00 
 CM 
 O 
 
 00 
 
 >- 
 
 m v 
 
E LIBRIS 
 H. G. DOGGETT, 
 
 VI 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 PRESENTED BY 
 
 PROF. CHARLES A. KOFOID AND 
 
 MRS. PRUDENCE W. KOFOID 
 
CHAMOIS HUNTING 
 
 IN BAVARIA AND THE TYROL. 
 

 Karl Haas 
 
 On the look out. 
 
CHAMOIS HUNTING 
 
 THE MOUNTAINS OF BAVARIA 
 
 AND IN THE TYROL. 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES BONER. 
 
 imiti) illustrations 
 
 BY THEODORE HORSCHELT, OF MUNICH. 
 A NEW EDITION. 
 
 LONDON : 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
 1860. 
 
 %■ 
 
 The Author retenet the right of Translation. 
 
printed bv 
 john edward taylor, little o.ueen stsrrt, 
 Lincoln's inn fields, london. 
 

 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In this new edition of f Chamois Hunting' some Chap- 
 ters have been added containing the experience gained 
 during several years' shooting in the Tyrol. 
 
 Interspersed through the book will also be found 
 various additional information respecting the habits of 
 Chamois, as well as many new incidents, which may 
 amuse those who took an interest in my former adven- 
 tures. In " Pepi's Cottage" some very strange and pe- 
 culiar local customs are described, and a Chapter that 
 could well be dispensed with has been removed to make 
 way for it. 
 
 For the Frontispiece I have to thank Mr. Karl Haag, 
 who kindly permitted a copy to be taken of his admirable 
 water-colour drawing. 
 
 An account of the curious habit of " Arsenic Eating" 
 has also been thrown into a Note at the end of the Vo- 
 lume. 
 
 Charles Boner. 
 
 Munich, 
 
 September, 1860. 
 
 M311973 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE FIRST EDITION. 
 
 In the following pages will be found several German 
 words often repeated; for, much as I dislike the ad- 
 mixture of one language with another, the present case 
 left me without an alternative, the words in question not 
 having an equivalent in my own tongue. I have there- 
 fore employed "Laane," " Latschen," etc., each time 
 any mention is made of these objects, thinking it was 
 better to do so than adhere pedantically to some English 
 explicative, which would fail, after all, in conveying the 
 exact meaning. 
 
 The compositions from the pencil of Mr. Horschelt 
 need no praise of mine. The happy arrangement of 
 each small picture speaks for itself; and we both may 
 esteem ourselves fortunate in having found so skilful a 
 hand as Mr. Hohe's to transfer them to the stone. 
 
 With regard to the scenes represented, I would ob- 
 serve, that they were chosen as giving a general notion 
 of the mountains, rather than of the difficult and dan- 
 gerous places met with by the chamois-hunter. Indeed 
 
 M311S73 
 
/ 
 
 Viii PREFACE. 
 
 not one of the views shows a position of any peril. I 
 was anxious to avoid everything that might appear like 
 exaggeration ; and for this reason a sketch (" Descend- 
 ing the Mountain") which Mr. Horschelt had made was 
 omitted, lest the daring hardihood displayed therein 
 might excite doubts as to its truth. 
 
 In the descriptions, also, it was equally my aim to 
 keep rather within the limits to which I might have 
 gone. Some forms, perhaps, appeared to me more 
 grand, and certain bright effects more beautiful, than 
 they might have done to another : however, I am not 
 aware of having given to either an undue importance or 
 a too heightened colouring. What I saw is described 
 as / saw it. My wish has been to reflect back on the 
 page those pictures which, as they passed, my memory 
 had retained; to impart to others the same vivid im- 
 pressions which my own mind had received. 
 
 Charles Boner. 
 
 St. Emeram, Ratisbon, 
 January 10, 1852. 
 
CONTENTS, 
 
 fart % Jfirst. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introductory Chapter 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Approaching the Mountains 8 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 After the Good Stag 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 The Stag in the Rutting Season .... 27 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A Walk to Fischbachau .42 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Up the Miesing 52 
 
X CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Page 
 
 After the Chase. The Solachers .... 74 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Chamois . . . 87 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Kreuth 104 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Alm Hutte 117 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 An Unlucky Day 132 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Riss 144 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 A Day's Sport on the Krammets Berg . . 157 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Fall. To Hohenberg and Kreuth . . . 177 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Baierisch Zell 191 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 On the Mountain ]99 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Meeting with Poachers 212 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 jpart % §££0nb, 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Preparation 227 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 To Partenkirchen 232 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Up the Mountain 238 
 
 CHAPTER XXI, 
 
 Homewards 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 The Oester Berg 270 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Mist on the Mountain 280 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Old Buck 201 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Krotenkopf and the Kramer . . • 305 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Pepi's Cottage 321 
 
Xll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Page 
 
 The Hintek Kiss 337 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Tracking the Wounded Stag 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 The Karwendel Mountains 364 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 On the Gems Joch 375 
 
 fari % S&irfc 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 The Tyeol. — Scharnitz 383 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 Chapter the Last . . 405 
 
 ON ScHNADAHUPFLN 435 
 
 On Poison Eating 443 
 
Xlll 
 
 fist of Illustrations. 
 
 Page 
 
 Frontispiece. — On the Look-Out. 
 
 Eeturning ebom the Chase 16 
 
 Sennerinn on the Mountain — Vignette ... 21 
 
 The Tourney — Vignette 41 
 
 Getting a Shot • .66 
 
 Edelweis— Vignette 86 
 
 Chamois 87 
 
 A " Geaben " 172 
 
 Cottage in the Bavarian Highlands — Vignette . 190 
 
 Tabget Shooting — Vignette 198 
 
 After the Wounded Chamois 259 
 
 A Senn Hutte — Vignette 290 
 
 Chamois — Vignette . 382 
 
 Portrait of the Crucified Jager — Vignette . 404 
 
 View over " Das Steinerne Meer " 422 
 
 A Difficult Place — Vignette 432 
 
CHAMOIS HUNTING 
 
 IN' 
 
 THE MOUNTAINS OF BAVABIA 
 
 AND THE TYROL. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 About twelve years ago I went out for the first time in 
 my life to shoot deer. It was winter, and every atten- 
 dant circumstance had the delightful excitement of no- 
 velty. As the woods whither we were going were some 
 distance off, the whole party assembled betimes to a 
 substantial breakfast. Then came the departure in the 
 light sledges, each of us packing himself up in furs, and 
 his feet and legs in coverings of sheepskin, to bid de- 
 fiance to the sharp dry air, that was piercing enough to 
 penetrate through every covering. Once off, the merry 
 jingle of the bells on the horses' heads, the flying snow- 
 flakes as the light-limbed Hungarian horses dashed on 
 over the smooth frozen surface — the benumbed passers 
 through the streets shuffling along still half asleep, 
 stopping however as we swept by — the partly hidden 
 faces peeping from the windows, as the mingled melody 
 of the many bells told what was coming — all afforded 
 me amusement and gave me intense pleasure. There 
 
 B 
 
CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was then the arrival at the place of our destination, the 
 forester's house, where all his men and under- game- 
 keepers drawn up in order were awaiting our arrival — 
 the troop of beaters, uncouth, wild-looking peasants, 
 clothed in every description of dress it is possible to 
 imagine — the conversation with the head-keeper about 
 the game, and the questions as to the day's sport — 
 anxious inquiries too from one of the party, whether a 
 deer that he had wounded some days before had been 
 found or not — in short, the whole scene in which I had 
 become an actor was totally new and strange to me, and 
 I looked on, curious to see what novelty would happen 
 next. 
 
 Each little incident that has so often since seemed 
 like an every- day occurrence, was full of interest then 
 We went out at last into the forest, where all was frost- 
 bound, and every branch and twig enclosed in a crystal 
 covering ; where not a sound was heard, except the dis- 
 tant tramp of the beaters on the crackling snow, as they 
 wound upwards through a hollow. Presently I was left 
 alone at my appointed stand. By-and-by the sharp 
 sound of a rifle came tingling through the clear air, and 
 soon after a troop of deer would come stepping along 
 quite scared and wondering over the snow. It was a 
 new world to me, all this, and every incident gave me 
 fresh delight. Later came the chace of the boar ; and 
 in summer-time I was on the hills, or moving amid the 
 deep stillness of the woods at noon after the majestic 
 stag. That, I thought, surpassed everything in enjoy- 
 ment: the beautiful scenes into which it led me, the 
 exciting circumstances that were constantly occurring, 
 the gallant bearing of the magnificent creature that my 
 rifle had at last brought down — all this caused my whole 
 being to thrill with longing and with joy. After such 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHATTER. 3 
 
 a day in the forest, there was the sweet pleasure of going 
 over every incident again in thought; I saw the mighty 
 stag as he moved over the green sward in stately pride, 
 I felt anew the hope and the fear and the breathless long- 
 ing, and I once more stood over him as his vast form lay 
 stretched upon the earth in the sunny beech-forest. At 
 that time I lived in such sweet absorbing memories, or 
 in anticipation of what was to come. For a day in the 
 woods, with my rifle over my shoulder and the hope of 
 meeting the red deer, I should have given up anything. 
 
