caldereria attracted troops of sportsmen from all parts of Spain. This influx, for some years, the local authorities endeavoured to check, with a view to securing the sport for local residents--who, by the way, wanted to enjoy this good thing at the price of a dollar a year! In 1880 it was decided to put up to auction the different shooting-posts, or _replazas_, without any restriction.

The whole of the _arrozales_ are accordingly divided into defined sections called _replazas_, each perhaps 500 or 600 yards square, forming roughly, as it were, a gigantic chessboard, though the various _replazas_ are quite irregular in shape and size. These are sold by public auction at a fixed date. The best positions realise as much as, say, 80 to 100. A large rental is thus obtained yearly, some villages receiving as much as 6000 dollars.

Since the whole shooting area is their common property, every peasant and villager is personally interested in the value and success of the shooting, and each thus becomes virtually a game-keeper. Hence trespa.s.s is impossible. During autumn and up to the first shoot never a human form intrudes upon the deserted rice-grounds; and the enormous a.s.semblages of wildfowl which at that season congregate thereon enjoy uninterrupted peace and security up to mid-November. More favourable conditions it is impossible to conceive--on the Albufera, for example, the fowl are liable to constant disturbance by pa.s.sing boats, etc.

The first shoot of the year takes place about the date just named, November 15, and is repeated every eighth day thereafter up to the middle of January, when the rice-grounds are run dry.

Upon the completion of the auction sales there is announced a definite day and hour at which (and at which _only_) the lessor is permitted to enter the rice-grounds, in order to prepare his shelter. Should he omit or neglect this opportunity, he is not afterwards allowed to touch it until the actual morning of the shooting.

Since there grows on rice-grounds no natural cover whatever, it is essential to prepare some form of screen or shelter, and the reeds or sedges required for the purpose must be brought from elsewhere.

Across each _replaza_, or conceded s.p.a.ce, is erected a double line of screens, two yards apart and carefully masked by a fringe of reeds or rice-stalks. In the intervening "lane" are fixed two or more sunken tubs wherein the shooters can sit concealed.

Hardly has midnight struck on that eventful morn than the world is amove. Highways and byways, on land and water, are crowded by mobilising forces; across the dark waters move forth whole squadrons of boats, punts and launches, each one steering a course towards some far-away _replaza_. Absolute silence reigns. No lights are allowed and no sound shocks the mystery of night save the creaking of punt-pole or lapping of wave--no human sound, that is, for "the night is filled with music"; the pall overhead, the unseen wastes on every side are vocal with wildfowl cries. Continuously the still air is rent and cleft by the rush of myriad pinions. From right and left, before and behind, pa.s.s hurrying hosts, their violent flight resonant as the wash of an angry sea. But never a shot is fired. That is against the rules.

Shortly before sunrise the note of a bugle announces to hundreds of impatient ears the signal "Open fire," and in that instant the fusillade from far and near rages like a battle. For a solid hour, nay, for two and sometimes three, fire continues incessant. First to become silent are the distant guns along the sh.o.r.es; the minor _replazas_ slacken down next, and by noon all save two or three of the best posts are reduced to a desultory and dropping fire.

Then a second signal indicates that the "pick-up" may begin--up to that moment not a gunner is permitted to leave his place. This gathering of the game, stopping cripples, etc., induces a short renewal of the fusillade; but soon all is silent once more, and at three o'clock a third signal rings out, and at once every sportsman must quit the shooting-ground.

Besides the lessees of the auction-sold _puestos_ (many of whom come from Madrid and distant parts of Spain), there foregather on these occasions all the local gunners; and far away beyond those sacred areas secured by purchase there form up league-long lines of fowlers by the distant sh.o.r.e; so that, between the private and privileged _puestos_ and the free public lines outside, there may a.s.semble in all some 3000 gunners. Hence these _tiradas_ partake of the character of a popular festival. Yet in spite of such numbers there is not the slightest confusion or danger, so perfect are the rules and so scrupulously are they observed.

With so many guns scattered over wide areas no precise record of the exact numbers secured are possible; but, according to the estimates of those best calculated to judge, as many as 22,000 to 23,000 head (ducks and coots) are obtained in a single morning.

The records of individual guns in the best _replazas_ run from 100 to 200 ducks gathered, and occasionally exceed those figures.

At the first shoot of the year fully 25 per cent of the spoil are coots; but at the later shoots ducks are obtained in greater proportion, as coots then quit the rice-grounds. These later shoots do not produce quite such stupendous totals; but still immense numbers are bagged--ten or twelve thousand in a morning.

As the majority of purchasers come from a distance and usually only remain for one, or perhaps two, of the fixed shooting days, such prices as 80 to 100 represent a fairly stiff rent.

