Will the reader seat himself in imagination at the spot marked (*) on the map. Surveying the scene from this point, the whole opposite horizon is filled by the Altos de Morezón--a jagged and turreted escarpment pierces the sky, while its frowning walls dip down, down in endless precipices to the inky-black waters of the Laguna far below. Towards the left one's view is interrupted by an extraordinary mass of upstanding granite, disintegrated and blackened by the ages, known as the Ameál de Pablo--in itself a virgin mountain, as yet untrodden by human foot. This colossus, glittering with snow-striæ, surmounts the oblique ridge aforesaid, that of the Cuchillar del Guetre, which traverses two-thirds of the "Circo," leaving but a narrow gap between its own extremity and the opposite heights of Morezón. Continuing towards the right, there rises to yet loftier altitudes the black contour of the Risco del Fraile, beloved of ibex; while adjacent on the north-west, but on slightly lower level, uprear from the snow-flecked skyline three more unscaled masses--rectangular monoliths like giant landmarks. This trio is distinguished as Los Hermanitos de Grédos, their abruptness of outline almost appalling as set off by an azure background. Farther to the right (in the angle of the square) two more mountain-masses--knife-edged, jagged, and embattled along the crests--frown upon one another across a gorge rent through their very bowels. These two are the Alto del Casquerázo and the Cuchillar de las Navájas, while the interposed abyss--the Portilla de los Machos--cuts clean through the great cordillera, forming a natural gateway between its northern and its southern faces. As the name implies, this gorge is the main route of the ibex from their much-loved Riscos del Fraile to their second chief resort, the Riscos del Francés, which occupy the southern face of the sierra whose snowfields defy even the heats of August. From our present standpoint the southern wall of the Circo--the Cuchillar de las Navájas--is not visible. This section of the quadrilateral is equally abrupt and intricate, dropping in massive bastions towards the level of the lake. Just beyond the Plaza de Almanzór a second deep gorge or "pass"--the Portilla Bermeja--unites the northern and the southern faces. Behind where we sit lies yet another panorama of terrible wildness, again dominated by rock-walls of fantastic contour--the valley of Las Cinco Lagunas. But right here our rock-descriptive powers give out--we can only refer to the map. [Illustration: GRIFFON VULTURE AND NEST] CHAPTER XXI SIERRA DE GRÉDOS (_Continued_) IBEX-HUNTING