 At last, however, as a matter of course, I grew some- 
 what calmer. My delight was not diminished — it was 
 as great as ever ; but the flutter, and the palpitation, and 
 the burning impatience, were subdued. And indeed 
 there was much need they should be. Then too I be- 
 came initiated in the mysteries of the noble art, and by 
 degrees learned to look on what belonged to it with a 
 more tranquil eye. And when I thought how new and 
 strange all had once appeared to me, how delighted I had 
 been on first stalking through the forest, and how many 
 there were in England to whom such exquisite pastime 
 was quite unknown, it seemed that if I attempted to de- 
 scribe what had afforded me so much pleasure, the sub- 
 ject was one that could not fail to interest others also. I 
 carried this idea long about with me, indolently delaying 
 to execute what I had planned, when behold ! another did 
 what I had only thought of doing, and Mr. Scrope's 
 book on Deer Stalking appeared. At the moment I was 
 about to preach myself a sermon for my indolence, with 
 a wise moral about the evils of delay, etc., but after a 
 time I began to think the evil was not so great after all, 
 and that it was very well as it was ; much better indeed 
 than had two works on the same subject appeared simul- 
 taneously. 
 
 b 2 
 
CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 Year after year passed away thus, and, thanks to the 
 great kindness of the noble possessor of the extensive 
 forests where I shot my first red deer, I afterwards en- 
 joyed the privilege of always joining his party when the 
 season began. Overlooking the Danube, the woods 
 through which we ranged extended on every side for 
 many miles. Right pleasant days were those, when we 
 were met in the morning by the young foresters bringing 
 their report of where the deer were to be found. The 
 young fellows had been abroad since the dawn, and had 
 crossed the furthest hill-top and skirted many a wood to 
 be ready by the time of our arrival. They now came 
 pouring in from all sides to the trysting-place, bringing 
 with them the expected intelligence. In Stein Seigen 
 were two stags, one of ten and the other of twelve;* 
 indeed he might have fourteen, so large was his slot. 
 Another had been round Hell Berg and Schopf Loh, but 
 had seen nothing. He had seen tracks of deer, it is 
 true, but they were old ones ; and where they had gone 
 to he could not think. They must have been disturbed, 
 for " he had had them there" for four successive days, 
 and they were there yesterday. Suddenly perhaps a 
 messenger would arrive, all breathless with haste, with 
 such speed had he come down the steep path that leads 
 through the forest to the village. He brought the news 
 that the stag which had disappeared so suddenly was come 
 back again. " The same that Count H. missed lately ?" 
 " Yes, the very same :" he was now in a small wood on 
 the hill-side in the next forest, and a young peasant who 
 
 * An expression made use of above may need explanation. The 
 points on the antlers of a stag increase in number with his years ; to 
 them therefore reference is always made when denoting the age and size 
 of the animal. " A stag of twelve" is one with twelve points or branches 
 to his antlers. 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. O 
 
 was quick of foot had been despatched immediately to 
 inform his Highness of the event. Such was the infor- 
 mation contained in the head-forester's hastily written 
 note. What excitement was there then, and what hopes 
 and questionings ! As I look back on those days, I can 
 hardly believe that all is now over, that the forests are as 
 deserts, no longer peopled by their red inhabitants — 
 that these, like the Red Indian of the prairie, have been 
 hunted down and exterminated, and their haunts, once 
 so full of life, become silent and lonely. 
 
 I think it would be quite impossible for me to describe 
 the sensations, the exquisite delight of that delicious 
 time. The freshness of the morning, the deep stillness 
 of the woods at noon, the green and golden pageantry as 
 the sunbeams pierced through a thousand crevices in the 
 leafy roof, the breathless expectation when a light foot- 
 fall told me the forest king was approaching — everything, 
 in short, that belonged to the hunter's life was full of 
 pleasurable sensations. But soon even these delights were 
 to give way to others still more exciting. Our party during 
 the shooting season was usually joined by two gentlemen 
 who went regularly to the mountains to hunt chamois. 
 Often of an evening, after a day in the forest, and while 
 we all were sitting over oar coffee after dinner, they 
 would relate some adventure that had befallen them 
 while watching for a strong buck high up among the 
 snowy fastnesses of Berchtesgaden, or tell of the merry 
 life they led on the less formidable mountains and in the 
 Senn Hiitten* of Baierisch Zell ; while on another occa- 
 sion our very blood would almost curdle, as we listened 
 and heard how one of them had crept along the narrow 
 
 * Senn Huite, the same as "Chalet." The hut inhabited by the 
 herdsmen and the dairymaids during their summer sojourn on the 
 mountain. 
 
6 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 ridge of a precipice near the Ober See, to fetch a chamois 
 he had shot ; and how, had his foot slipped or his head 
 grown dizzy, he must have dropped perpendicularly 
 through the air into the lake far, far below him. And 
 to these tales of adventure I listened with as much 
 eagerness and curiosity as I had done, when a boy, to 
 tales of shipwreck and of sailor life ; and with the same 
 feeling too, — an ardent longing to share in such adven- 
 turous pastime. The other, more susceptible perhaps 
 than his companion to the glories around him, would 
 describe the scene that presented itself to his astonished 
 gaze, when, having gained the summit of the mountain, 
 the mists suddenly parting let in the golden light of the 
 rising sun, and showed huge rocks and precipices, and 
 green herbage, and high-up valleys all lying close before 
 him at his feet. There was genuine enthusiasm in all 
 these descriptions, and, like all genuine feeling, it did 
 not fail of its effect. I could no longer resist the desire 
 to move with rifle at my back amid such scenes ; to step 
 along those narrow ledges of rock, or creep up through 
 the steep ravines which htfd become almost like well- 
 known places to me, so much had I heard about them, 
 and so particular had been my questionings ; and at last 
 the wish I had cherished for years was realized, and I 
 stood upon the mountain-top and saw the chamois among 
 the rocks. 
 
 Deer-stalking in the forest, with all its pleasures and 
 excitement, was but tame sport to this. I could now 
 well understand how with some it might become a passion 
 so strong and irresistible, that not even all the hazards 
 of a poacher's life prevented its gratification. The 
 magnificent scenery, the daring and the danger, the 
 vigour and elasticity of limb which the pure mountain 
 air imparted, the glorious sunrise overflooding gradually 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 7 
 
 the plains of snow, the loud cry of joy of the peasant- 
 girl ringing upwards to the very sky, — all this sent a 
 thrill through my whole frame, and my blood seemed to 
 feel the thrill and tingled with exultation. 
 
 What would I not have often given could hearty old 
 Christopher North have been with me to enjoy the sight, 
 — to have watched the driving mists coming upwards 
 from the valley, and have listened for a second amid that 
 silence and solitude? He rather paints than describes; 
 his words are colour, with which he fills a canvas, and so 
 presents you with a picture of the scene. And then, too, 
 that other master of his art, Edwin Landseer, — what a 
 new field was here for his truthful pencil ! Hardly a 
 day ever passed but some good effect, some picturesque 
 group, or some striking incident reminded me of him, 
 and made me wish that he could be there, to catch the 
 happy moment and give it a permanent existence. The 
 peculiar tone of that mountain scenery, the expressive 
 features and bold characteristic bearing of the chamois, 
 the occasionally perilous positions of the hunter, — all 
 this, and much more beside, would, with his poetic 
 mind and wonderfully skilful handling, afford such pic- 
 tures as even his hand has not yet produced. 
 
 I had given up my intention of describing the red 
 deer and the forest as soon as Mr. Scrope's book ap- 
 peared ; but when the new world that mountain life pre- 
 sents opened upon me, the former wish arose again, and 
 I determined that chamois-hunting should now be my 
 theme. It was a subject of which nothing was known in 
 England, and I felt sure that if I were able to impart to 
 what I wrote but a tithe of the charm which the scenes 
 described really possess, it could not fail to interest. 
 Should it not do so, the fault is solely mine. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 
 
 He only who lias dwelt in the mountains, or has wan- 
 dered for a time over their sides, and through their val- 
 leys, — who has entered the simple but comfortable cot- 
 tages, and chatted familiarly with the peasantry in their 
 own peculiar dialect about their occupations and their 
 pastimes; — such a one only can form a notion of the 
 feeling of delight which is experienced when at length 
 a sudden turn in the road shows him the mighty forms 
 striving upwards to the sky, their peaks, may be, gleam- 
 ing brightly with a covering of snow, or, if the air be^ 
 clear and it still be summer weather, appearing with that 
 beautiful deep blue tint which forms the distance in the 
 South. There is something so cheering and gladdening 
 in the sight ! It calls to mind familiar greetings and 
 rough but hearty welcomings, — pleasantreturnings home- 
 ward from the chase, and song and the merry dance. 
 Already with the mind's eye is seen the wide view from 
 the mountain- top ; you again snuff the pure bracing air ; 
 and the shout and the Jodler* of the shepherd-boy or 
 Sennerinni already resound in your ears. 
 