Few mallards are obtained at the first shoot, but their numbers increase as the winter advances. The chief species are pintail, wigeon, teal, and shoveller, together with a few shelducks and many common and red-crested pochards. Flamingoes and spoon-bills frequent the shallows in small numbers.

As individual instances; from a _replaza_ that cost 900 pesetas (say 40), and which was the _ninth_ in point of price that year, one gun fired 700 cartridges in a single morning.

The best _replaza_--at least the most expensive (it cost 1500 pesetas)--was tenanted last winter by friends from whose experiences, not too encouraging, we gather: At the first shoot (November 13) the post was occupied by a single gun, who, after firing 400 shots, was compelled to desist owing to injury to his shoulder. "I believe," he writes, "I might have fired 1500 cartridges had I continued all day, but was obliged to leave early. The boatmen had then gathered ninety--sixty ducks, thirty coot--and expected to recover more."

On November 28 the post was occupied by three guns: "No day for duck, a blazing sun so hot that the reflection from the water blistered our faces. The ducks mounted up high in air and mostly cleared early in the proceedings, though some were attracted by our 100 decoys. We killed ninety-six, mostly wigeon and pochard, a few mallard and teal, besides twenty snipe. The desideratum is a really rough day, but that at Valencia is past praying for."

The _arrozales_ are run dry (and of course the shooting stopped) by the middle of January. The water, in fact, is only kept up so long solely for the sake of the shooting. So soon as its level has fallen a couple of inches the fowl all leave directly.

CHAPTER x.x.xIII

ON SMALL-GAME SHOOTING IN SPAIN

Hardly will one enter a village _posada_ or a peasant's lonely cot without observing one inevitable sign. Among the simple adornments of the whitewashed wall and as an integral item thereof hangs a caged redleg. And from the rafters above will be slung an antediluvian fowling-piece, probably a converted "flinter," bearing upon its rusty single barrel some such inscription--inset in gold characters--as, "Antequera, 1843." These two articles, along with a cork-stoppered powder-horn and battered leathern shot-belt, const.i.tute the stock-in-trade and most cherished treasures of our rustic friend, the Spanish cazador. Possibly he also possesses a _pachon_, or heavily built native pointer; but the dog is chiefly used to find ground-game or quail, since the redleg, ever alert and swift of foot, defies all pottering pursuit. Hence the _reclamo_, or call-bird, is almost universally preferred for that purpose.

Red-legged partridges abound throughout the length and breadth of wilder Spain--not, as at home, on the open corn-lands, but amidst the interminable scrub and brushwood of the hills and dales, on the moory wastes, and palmetto-clad prairie. On the latter hares, quail, and lesser bustard vary the game.

Thither have ever resorted sportsmen of every degree--the lord of the land and the peasant, the farmer, the Padre Cura of the parish, or the local medico--all free to shoot, and each carrying the traitor _reclamo_ in its narrow cage. The central idea is, of course, that the _reclamo_, by its siren song, shall call up to the gun any partridge within hearing, when its owner, concealed in the bush hard by, has every opportunity of potting the unconscious game as it runs towards the decoy--two at a shot preferred, or more if possible. 'Twere unjust to reproach the peasant-gunner for the deed; flying shots with his old "flinter" would merely mean wasted ammunition and an empty pot--misfortunes both in his _res angustae domi_. We have ourselves, on African veld, where dinner depends on the gun, meted out similar measure to strings of cackling guinea-fowl without compunction; but in Spain we have never tried the _reclamo_, nor wish to.

That the race of redlegs should have survived it all--year in and year out--bespeaks a wondrous fecundity, and has inspired new-born ideas of "preservation," which have been initiated in Spain with marked success.

To this subject we refer later.

Though we have ourselves (maybe from "insular prejudice") systematically refused to see the _reclamo_ work his treacherous role, yet many Spanish sportsmen are enthusiastic over the system, which they describe as _una faena muy interesante_, and are as proud of their call-birds as we of our setters. The _reclamos_ may be of either s.e.x. The c.o.c.k-partridges become past-masters of the art of calling up their wild rivals from afar; and by a softer note the wild hen is also lured to her doom--for the dual influences of love and war are both called into play. The male hears the defiant challenge of battle and, all aflame, hurries by alternative flights and runs to seek the unseen challenger. As distance lessens the fire of each taunt increases, and, blind with pa.s.sion, the luckless champion dashes on to that fatal opening where he is aligned by barrels peeping from the thicket. The female, with more tender purpose, also draws near--the seductive love-note entices; but, oh! the wooing o't--a few pellets of lead end that idyll. It is then--when either rival or lover, it matters not which, lies low in death alongside his cage--that the well-const.i.tuted _reclamo_ shows his fibre. So overcome with savage joy, the narrow cage will scarce contain him as he bursts into exultant paeons of victory. On the other hand, sullen disappointment is exhibited by the decoy when his exploit has only resulted in a missed shot.

