Six guards were selected from the self-same goat-herds who, up to that date, had themselves been engaged in hunting to extermination the last surviving ibex of the sierra, and whom we had ourselves employed during various expeditions therein.
The ceded area comprised all the best game-country, defined as the "Circo de Grédos"--including the gorge of the Laguna Grande, the Risco del Fraile, Risco del Francés, and that of Ameál de Pablo, together with the wild valley of Las Cinco Lagunas--as shown on rough sketch-plan annexed.
[Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF THE _NUCLÉO CENTRAL_ OF GRÉDOS
B. _Riscos del Fraile_, with the Hermanitos in front.)]
In 1896 we estimated the stock of ibex at fifty head, and during the following years it fell far below that--by 1905 almost to zero. In 1907, after only two years of "sanctuary," it was computed by the guards that the total exceeded 300 head.
In July 1910 we inquired if it were possible to estimate the present stock. In a letter (the composition of which would cost some anxiety) the Guarda of the Madrigal de la Vera--one portion only of the "sanctuary"--reports: "It is difficult to count the ibex. Sometimes we see more, sometimes less. Yesterday on the Cabeza Neváda we counted 39 rams and 22 females together. On the other side we counted 29 in one troop, 19 in another, 12 in another, besides smaller lots. We probably saw 160 or 170, and we could not see all. Some of the old rams are very big, and it would be advisable that some be shot." Another report (at same date) from the "Hoyos del Espino," estimates the ibex there to exceed 200 head. The two reports go to show that the continuity of the race is fairly secured.
[A similar cession of sole hunting-rights to the King was simultaneously made by the owners of the "Central Group" of the Picos de Europa in Asturias. There are no ibex in that Cantabrian range; the graceful act was there inspired by a desire to preserve the chamois, animals with which we deal in another chapter.]
The Spanish ibex is found at six separate points in the Peninsula, each colony divided from its fellows as effectually as though broad oceans rolled between. The six localities are:--
(1) The Pyrenees--which we have not visited.