 * Jodler. The peculiar song of all mountaineers, the high notes 
 being always a falsetto. The Brothers Rainer, formerly in England, 
 sing it in perfection. 
 
 f Senner — Sennerinn. Dairyman — dairymaid. 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 9 
 
 As we approach the now near horizon all wears a dif- 
 ferent character. The houses are built otherwise, and 
 have altogether another look than those we passed before ; 
 the roofs project over the sides and are bordered with 
 some simple ornaments j a light wooden balcony is be- 
 fore the windows of the first story, and the walls are of 
 snowy whiteness, and the trelliswork and doors and shut- 
 ters are neatly and even tastefully painted. It looks 
 gay, and green, and cheerful. And on the roofs we now see 
 a bell, which, swinging between its cross-beams, calls 
 home those who are in the fields to dinner or to supper. 
 It is a sign that the wealth of the peasant here consists 
 in pasture-land; and indeed no corn is seen, but the 
 slopes and plain are covered with rich grass and with 
 lowing kine. And then, too, the passers-by ! The green 
 pointed hat, worn alike by both sexes, with its golden 
 tassel and gay flowers on the brim ; the gveyjoppe* and 
 short leathern breeches of the men j the gold-embroi- 
 dered boddice and striped petticoat of the women are 
 now not only more frequent, but are almost exclusively 
 seen ; and if we stop at a village, all that meets the eye 
 tells us at once we are among another race than those we 
 left behind in the flat country. It sounds pleasantly too 
 — gratefully falling on the heart rather than on the ear — 
 that friendly " Grilss di Gott!" (God greet ye!) with 
 which each one salutes you as he enters the inn or place 
 where you may be. There is a heartiness and simplicity, 
 an absence of all conventional formality in the salutation 
 and the manner of it, very characteristic of, and accord- 
 ing well with, a mountain people. And how clean the 
 village looks, how neat and healthy its inhabitants ! They 
 live better and work less hard than the peasantry of the 
 
 * Joppe is the loose short coat worn by the mountaineer of Bavaria, 
 and by the Tyrolese peasantry. 
 
10 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 more northern provinces ; they are not exposed to a 
 burning sun during the harvest season, nor to the wet 
 and cold attendant on field labour. They are up on the 
 mountain pasturages in summer, and in autumn and 
 winter are comfortably housed in their snug cottages in 
 the valley. Their corn they buy, and from their herds 
 on the mountain they derive milk and butter and cheese 
 in abundance ; and thus may be said to live literally on 
 the very fat of the land. 
 
 But how distinct the blue peaks become ! We shall 
 soon be at their base, nor will it be very long, we hope, 
 before we are mounting their sides, and stepping carefully 
 along yonder ridge that cuts the sky so sharply ! For 
 that is the Plau Berg, and some chamois are still there, 
 and it is the place where we hope, with the forester's per- 
 mission, to get a few days' stalking. How clear the air 
 is ! The outline of every distant object is seen with won- 
 derful distinctness : there is not a cloud in the sky, and 
 the sun lights up the woodland slopes, and makes their 
 sober brown and gold look quite gay and festal on this 
 lovely autumnal morning. 
 
 And there is Tegernsee, its broad expanse of water as 
 waveless as the air, and as clear and lucid too. A single 
 boat is moving lazily across from a cottage on the oppo- 
 site shore, and you wonder how so young a girl as she 
 who is rowing can get such a cumbrous craft to move 
 along even thus quickly. The broad brim of her green 
 hat shades the upper part of her face ; but that only 
 makes the brightness of her black eyes the more appa- 
 rent, and round her head are twined the braids of her long 
 thick hair, just as it is worn by the women of the Tyrol. 
 The silken kerchief crossed over her full bosom is tucked 
 in her boddice ; and if the mieder* does seem too tight, 
 
 * Mieder is the stiff boddice of silk or velvet worn by the women. It 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 11 
 
 it is rather from the swelling luxuriance of eighteen 
 summers, than from any effort made in plying her rude 
 pair of oars. She always had a friendly smile for you 
 on entering her boat j though, as it seemed, she was not 
 without her little stock of sorrow; for as I one day 
 rowed by a country-house whose garden was reflected in 
 the lake, she looked up wistfully at the closed windows ; 
 and I learned afterwards that the J'ager of the family, 
 who had now left their villa for the town, was her lover, 
 and that he had not yet written to her since they parted. 
 " He has not forgotten me, I know/' said Marie, with 
 her usual pretty smile ; " I shall soon get a letter, I am 
 sure." And I am sure I hope with all my heart she 
 may, for it were a pity so young a face should wear a 
 look of sorrow. And were no letter to arrive, how op- 
 pressively sad to have that deserted house constantly be- 
 fore her as she rowed daily across the lake ! 
 
 But I have forgotten the mountains and the autumnal 
 morning, with talking of the pretty maiden of the ferry ; 
 however, she and her skiff, with its train of dancing light 
 behind it, belong to the scene, and form a pleasing and 
 even necessary feature in the landscape. As if all was 
 to be festive on this exquisite October morning, here 
 comes a gay procession. What a noise of deep, hollow- 
 is either richly embroidered, or in some parts a silver chain is passed 
 like a lace from one side to the other, and fastened with hooks of 
 silver. Indeed much luxury is often displayed in the dress of these 
 country lasses. The cap (Riegel Saube) of the Munich girls, for exam- 
 ple, contains a considerable quantity of the precious metal. The men 
 too, in the lowlands especially, are given to display in their buttons. A 
 rich peasant may often be seen with a long row of these down the front 
 of his coat, one overlapping the other, each being formed of a broad 
 silver coin of two groats value; on his waistcoat the same. On the 
 frieze joppe of the mountaineer, however, there is no opportunity ior 
 such display. 
 
12 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 sounding bells is heard coming up the road that winds 
 along the lake ! There in front a stately cow advances, 
 her horns adorned with a large wreath of beautiful 
 flowers, — roses, dahlias, erica, and evergreens. Above her 
 head towers a pile of festoons and garlands ; and within 
 an arch of flowers and foliage is a bright crown of tinsel, 
 and below it in the same shining material a large C. It 
 is the cattle of his Royal Highness Prince Charles of 
 Bavaria returning for the winter from the mountain pas- 
 turage. They are splendid animals of the Altgau breed ; 
 short-legged, full-uddered, and with dewlaps like the 
 Colchian bulls. Many are the bells they wear, — long- 
 broad bells, of sweetly sonorous metal, fastened round 
 their strong necks by a thick strap of leather. But the 
 foremost one has alone the coronal : she is to walk first, 
 nor would she let one of the others pass her on any ac- 
 count whatever. She maintains her place in front as re- 
 solutely as I have known une Dame du palais insist upon 
 having the pas when other ladies were present ; and she 
 heads the procession with a sturdy air, and a look of in- 
 effable contempt for all going on around. Nor is it mere 
 fancy that she is proud of her pre-eminence ; she knows 
 as well as you do that she is to be first; and she deserves 
 her rank, for in truth she is a splendid creature. And 
 behind comes the tall herdsman, his hat more than 
 usually gay with flowers, and with a tuft of fine yellow 
 feathery grass, that looks not unlike the plumage of the 
 bird of paradise. How proudly he walks behind his 
 troop, while the gardens that border the road are filled 
 with gazers ; and further on, the Queen and her ladies 
 are waiting to see the cattle returning home to the valley. 
 He looks calmly about him, but greets no one : he feels 
 that today he is the principal personage ; he is celebrating 
 his triumph. I would fain wager though, when he sees 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 13 
 
 the sweet friendly face of the young Queen yonder, his 
 countenance will relax somewhat, and that it will soften 
 and suddenly grow bright like a cloud when a sunbeam 
 falls upon it. Following him is a troop of goats, all un- 
 adorned save one in front ; and after them comes the 
 maiden who tends them, smart in her holiday attire. 
 Bringing up the rear, like the baggage-train of an army, 
 a waggon is lumbering on with household necessaries 
 piled high upon it, and drawn by two sturdy oxen, whom 
 a little peasant-boy, with a face as cheerful as the morn, 
 guides along. The merry scene pleases him ; he does 
 not regret to leave the mountain, for what child ever yet 
 grieved at change of place ? But gay and festal as " the 
 return from the Aim " always is, it is by far not so pleas- 
 ing an event to the Senner and Sennerinn as the depar- 
 ture for ' ' the mountain " in spring. Then, as the fores- 
 ter's young wife told me, who stood looking at them with 
 her baby laughing on her arm, then if you meet them, 
 and, wishing them good day, ask whither they are going, 
 the reply, " Auf die Aim !"* is quite musical with plea- 
 sure, and their faces radiant with thoughts of the life 
 awaiting them on the green mountain slopes. But when 
 meeting them in autumn, on their downward path, you 
 put the same question, the answer, " Home !" tells at 
 once by its tone how reluctant they are to leave their 
 summer dwelling-place. 
 
 And indeed it is not to be wondered at. On some ele- 
 vated spot, sheltered perhaps by perpendicular walls of 
 rock a thousand feet high, closed in, in a sort of " happy 
 valley " up among the mountains, or else may be on a 
 verdant piece of table-land, free and unbounded on every 
 side, are built the rough wooden habitations — mere log- 
 houses — of the Sennerinnen. Far, far below them the 
 * "To the pastures on the mountain!" 
 