In the spring the female call-note is more effective than that of the male.

Well-trained _reclamos_ may be worth anything from 2 up to 10.

Recently a yearly licence of ten s.h.i.+llings per bird has been levied.

This has either reduced their numbers, or perhaps caused them to be kept more secretly. Formerly a _cicada_ in a tiny cage and a _reclamo_ in its conical prison were contiguous objects in almost every doorway.

Ground-game is the special favourite of the Spanish cazador. He will search hundreds of acres for a problematical hare, and a long day's hunt with his trusty _pachon_ is amply rewarded by a couple or two of diminutive rabbits about half the weight of ours, but whose speed verily stands in inverse ratio. For the life of the Spanish rabbit is pa.s.sed in the midst of alarms; supremely conscious of soaring eagles and hawks overhead, he never willingly shows in the open by daylight, or if forced to it, then terror lends wings to his feet. The death of a hare, however, represents to the cazador the climax of terrestrial triumph. In those ecstatic moments the animal (average weight 4-1/2 lbs.) is held aloft by the hind-legs, a subject for admiration and self-gratulation; mentally it is weighed again and again to a chorus of soliloquising e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.i.o.ns, "Grande como un chivo" = as big as a kid!

The quail, though extremely abundant at its pa.s.sage-seasons (when in September the Levante, or S.E. wind, blows for days together, blocking their transit to Africa, Andalucia is crammed with acc.u.mulated quails), yet represents but a small morsel in a culinary sense, and is swift of wing to boot. Neither of these attributes commend its pursuit to our friend with the rusty single-barrel; and similar reasons bear, with increased force, on the case of snipe. These game-birds are left severely alone--that is, with the gun.

Bags of twenty brace of quail (and in former years of forty or fifty brace) may then be made where, on the wind changing next day, never a quail will be found.

In spring, again, great numbers pa.s.s northward, but many remain to nest on the fertile _vegas_ of Guadalquivir and on the plains of Castile. At that season quail are chiefly taken by nets; but on systems so cunning and elaborate that we regret having no s.p.a.ce for descriptive detail. Put briefly, in Andalucia the fowler spreads a gossamer-woven fabric loosely over the growing corn; then, lying alongside, by means of a _pito_ (an instrument that exactly reproduces the dactylic call-note of the quarry) induces every combative male within earshot either to run beneath or to alight precisely upon the outspread snare. So perfect is the imitation that quail will even run over the fowler's prostrate form in their search for the adversary. In Valencia living call-birds (hung in cages on poles) are subst.i.tuted for the _pito_, and the net is more of a fixture--small patches of the previous autumn's crop being left uncut expressly to attract quail to definite points.

The Andalucian quail frequents palmetto-scrub and is very local--rarely can more than two or three couple be killed in a day, and that only in September. Some appear then to retire to Africa, along with the turtle-doves--the latter a bird that surely deserves pa.s.sing note, since few are smarter on wing or afford quicker snap-shooting while pa.s.sing by millions through this country every autumn.

The conditions above indicated prevail over a vast proportion of rural Spain, which thus presents small attraction to wandering gunner, however humble his ideals.

There are other regions where the landowners, though in no sense "preserving," yet prohibit free entry on their properties owing to damage done--such as disturbing stock, stampeding cattle on to cultivation in a land where no fences exist, and so on. Naturally such ground carries more game, and subject to permission being received, fair and sometimes excellent sport is attainable. Thus, on one such property the tangled woods of wild olive abound with woodc.o.c.k, though difficulties are presented by the impenetrable character of the briar-bound thickets. Were "rides" cut and clearings enlarged quite large bags of woodc.o.c.k might be secured. The rough scrubby hills adjoining carry a fair stock of partridge, and we have often killed forty or fifty snipe in the marshy valleys that intervene. The following will serve as an example of three consecutive days' shooting on such unpreserved ground (two guns--S. D. and B. F. B.):--

+--------------------------------------------------------------+ | | Nov. 13. | Nov. 14. | Nov. 15. | Total. | +-------------------+----------+----------+----------+---------+ | Snipe | 101 | 32 | 155 | 288 | | Ducks and Teal | 2 | 9 | 3 | 14 | | Wild-Geese | 3 | ... | ... | 3 | | Sundries | ... | ... | 4 | 4 | | +----------+----------+----------+---------+ | | 105 | 41 | 162 | 309 | +--------------------------------------------------------------+

Three days in February on similar ground, but in an unfavourable season, yielded 79 snipe, 5 woodc.o.c.k, 19 golden plovers, 3 lesser bustard, a hare, and a few sundries.