Before describing two or three typical experiences of our own in this sierra, we attempt a sketch of the system of the _montería_ as practised throughout Spain. [Illustration: WOLF SHOT SIERRA MORÉNA. March, 1909--weight 93 lb.] [Illustration: HUNTSMAN WITH CARACOLA, SIERRA MORÉNA.] [Illustration: PACK OF PODENCOS, SIERRA MORÉNA. (COUPLED IN PAIRS.)] The area of operations being immense and clad with almost continuous thicket, it is customary to employ two or three separate packs (termed _reháles_, or _recóbas_), counting in all as many as seventy or eighty hounds. The extra packs--beyond that belonging to the host--are brought by shooting guests, and each pack has its own huntsman (_perréro_), whom alone his own hounds[28] will follow or recognise. The huntsmen (though not the beaters) are mounted, and each carries a musket and a _caracóla_, or hunting-horn formed of a big sea-shell. The forelegs of the horses, where necessary--especially in Estremadura--are enveloped in leather sheaths (_fundas de cuero_) to protect them from the terrible thorns and the spikes of burnt cistus which pierce and cut like knives. The best dogs are _podencos_ of the bigger breeds, also crosses between _podencos_ and mastiffs, and between mastiffs and _alanos_, the latter a race of rough-haired bull-dogs largely used in Estremadura for "holding-up" the boar. The huntsmen with their packs, and the beaters, usually start with the dawn, sometimes long before, dependent on the distance to be traversed to their points, which may be ten or twelve miles. Till reaching the cast-off, hounds are coupled up in pairs: a collar fitted with a bell (_cencerro_) is then substituted, and the alignment being completed--each pack at its appointed spot--at a given hour the beat begins. On every occasion when a game-beast is raised a blank shot is fired to encourage the hounds, and the who-hoops of the huntsmen behind resound for miles around. Should the animal hold a forward course (as desired), the hounds are shortly recalled by the _caracólas_, or hunting-horns aforesaid, and the beat is then reformed and resumed. Meanwhile--far away at remote posts prearranged--the firing-line (_armáda_) has already occupied its allotted positions; the guns most often disposed along the crests of some commanding ridge, sometimes defiled in a narrow pass of the valley far below. Should the number of guns be insufficient to command the whole front, the expedient of placing a second firing-line (termed the _travérsa_), projected into the beat, and at a right angle from the centre of the first line, is sometimes effective.