14 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 world lies extended. With the sun they rise, and are on 
 the mountain-tops watching the brightness as it gradually 
 diffuses itself over earth and sky. There, with the dawn, 
 while the day is bursting forth in magnificent array, 
 stands the peasant-girl all radiant and effulgent on some 
 peak, the sun's rays glowing around her. Above her, in 
 the distance, the snowy summits are growing rosy with 
 the light; while the lesser mountains and the valleys 
 below her have not yet seen the sun. And soon the 
 whole face of the stupendous wall of grey rock is flushing 
 in gratulation ; all is teeming with sunbeams and bril- 
 liancy ; the haze over the lake and river divides and 
 evaporates; and shore and village, upland and hamlet 
 lie before her eyes clear and distinct in the dewy 
 freshness of an early summer morning. All is still on 
 the mountain. She gazes on the coming glory, and is 
 silent ; she watches the gradual development in mute de- 
 light; but when the sun himself has at length come 
 forth the spell is broken, and as she turns to look after 
 her herd, proclaims her sense of freedom by a loud burst 
 of song ; and if ever content, joy, and light-heartedness 
 were expressed in sounds, they are to be found in the 
 simple melody of such mountain carol. What a jubilant 
 outcry ! I know nothing like it. How loud, how high, 
 some of the notes ! how rapidly they change ! what glad- 
 ness is in that jodler, and how boundingly the song re- 
 turns from the high shrill tone, descending note by note 
 to the more sober ones, as though the heart were gra- 
 dually recovering from its sudden fit of ecstasy. But it 
 is only for a moment ; and again it is heard mounting 
 higher, heard louder than before, and faintly echoed back 
 from the opposite mountain. No, that was not an echo, 
 — it was a Sennerinn from those distant huts yonder an- 
 swering the other. 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 15 
 
 It may be thought that the rough uncultivated nature 
 of these peasants, placed as they are year after year amid 
 the same scenes, and following the same unvarying occu- 
 pations, will not be much influenced by the appearances 
 of external nature ; and that to suppose them to be so 
 is rather a poetic fancy than plain sober fact. But I am 
 not of this opinion : I believe that, unconsciously, they 
 are impressed by the sublime scenery around them : they 
 enjoy it differently from the man of more refined mind, 
 but the result is perhaps nearly the same, only different 
 in degree and quality ; in both the principal feature be- 
 ing enjoyment, though more sensuous in the one than in 
 the other. And that they do enjoy it to the full — to the 
 full according to their capacity — is evident from their 
 manner, their looks, and their conversation. They live 
 surrounded by grandeur, and glory, and magnificence. 
 Wonders happen around them ; nor do they pass un- 
 heeded, for it is these that break the monotony of their 
 life. We too are encompassed by wonders, but in the 
 strife and turmoil we have no time to stop and marvel ; 
 while they, separated for months from the world and its 
 wearing cares, keep their minds fresher and more suscep- 
 tible to outward impressions. Knowing nothing of con- 
 ventions, nor hardened or pressed down by want, they 
 are, both mentally and bodily, more healthy and more 
 vigorous. The purity of the air gives elasticity to the 
 heart as well as to the limbs, and their simple diet is 
 most surely not without a happy influence. Meat they 
 never taste, and their sole drink is milk or water. Their 
 pleasures are of the simplest kind : song is for them at 
 once an occupation and a pastime, and when on the 
 mountains, you are sure to hear some solitary watcher 
 over his herd beguiling the lonesome hours with a mouth- 
 harmonicon, or filling the air with one of their happy 
 
16 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 songs, quite as full of happiness in its way as the carol- 
 ling of the lark. Occasionally the chamois-hunter de- 
 scends to their dwelling, to cook a warm meal or to pass 
 the night under shelter of their roof. From him they 
 get the latest news of what is going on in the vale ; they 
 give him a hearty welcome, and the evening is passed 
 merrily, and concluded, may be, with a dance ; for the 
 Jager is sure to find favour with the sex, and no young 
 knight-errant was ever better received by the fair dames 
 of a castle where he craved hospitality, than the trim 
 and merry young hunter by the Sennerinn on the moun- 
 tain. 
 
 But to return to the high-road. There was no boat 
 to be had at the moment to take me across the lake to 
 the little village of Egern ; so, putting my portmanteau 
 on the cart of a young peasant who was just driving by, 
 with rifle in hand up I jumped, and in less than a quar- 
 ter of an hour we were at Rottach, five minutes' walk 
 from the place of my destination. A little urchin offered 
 to " radeln "* (trundle) my things to the inn ; so help- 
 ing the little fellow to put the luggage on his barrow, off 
 we set together. But he soon stopped to rest, and when 
 he saw me waiting for him, he told me ' ' to go on : there 
 was no need whatever for me to stay, he would be sure 
 and come ;" and as I saw he wished to have the glory 
 
 * The sight of the green fields and hedgerows is not more pleasant 
 to him who has been " long in populous cities pent," than is to my ear 
 the sound of a genuine provincialism, uttered in a broad dialect, giving 
 earnest as it does of being really beyond the influence of the town. Once 
 in Somersetshire I remember a peasant pointing out to me a place in the 
 distance, and telling me it was near where yonder "housen" were; 
 giving the word " house " its old Saxon plural. That one word seemed 
 at once to remove me from the haunts of over- civilization, and I felt 
 sure I had really got into the country. It was the same with the 
 " radeln " of my little peasant-boy, and I welcomed it accordingly. 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 17 
 
 of performing his piece of work quite alone, I left him 
 to follow at his leisure. 
 
 I am always glad to employ a child when circum- 
 stances make it possible ; first, because I like children's 
 company and to hear their talk, and also because I wish 
 that they should know how comely a thing it is to be 
 employed usefully, and how sweet the earnings of one's 
 own labour are. I have a habit, when walking, of scat- 
 tering crumbs for the birds, who are almost sure to find 
 them; and just so, I fancy, a chance incentive to indus- 
 try, or a little reward for some kindly meant attention, 
 may not be wholly lost, but, being remembered long af- 
 terwards, may incite to a love of occupation, and encou- 
 rage to acts of friendliness and to good behaviour. Most 
 children are delighted to be employed, and the consci- 
 ousness that they are of use makes them quite elate : it is 
 the germ of a feeling which, if properly nurtured, ripens 
 into self-respect. 
 
 Having made my arrangements at the village inn 
 overlooking the lake, I went to the forester's house to 
 present my credentials. Ha ! there are the antlers over 
 the gable, denoting who is the inmate. Eight — ten — 
 twelve ! a good stag must he have been that once bore 
 them. It always gives me pleasure to see this trophy 
 over the doorway or on the pointed roof, for it is a sign 
 of freemasonry, and tells me that, in case of need, there 
 is a comrade near. The letter presented, and my story 
 told, I heard exactly what I was prepared for. " Things 
 look very bad just now, Sir ; I fear there is not much to 
 be done. The chamois have no peace — the peasants are 
 always out in the mountains, and what they do not shoot 
 they scare away. However, if I can oblige you, I shall 
 be very happy to do so. Til speak to the under-keeper, 
 and hear if he has seen any chamois lately." 
 
 c 
 
18 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 When he came up, " Well, Meier/' inquired the fores- 
 ter, " what chance is there, think you, of doing something 
 on the mountains ? All looks very bad, I fear. Do you 
 think you might get a shot or two ?" 
 
 Meier's countenance wore no encouraging look, and 
 he only repeated what I had already heard, of the scarcity 
 of the chamois, and of the depredations the poachers 
 were constantly committing. " All about here, as you 
 know," the forester added, " were chamois and red-deer 
 in abundance, and now it is a chance if a single head of 
 game is seen in a day's stalking. However," turning to 
 Meier, "the Peissenberg would be the likeliest place 
 — there perhaps might be a chance." 
 
 " It is the only place where there are any now," Meier 
 said. " Chamois are there, but the mountain is large, 
 and there being so few perhaps we might not see them. 
 And then too a single gun only ! with two persons it were 
 easier. However we can try. I will place you," he said, 
 turning to me, " where the chamois are most likely 
 to pass, and then I will go through the wood and 
 drive them out. But I cannot promise you will get a 
 shot." 
 
 " Never mind," I answered, " let us try ; if we see 
 nothing it cannot be helped." 
 
 So it was arranged that on the day after the morrow 
 we should try our luck on the Peissenberg. I was just 
 going away when the forester said, " There is a good stag 
 on the Ring Berg ; Meier has heard him for some days 
 past, if you would like to try for him." 
 
 A stag in the rutting season ! I pricked my ears at the 
 announcement. " A good stag?" I asked. 
 " Oh yes, a very good one." 
 " Of how many, think you ?" 
 "Of twelve certainly. Meier saw him yesterday, 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS. 19 
 
 about two hundred yards off, but the ground was unfa- 
 vourable, and he did not fire." 
 
 " Yes," said Meier, " he is a capital stag. I have often 
 heard him of a morning, but not till yesterday was I able 
 to get near enough to see him. He is worth going after, 
 I assure you." 
 
 " But," said the forester, " delay in this case is not 
 advisable, for at the top of the mountain is the boundary 
 line between the royal chase and that which the peasants 
 now have. At this season the stag will be always on the 
 move, and as the limits are so near, he might very likely 
 cross over into that part which is not ours ; if so, we can 
 do nothing." 
 
 " Has he any hinds with him ? " I asked. 
 
 ' ' No ; but there must be a few on the mountain." 
 
 " Well, that's the grand thing ; if that is the case he 
 will hardly go away. However we'll try for him tomor- 
 row. Can you go, Meier ? " 
 
 " The best way," said the forester, " would be to start 
 this afternoon, and sleep at a farm-house at the foot of 
 the mountain. They can perhaps make you up a bed ; 
 and something to eat and drink you are sure to get. 
 Then start the next morning early, so as to be on the 
 mountain when day breaks. By leaving about half-past 
 three today, you will get to the farm in good time this 
 evening, and can sit out a little and listen if you hear 
 the stag. And take the shell with you," he said, turning 
 to Meier ; ' ' perhaps you may want it, if you hear him 
 near." And so matters were settled. 
 
 At the appointed time I saw Meier from my window 
 coming to fetch me, and we presently set off for the hills. 
 It was a delicious afternoon. We ascended by a path 
 which had been made for the cattle ; and as it had been 
 raining lately, and the cows had just been driven down, 
 
 c 2 
 
20 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the road was none of the best. The scene below was 
 very lovely, as seen from our gentle eminence. Repose, 
 and peace, and calm, were impressed on the landscape. 
 The bright quiet afternoon was just fitted for the placid 
 lake and the undulating woodland. There are some spots 
 with which only certain effects accord, which demand a 
 particular sky to suit their marked character. Now to 
 me Tegernsee seems one of these. Sun and gladness 
 belong to it, nor would grand masses of shade and a 
 strong effect become it so well. Art would no doubt 
 make even such appearances harmonize with the scene, 
 for what cannot Art accomplish ? But what I mean is, 
 its features being of a placid stamp, a stern expression 
 would be more difficult for us to reconcile with it. With 
 the human countenance it is the same. 
 
 We came at last to a spot surrounded by high woods, 
 and here we seated ourselves to listen for the stag. The 
 evening was calm, and all was very still, yet we listened 
 in vain for the much wished-for voice from the woods 
 above. After waiting some time we were about to go, 
 when from a turn in the road before us three men 
 emerged. Quick as lightnig out flew Meier's telescope, 
 as he said, "They all have guns !" He looked at them 
 for awhile, and muttering, "The rascals !" put up his 
 glass, but still continued watching them till they were 
 out of sight behind the rising ground where we stood. 
 As we rose to go we saw them again among the bushes : 
 they now perceived us too ; and, as if to show that they 
 did not care for having been seen, began whistling and 
 making all sorts of jeering noises till we were out of 
 sight. " They will be out betimes tomorrow, no doubt," 
 said Meier ; " they will try for the stag, too, I dare say." 
 
 We came to the farm. It was a large building on a 
 pleasant meadow, surrounded by the mountains. On en- 
 
APPROACHING THE MOUNTAINS, 
 
 21 
 
 tering, the cheerful blaze of a fire burst upon us, at which 
 the supper for the maids and labourers was being pre- 
 pared. Now a cowherd, now a dairymaid dropped in, 
 and exchanged a word with my companion, or stopped 
 and chatted with us both and asked about our plans for 
 the morrow. A savoury omelet was soon frying on the 
 kitchen-fire, and this, with a slice of bread and a glass or 
 two of beer, formed an excellent supper. We chatted 
 around the fire for a time, and then went upstairs to rest, 
 where to my surprise I found two excellent beds in readi- 
 ness, instead of clean hay, as I had expected. One look 
 at the night, to see what promise for the morning, and 
 then to sleep. 
 
22 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AFTER THE GOOD STAG. 
 
 The next morning we were up and ready by four o' clock. 
 The moon and stars were still shining brightly ; the air 
 was fresh, but not cold. I went to the door of the house 
 and looked out into the night. Nothing stirred : there 
 was no sign of a single living creature being abroad : not 
 even the murmur of a rivulet was to be heard, descending 
 from the mountains to the plain, — a sound which among 
 the hills seldom fails to greet the ear, either near or in 
 the distance. But there rose around me that low hum, 
 that indescribable rustle, which is never heard but in the 
 sjjence of the night, and which seems to make the still- 
 nws palpable. From the depth of the forests before, 
 behind me, and on every side, came that low, deep mur- 
 mur tingling on the ear, as when the myriad buzzings of 
 the invisible insect world in summer unite in one drowsy, 
 hollow tone at noon. It was not loud, but it was dis- 
 tinct and very audible, even to an ear not quickly sensi- 
 tive : it came from out of the earth, and from the woods, 
 and from the sides of the mountains, and rising upwards 
 filled all the air, even up to the very hill-tops lying in the 
 cold light of the stars. Was this low sound perchance 
 the breathing of Nature in her trance-like sleep ? 
 
 We took our rifles and set out. Until we came to the 
 
AFTER THE GOOD STAG. 23 
 
 woods it was easy enough to proceed j but here, it being 
 steep and slippery, and as we were unable to see the path 
 and the obstacles it presented, our progress was rather 
 slow. This however I should say of myself only ; for my 
 companion was always in advance, nimbly mounting be- 
 fore me, and waiting till I reached him. The logs of 
 wood left to rot on the ground are sadly inconvenient on 
 such occasions : you knock your shins almost to pieces 
 against them, or treading on the slippery surface of the 
 humid branches, go* down earthwards with your nose as 
 pioneer. We presently came to a clearing, where we 
 stopped and seated ourselves on a felled tree to listen for 
 the stag. Twice we had heard his hoarse rumbling roar 
 from afar, as we ascended the hill-side, but now again all 
 was hushed, and we listened and listened in vain. Taking 
 a large sea-shell out of his rucksack * Meier put it to his 
 mouth, and began to imitate that peculiar sound betoken- 
 ing ardour, impatience, and anger, which the stag makes 
 at this season when seeking the hind. It was really a 
 pretty sight ; it had even something classical in it. There 
 the young fellow lay, reclining on the fallen trunk, his 
 hat off, his throat bare, and the coming light playing 
 about the upturned shell, as, Triton-like, he blew into 
 his ocean-horn, and made the air vibrate with the hoarse 
 bellowing. Below, in a vast chasm, were floating thin 
 mists, gently rising upwards to meet and to be dispersed 
 by the sun. On they came like waves ; and it needed 
 no very brilliant imagination to behold an ocean before 
 you, and he with the spotted shell lying on its shore. 
 But no answer came. Once before we had heard, just 
 
 * Rucksack. A square bag or sack of coarse green canvas, used as a 
 knapsack by the peasant generally, and by the hunter to carry his game. 
 A cord runs round the mouth or opening, by which it can be drawn to- 
 gether. From this part a strap passes over each shoulder, and is at- 
 
24 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 as the shadows were beginning to leave the top of the 
 opposite mountain, a hollow sound come murmuring 
 across the valley before us. It was scarcely audible j it 
 was a low muttering, as though it proceeded from out of 
 the mountain itself. 
 
 "Did you hear it?" exclaimed Meier. "That's the 
 stag, but he is a great way off. He will go, I am afraid, 
 on the other side of the mountain, and then we may not 
 follow him, for there the royal forests end." 
 
 " How vexatious ! he probably has*no deer with him, 
 or he would hardly go away." 
 
 And again through his shell sounded the deep hoarse 
 tones ; but it was all in vain. " He must be far off, quite 
 out of hearing, or he would come for certain ; he would 
 be sure to answer the challenge. But since we heard 
 him last, he has gone no doubt over the brow of the 
 mountain, on the other side where the sound cannot 
 reach him. It is of no use to wait any longer." 
 
 So up we got and went further. We stopped at a spot 
 that overlooked the whole dell and gave a good view of 
 the steep mountain-side facing us. " We may perhaps 
 see a roebuck — it is not at all unlikely — the underwood 
 there is a good covert for them," said Meier ; and jump- 
 ing on the stump of a felled tree, which overhung the 
 precipitous declivity, he gazed carefully around and be^ 
 low. But nothing was to be seen. The new laws which 
 had been in force since the Revolution effectually pre- 
 vented the chance of our seeing any game whatever : all 
 was destroyed or driven away. Some goats only with 
 tinkling bells round their necks were browsing here, and 
 came near to look at us ; then on a sudden they sprang 
 away, with a troop of white kids after them. 
 
 tached to the corners below. The capaciousness of such a rucksack is some- 
 thing quite marvellous ; there is really no end to what maybe stuffed into it- 
 
AFTER THE GOOD STAG. 25 
 
 As the young Jager stood on that block, leaning on 
 his staff, T could not but think how picturesque a group 
 he and his dog made. The mountain stick was thrust 
 forwards, forming one leg of a triangle, and his body the 
 other 3 and on the top of it both hands were crossed, on 
 which his chin rested. The grey joppe hung loosely 
 about him, his bare knees showed beneath the short lea- 
 thern breeches, the rifle was slung at his back, and his 
 dog sat at his feet watching as steadily as he. As he 
 leaned forward, supported by the firmly-planted pole, he 
 was quite hanging over the depth below. The whole 
 figure was motionless ; the eyes only turned from side 
 to side, exploring every bush and prying into each sha- 
 dowy nook, or running over those green patches among 
 the trees where it was likely a roe might come to graze. 
 I remember to have seen, when a child, a print in the 
 Bible, of Jacob thus leaning on his staff; and I quite 
 well remember too how much the figure pleased me, and 
 how in the attitude there was for me a charm which I 
 could not then account for.* And in some strange wise 
 or other this picture was always associated in my mind 
 with a sentence in ' Murray's Exercises :' "And Jacob 
 worshiped his Creator leaning on the top of his staff." 
 The Bible picture and the well-known words recurred at 
 once to my mind ; and here I saw before me what my 
 childish imagination had often dwelt on with indefinable, 
 inexplicable delight. Since those days of childhood the 
 boy had himself leant upon his staff just as Jacob had 
 
 * Nor am I much better able to do so now. In a figure thus leaning 
 there is an air of perfect repose, united however with power and strength ; 
 for you see the whole man before you standing at nearly full height ; and 
 though the attitude impresses one with rest, it indicates at the same time 
 a readiness for action, which takes from it all appearance of slothful ease 
 or of fatigue. 
 
26 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 done ; and thns too had, like him, worshiped his Crea- 
 tor amid the mighty works of His hands. 
 
 We now went to the top of the hill. Below us was 
 the lake, in all the freshness and brightness of early 
 morning, and behind rose the rocky ridge of the Plau 
 Berg, and behind this again other peaks covered with 
 eternal snow. A look round, and then downwards, and 
 home. After having reported ourselves to the forester, 
 it was arranged that on Monday we should start at five 
 and try for a chamois. However, on Monday the wea- 
 ther was unfavourable, and other circumstances also pre- 
 vented me from stalking on that day. So packing a few 
 things in my rucksack, I set off across the mountains for 
 Fischbachau. 
 
27 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE STAG IN THE HUTTING SEASON. 
 
 Having alluded to the stag during the rutting season, it 
 is as well perhaps to add a few words on this subject for 
 the information of those uninitiated in the mysteries of 
 woodcraft. 
 
 On the feast of St. Egidius, 1st of September, the 
 rutting season is said to begin. Thus it is, at least, ac- 
 cording to the old sayings of those practised in the noble 
 art of Venerie. The stag leaves the deep recesses of the 
 forest and comes forth to the skirts of the woods, and is 
 seen even by day in the glades and coppices. The good 
 pasture of the summer months has made him sleek, and the 
 blood begins to flow through his full veins with a more 
 impetuous current. Like the youth who has bloomed 
 into manhood, and who looks around him with a brighter 
 eye than heretofore, the stag now gazes dauntlessly in all 
 the pride of vigorous strength, and his bold front seems 
 almost to challenge to the attack. He who ere this has 
 dwelt like a recluse in the forest solitudes, now comes 
 forth into the noonday world ; away he bounds, and be- 
 fore the morning dawns he is in another territory ; he 
 has traversed the valleys and has toiled up the steep 
 mountain-sides, and, bearing away for the well-known 
 open glade in the beech-forest, has reached it before the 
 
28 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 hinds have brushed the dew from the grass in retreating 
 to their covert.* 
 
 And thus, year after year perhaps, will a stag be seen 
 at a certain spot at this particular season, although he is 
 absent the whole year beside. Not only is the distance 
 he travels, but the speed also with which he traverses the 
 ground, astonishing. His pace is a sort of ambling trot, 
 nor does he skim over the ground at full speed except 
 when the foe is nigh ; indeed at this season a stag could 
 not maintain such pace long, he being too well-con- 
 ditioned, and his broad back and sides too heavy, for the 
 exertion of a stride like the courser's when careering over 
 the plain j and though the poet may, with undisputed 
 license, describe him as galloping along, he never does 
 so except when suddenly scared and when hotly pursued. 
 And indeed in his other pace there is beauty too, and 
 more of majesty. Though retreating before some dan- 
 ger, there is no ignoble haste or precipitancy in his flight. 
 With front erect and steady eye he moves over the ground 
 seeming hardly to touch the earth, so lightly does he step 
 along ; and in his whole mien and bearing he is " every 
 inch a king." 
 
 At the usual time he suddenly appears amid his old 
 haunts and his former loves. Until now a troop of hinds 
 only were to be seen by the hunter who watched for them 
 at morning or at evening, with the calves of this, and the 
 
 * Since these words were written I have met with a very graceful al- 
 lusion to the deer being out at early morning, in the poems of M. Casi- 
 mir Sarbievius, translated by E,. C. Coxe. 
 
 " Friendly dews ! with faithful guiding 
 Show where roving, feeding, loving, 
 Sought the stag at last his hiding, 
 
 Cautious through the covert moving ! 
 Show your king the cloven horn, 
 Gentle dews of early morn !" 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 29 
 
 fawns of last year ; but now on the skirts of the herd he 
 sees — or at first thinks he sees — a pair of branching an- 
 tlers towering in the air ; and behold ! the monarch is 
 indeed returned. He has added another embattlement 
 to his crown since he was last seen ; in stature too he is 
 changed, and well indeed may he claim, irrespective of 
 his diadem, to be called " a royal hart." But how dif- 
 ferent now his look from that time when he disappeared 
 in the wilderness ; like the prodigal, who, with wasted 
 strength and but a wreck of his former self, skulks away 
 that he may be seen by none. How worn and broken 
 down did he leave the scenes of all his pleasures, and how 
 vigorous and in what gallant trim does he return ! Should 
 a rival dare to loiter about the spot, he goes forth to 
 meet him, to do battle for his rights ; to maintain them 
 or be vanquished in the encounter. No knight, burning 
 to achieve a deed of chivalry, ever charged down upon a 
 foe with more valiant daring than will he, when he sees 
 approaching the antlers of some new wooer tossing in the 
 air and seeming to defy him to combat. Nor does the 
 challenge remain unanswered : with his brow-antlers 
 lowered like a lance in the rest, he rushes on the foe, 
 and lucky is the intruder if he can ward the thrust; 
 for should it penetrate his ribs or shoulders he would 
 most surely pay for his temerity with his life.* 
 
 * It is not more than three weeks since the day on which I write this 
 (December 5th), that a young stag, one of six only, rushed upon another, 
 and striking his brow-antlers into his side killed him on the spot. It 
 was a strange occurrence, on account of its being late in the season ; had 
 it been a month earlier there would have been nothing surprising in it. 
 During the rutting season however the weaker stags are kept away from 
 the herd by the stronger ones ; and when these go, the younger ones 
 then take their place, and are in their turn as fierce and as jealous of an 
 intruder as their more potent rivals were before them. 
 
30 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 , The poet Thompson errs greatly as to the stag at this 
 season : — 
 
 " When in kind contest with Ins butting friends, 
 He wont to struggle, or his loves enjoy."* 
 
 There is no kindness here. These tournays are of the 
 most deadly description, and again and again each returns 
 to the fight with that burning rage and quenchless ani- 
 mosity which drive two creatures to mortal combat. 
 
 As a proof of the terrific shock which is occasioned 
 when one stag bravely meets the impetuous charge of his 
 adversary, I would state that I have seen the bleached 
 skull of a stag, found in the forest, on one side of which 
 the very frontal bone itself had been fractured, the antler 
 on that side having been literally wrenched from its 
 shivered socket in such a struggle. The animal had 
 dropped from the frightful injury; and his remains were 
 found as here described, one antler being still left. 
 
 The following account of a stalking adventure in the 
 highlands of Styria, affords an astounding example of the 
 blind rage by which the stag is animated at this parti- 
 cular season, as well as of the extraordinary vitality with 
 which he then seems to be endued. 
 
 The story is here related as it was told me shortly 
 after the occurrence ; and exciting as the details cannot 
 fail to be for the sportsman, the lover of natural history 
 will also find in them much to interest him. 
 
 " Well," continued C D , after telling me the 
 
 result of his three preceeding days' stalking in the moun- 
 tains at Steyer, " I left the forester in the hut and went to 
 Lany Thai, — a good place, as I well knew, and where the 
 game from the hills on both sides were constantly passing. 
 There was a pool here where at the season the stags used 
 to come incessantly ; and, on looking at the ground, I 
 * ' The Seasons ' — Autumn. 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 31 
 
 saw it was all trampled on, the mud and earth pawed up 
 and scattered in all directions. So here I sat, and taking 
 out my shell began to have a little talk with whatever 
 stag might be in the neighbourhood. But before pro- 
 ceeding farther, I should tell you something of the aspect 
 of the country, and what this Lany Thai was like. You 
 must know then, it is a long, narrow valley, and on one 
 side are hills sloping gradually away upwards, to no very 
 great height, with trees and underwood here and there, 
 while occasionally a large open clearing enabled you to 
 see what was going on, and whatever game might be 
 moving about there. Well, it was this hill-side I had 
 opposite me ; as I sat waiting near the pool. But at my 
 back the ground was different. There the mountains rose 
 more abruptly, and to a greater height : it was rocky and 
 wilder — in short, more of a chamois country than the 
 other side. 
 
 " So, as I said, I was bellowing away with my shell, and 
 it was not long before a young stag answered my call. 
 But just afterwards I heard a capital stag roaring furi- 
 ously; and presently, right away up the slope, about 
 five hundred paces off, some deer began to show them- 
 selves moving about. I looked and peered between bush 
 and tree in every direction to find the stag, when suddenly 
 I heard just above me from behind a sharp, long-drawn 
 Tis-sch V and a couple of chamois, who had been startled 
 by my presence, dashed away upwards. Hardly were 
 they off when down comes a stag from the mountain at 
 my back, and makes straight for the pool. Here was a 
 dilemma ! I knew a good stag was before me though I 
 had not seen him, and felt sure I should be able to 
 entice him near enough to get a shot. And just at this 
 moment comes the insignificant fellow right in my way ! 
 Were I to fire at him, the other good stag would be oft': 
 
32 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and if I let him reach the pool unmolested, he will at 
 last be sure to see me, and will dart across and scare the 
 deer, and they and the other stag will then be all off 
 together. The thing, therefore, was not to let him 
 come far down, but to make him return the way he came. 
 So bending forward, and taking off my hat, I waved it 
 before me, muttering between my teeth in anger at the 
 intruder, ( Get back, you rascal, will you, what the deuce 
 do you do here V He stared surprised for a moment, 
 and then, as I suspected, was off up the mountain. So 
 now all was right. But still no stag appeared/' 
 
 "Had he been scared away by the other stag, do you 
 think ?" asked I. 
 
 "No; he was there still; that I was certain of; and 
 as the ground was broken and favourable for stalking, I 
 longed to be after him, and see if it were not possible to 
 get near enough for a shot. But it was too early yet; so 
 I resolved to wait till the wind should blow downwards 
 from the mountain-tops, and then to try my luck. Well, 
 by-and-by, I heard a strange noise : groans, and a clatter- 
 ing and low smothered sounds. Two stags were fight- 
 ing, and the noises were caused by their antlers as they 
 clashed together, and by the intensity and desperation 
 of the struggle. I was off in an instant, and approached 
 the spot where they were, carefully looking round, how- 
 ever, lest by chance I might come upon some outlying 
 deer, or any of the herd that would be standing about 
 while the combat was going on. At last, I see the two 
 in deadly fight : two good stags both, though one had 
 more points to his antlers than the other. They were 
 evidently old stags. There they were on the open space 
 as in the lists for a tournament — their heads low on the 
 ground — and with forehead to forehead bearing down on 
 each other, and going round and round without either 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 33 
 
 being able to obtain an advantage over his adversary. I 
 had noted which was the better one of the two, and 
 determined to wait my time till an opportunity should 
 present itself for getting a shot at him I had marked. 
 But still with antlers interlaced, on they yet kept strug- 
 gling ; and round and round they turned, but never was 
 the better stag so exposed as to enable me to get a fair 
 chance. For you know, it would be a pity to have given 
 such a stag as that a bad shot — in the haunch, or the 
 flanks, or in the neck perhaps. Strangely enough the lesser 
 one I could have shot capitally over and over again ; but 
 I had made up my mind what to do, and determined to 
 abide by it, and not let my impatience entice me to fire 
 too soon. While thus anxiously watching the battle, all 
 of a sudden they disappear. They both are off. But it 
 was not long before the noise of the struggle could be 
 heard, and off I was at once after them again. This 
 time I got closer than before ; but still I never could get 
 a fair shot at the larger animal. I was waiting all the 
 time with my rifle to my shoulder, ready to fire, when, 
 for a moment only, the one with the spreading antlers 
 turned his broadside towards me ; the trigger is touched, 
 and down he rolls in front of his opponent. He tries to 
 rise, and struggles on the earth, but is unable to get up. 
 All this time, the other, instead of running off at the 
 noise of the rifle, stands before his fallen foe, and then 
 charges down again upon him as before. In the mad- 
 ness of his rage, he had evidently not heard the shot. As 
 you may suppose, my thought was now centred in him ; 
 for to get both the stags, that would indeed be a triumph. 
 So I crept up still closer to the group, and fire. I think 
 he is hit ; I feel sure of it : I tell myself he must be hit. 
 But while thus re-assuring myself, he whom I had hoped 
 was wounded mortally, rears in the air as if to give more 
 
 D 
 
34 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 impetus to the blow and butts with all the weight of his 
 body and with all the intensity of fury upon the wounded 
 stag struggling on the ground. When I saw this, I assure 
 you I was quite overcome. ' And so I have missed him 
 after all/ thought I. You know what a feeling that is, and 
 how at the moment one would give anything in the whole 
 world for but a single shot more to retrieve the misfor- 
 tune. Had I only the forester with me, with my second 
 rifle ! And so I stood helpless, looking at the stag and 
 waiting to see what would happen next. There were two 
 pines on the spot, opposite each other, and against one I 
 was leaning with my back. Close behind it too were 
 rocks, so that in this direction I could not retrograde a 
 step. 
 
 " Now while standing thus, the stag at which I had 
 fired gazed at me as if he had now only perceived me for 
 the first time ; and with head low on the ground, rushes 
 upon me between the two trees, as glad to find a near 
 object on which to wreak his vengeance. I thought it 
 was all over with me now, for step back further I could 
 not ; but though I expected the next moment to be fly- 
 ing on his pointed antlers up in the air, I still, as you 
 may suppose, made myself as thin as possible while flat- 
 tening myself against the pine. On he came, and passed 
 so near, that had I stretched out my foot, I could have 
 given him a kick. He went on, and rushed down the 
 slope ; and though I could hear him as he broke away, 
 he was soon out of sight." 
 
 " And how many points had the other stag V 3 I asked. 
 
 " It was a capital stag of twelve ; he was an old fel- 
 low, and had, no doubt, had more in former years. But 
 as he was still attempting to rise, and not knowing where 
 my shot had struck him, and whether he might not get 
 up at last and be off, as is not seldom the case when 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 35 
 
 wounded high up, I ran to him, and tried to get to his 
 side, which however was not so easy, for he turned to- 
 wards me as I approached, keeping me off with his for- 
 midable antlers. At last I managed to dig my long knife 
 twice in his side ; and now, even should he rise, he would 
 leave such traces behind as would enable me to follow. 
 This done, I quickly loaded one barrel of my rifle, not 
 taking time to use a patch, but only ramming down some 
 dry moss on the powder, and then shot him through the 
 head." 
 
 "And where had your first shot struck him? And 
 could you find no traces of blood on the track of the 
 other stag ? " I asked, impatiently. 
 
 " My first shot had hit him in the very best place 
 right in the middle of the shoulder, which accounted for 
 his being unable to rise. As to the other, I followed 
 him some little distance and could find nothing. You 
 may fancy how vexed I was. At any other time such a 
 stag as I had shot would have delighted me ; but now, 
 as I had not the other too, I felt as if I did not care 
 about him. What an opportunity it was, and how un- 
 fortunately it had turned out ! So I went back to my 
 stag, and then to the spot where I had been standing, 
 and thought the whole affair over again in my mind. 
 And I remembered exactly how well I had him at the 
 moment I aimed, and at the very second my finger 
 touched the trigger, and it seemed as if he must be hit : 
 but then again I could not help saying to myself it was 
 not so positive either ; for if he were, is it likely or pos- 
 sible he would, without taking the least notice of the 
 shot, have charged down three times on his fallen enemy, 
 and have butted him as he had done ? 
 
 "So with a heavy heart I gave the matter up, seeing 
 clearly enough that the second stag was missed. As it 
 
 d2 
 
36 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was getting dark, it was useless to attempt to follow the 
 track of the stag. And in a state of mind which only 
 a person who has been in a like situation can understand, 
 vexed and dissatisfied with myself, I set off towards the 
 hut. Here the matter was thought and talked over again 
 and again. 
 
 " Well, being moonlight, at two o'clock in the morn- 
 ing I started again to try and get a shot at the stags 
 that were belling on all sides, and when it was day, 
 went with the forester to show him where the stag lay, 
 that he might have it fetched and carried down. 
 
 " You know the feeling when you think it is not pos- 
 sible to have missed, and how you still keep on looking 
 for a drop of blood, and still hope on against hope. And 
 so it was with me now; and I could not help going 
 again, though of course it seemed useless, to follow the 
 track of the second stag. But nothing was to be seen 
 more than on the day before. Not a blade of grass, not 
 a stone that my eyes did not carefully examine. And 
 so I went on peering and peering, when only think, sud- 
 denly I see a drop of blood on the ground. It seemed 
 to be too much good fortune to be real, and I therefore 
 did not halloo to the foresters, but still went on step by 
 step, looking carefully on the earth. Now another red drop 
 is seen, and on the same side; and presently traces of the 
 blood having spirted out on both sides, showing clearly 
 that the bullet had gone right through him. 
 
 " I was just on the point of turning back to commu- 
 nicate the glad intelligence to the foresters, when the 
 voices of persons approaching from below reached me, 
 causing me to look round to see who was coming. I at 
 once recognized them : they were the men I had ordered 
 when in the hut, to wait at a certain spot to fetch away 
 my first stag. I could not see them, but I heard one 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 37 
 
 shout to the other, ( Da liegt er schon V ' Why there he 
 lies V On hearing this, as you may suppose, I was all 
 excitement, and cried out to ask what it was lying there. 
 f Why the stag, to be sure/ was the answer. For they 
 thought this was the stag they had been ordered to come 
 for. At these words down I rushed to the spot, almost 
 mad with expectation ; and there indeed lay the second 
 stag, with a shot that had gone right through his lungs, 
 the bullet passing out on the other side." 
 
 "And was he a good stag?" I inquired; "as good as 
 the other ? What did his antlers mark ?" 
 
 w He only had eight points ; but he was a splendid fel- 
 low, and hardly less in size than the other. His whole 
 body bore traces of the late battle. Everywhere were 
 long furrows in his coat, where the terrible antlers of the 
 other had scraped away the hair, as they were thrust 
 forwards with deadly intent ; and as to his head, it was 
 scarred and torn and marked all over, bearing proof of 
 the intensity of this as well as former battles. 
 
 " The body of the one I shot first had some terrible 
 wounds in the neck, caused no doubt by the thrust of 
 those fearful pointed brow- antlers, which his foe brought 
 to bear on him with such fury as he lay helpless on the 
 ground. Near the fresh bullet-wound was an old wound 
 also, received evidently in some former similar encoun- 
 ter. Both, as I said, were old stags, and had mea- 
 sured their strength with many a mighty foe. The one 
 shot last, however, was evidently accustomed to lord it 
 over all the others in his domain ; and, though no doubt 
 a bully, possessed notwithstanding a courage which no 
 attack ever daunted. The shot he received from me he 
 certainly believed to have been inflicted by the other 
 stag j hence his rage, and furious attack on his enemy 
 as he lay prostrate on the ground." 
 
38 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " On what day was it that it happened V* 
 " On the 17th of October. I had, as you know, shot 
 four stags already ; but to have witnessed this desperate 
 battle, and to have shot both the combatants, attended, 
 too, as the circumstance was, with such peculiar inci- 
 dents, — that was the crowning piece of good fortune." 
 
 When once the stag has joined the hinds he does not 
 quit them. He walks continually round and round the 
 herd, keeping them together and preventing even a single 
 one from leaving him. A stag will sometimes have twelve, 
 fifteen, twenty, or even more hinds with him, and proud- 
 ly but despotically he moves among them, like a sultan 
 in his serail. His blood is boiling in his full veins ; his 
 passion consumes him, and he flies to the pool, not to 
 assuage his thirst, but to cool the fire that is burning 
 within him. He rolls in the shallow water and lays him- 
 self in the slimy bed ; and when he rises reeking from 
 the mire, his back and sides and throat are covered with 
 it, and the long hair of his neck is matted together like 
 a thick and tangled mane. He eats little or nothing 
 now. Ever and anon he stands still, and by a low, deep, 
 hollow sound, that seems to come from his very inmost 
 being, and tells of consuming pain and longing, will he 
 give vent to the feelings that goad and torture him. I 
 know no sound to which I could liken it.. It is not a 
 roar, nor a bellowing, but a rumbling sound, approaching 
 perhaps nearer to a deep, long-drawn-out groan than 
 aught else, which at last is, as it were, hurled forth two 
 or three times, in a short, quick, impatient manner. At 
 early morning, while the stars are still watching, you 
 may hear the hollow tone from the hill-side, and, if you 
 do not know what it is, might perchance fancy it came 
 from the bowels of the earth, and that the mountain was 
 inwardly convulsed by elements at strife with each other. 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 39 
 
 Indeed I imagine that an incipient volcano would make 
 some such noise. 
 
 The throat of the stag swells now to an unusual size. 
 Week after week goes by, and his appearance at last 
 gives token of his spendthrift waste of strength and of 
 wild excess. His once sleek sides are sunken in, his 
 broad back has dwindled into narrowness, and a sharp 
 ridge is visible along its length. The haunches that were 
 so full and rounded have hollows in them, the head is no 
 longer stately and erect, nor in the creature's whole mien 
 and bearing is there more of pride and majesty. The 
 voice has grown thick and husky, and a hoarse sound, 
 void of strength or fullness, is uttered at distant inter- 
 vals. Senility has taken the place of youth ; and of 
 strength, decrepitude. At such time it is comparatively 
 easy to get near the stag, for he sees and hears nothing, 
 and, if I may use the expression, is reduced almost to a 
 state of imbecility. I have myself crept along the ground, 
 and got from bush to bush until I was near enough to 
 have brought him down with a pistol-shot. 
 
 It is in truth astonishing that the stag should be so 
 long-lived as he is ; for the whole year through, with the 
 exception of at most two months, he is either taxing his 
 nature to the utmost, or striving to recruit his strength 
 through an inclement and unpropitious season. The 
 rutting is over j and now, with lantern body and but the 
 ghost of his former self, he has the raw winter months 
 before him. There is no green pasturage where he may 
 appease the cravings of hunger ; the ground is covered 
 with deep snow ; nor can he get at the young corn, which, 
 were it not thus hidden, would furnish a most dainty 
 banquet. He is obliged to have recourse to the rind of 
 the young trees, and to nibble the tips of the last shoots 
 and twigs. Poor nourishment this for a famished worn-out 
 
40 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 creature ! yet till the spring-time comes it is all he has 
 to feed on. And hardly has he recovered himself a little, 
 when nature demands of him an immense exertion : his 
 antlers fall off close to his head, and another pair, even 
 higher and stronger than those just lost, are to supply 
 their place. And this operation is not a work of time, 
 proceeding slowly and with gradual development ; but, 
 by a strong effort, of rapid, nay almost sudden, growth. 
 In three months the stag has put forth his branching 
 antlers again ; and this time too the stems are thicker 
 than before, and on each is one point more than the pre- 
 ceding year. When we think of the comparatively slow 
 rate at which a hothouse plant, with all possible care and 
 forcing, expands in growth, or a child or other young 
 animal increases in stature, we can hardly comprehend 
 the productive power that, in so short a time, should be 
 able to force into existence an excrescence of such size 
 and weight, demanding too for its nourishment the 
 noblest juices — the sap and very marrow of the body. 
 Yet so it is. From the stag's head, " shorn of his beam," 
 the young shoot springs up, and like a sapling, buds and 
 puts forth a branch, and then another and another. Up- 
 wards still it rises ; and the thick stem divides on high 
 into more taper branchings, forming as they cluster to- 
 gether a rude mural crown. ' At the extremities all is 
 soft and tender, porous, and with much blood. Over the 
 whole, to preserve it from injury until it has grown firm 
 and hard,, is a thick velvet covering ; and not until all 
 beneath can bear exposure to the air does this fall off. 
 When first got rid of, the antlers are as white as ivory, 
 but they soon acquire their usual darker hue. 
 
 It is now summer, and the stag revels in abundance. 
 He roams through the woods and enjoys the glorious 
 time in quiet luxury. But, as was said before, this is of 
 
THE STAG IN THE RUTTING SEASON. 
 
 41 
 
 short duration : the Feast of St. Egidius is at L..id, and 
 his life of slothful ease is at an end. 
 
42 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 A WALK TO F1SCHBACHAU. 
 
 The young forester Meier was going to see his father, 
 who lived at the foot of the Peissenberg ; and as my road 
 over the Kiihzagel Alp passed his house, we set off to- 
 gether. 
 
 " Well, Meier," I asked at parting, " are you sure I 
 shall find the way ?" 
 
 " You can't miss it. To the top of the mountain goes 
 a road ; a little way up is a bridge ; do not cross it, but 
 keep straight on. Higher up you will come to a place 
 where there are three roads — take the middle one, it 
 leads downwards, and then you have the mountain stream 
 beside you all the way." 
 
 " Well, adieu ! and by the time I come back look out 
 for the chamois." 
 
 Now it is a very easy matter for one who knows a 
 road by heart, to tell another of paths to the right and 
 to the left, and that he is not to choose this, but is to 
 take that ; and as you listen you at last get inoculated 
 with a notion of its easiness, and allow yourself to com- 
 mit the folly of starting off alone. But once in the wood 
 the pathway is hardly discernible, and across the moun- 
 tain-top there is no trace of footsteps to be seen ; so at 
 last you come to a stand, fully convinced of having done 
 
A WALK TO FISCHBACHAU. 43 
 
 a very foolish thing. For years I nattered myself with 
 the belief of possessing in a superlative degree the organ 
 of locality j and it is only after having more than once 
 missed my way in the forest and on the mountain, and 
 discovered my reckoning to be almost always wrong, 
 that this crotchet of mine has been given up, and the 
 acknowledgment forced from me that there is as much 
 chance of my going astray in this physical world, as in 
 the one where we are apt to take our passions for guide- 
 posts. Once, when lagging behind my companions, I 
 lost my way on the mountains j and after having tra- 
 versed a space which no one would have credited but for 
 my description of some peculiar features of a remote spot 
 reached while thus wandering, I was at length fortunate 
 enough to see afar off an old human being, who, on my 
 forcing him to go with me, put me on the right track. 
 Had I not found that poor weather-beaten creature just 
 then, my bones would now be lying up' amongst those 
 heights. 
 
 In the mountains all is on so large a scale, the stranger 
 is constantly deceiving himself as to distance. A trifling 
 change of position, too, makes everything look quite 
 different. In descending from an eminence the forms 
 selected as landmarks are at once lost sight of; on get- 
 ting nearer to the foot of the mountains the seemingly 
 narrow valley opens into breadth : hill, mound, dell, all 
 unperceived till now, start into sight ; you become con- 
 fused by a multitude of objects not calculated on before, 
 and, having already perhaps deviated from the straight 
 line to evade a precipice or to cross a torrent, are wholly 
 at a loss what direction to take. You look back to 
 reconnoitre the ground and find your starting-point. 
 But it is not to be found ; all is changed ; other forms 
 are seen up against the sky ; no single feature that was 
 
44 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 there before is now to be recognized. You turn round, 
 and ask yourself if in coming downwards yonder peak 
 with snow was not on your right, and you are not sure 
 of the answer, for there is another very like it where 
 snow is also lying : — how then distinguish between 
 them ? And if you determine to go straight on toward 
 the distant ridge, on getting there at last after two 
 hours' desperate climbing, all again is like an unknown 
 land, and not a single mountain-top that forms part of 
 the new horizon have you ever beheld before. Land- 
 mark you have none — the few you had are now irre- 
 coverably lost. There you stand in vast space, utterly 
 helpless. Far, far around you rise those sharp lines 
 against the sky which bounds your present world. How 
 gladly would you look into the space beyond, and strive 
 to catch at hope ! But this " beyond" is shut out from 
 you as impenetrably as that vague unknown which is 
 beyond the grave. And you still keep your look fixed 
 on those impassable barriers : a strange irresistible power 
 seems to rivet your staring eyes upon them, and you gaze 
 on with awe, and dread, and longing ! 
 
 Ay, with awe ! for they stand before you, those huge 
 forms, in overpowering, unparticipating stillness. All 
 is motionless. Nothing stirs that forms a part of them. 
 A shadow may flit across their face, but that is an ex- 
 traneous thing, and when it has swept by, there they 
 are, still in the same cold, rigid imperturbability. If 
 only a tree were there, with its softer outline, and its 
 boughs, though not moving, at least conveying the feel- 
 ing that they might move as being a thing with life ! 
 But no, the hard lines of those fixed features are unre- 
 lieved by one milder form ; stillness, unwaning stillness, 
 sits on them everlastingly, like Death ! And yet you 
 gaze on them with longing, — the longing that with your 
 
A WALK TO FlSCHBACHAU. 45 
 
 vision you could penetrate what is beyond. It is a 
 yearning such as the soul feels to know of that " other 
 side" which will be seen only after death. 
 
 On the finest day too the mists will suddenly rise, 
 wrapping all in their flowing cloud-like folds. When 
 thus overtaken in the mountains by dense fog, if it last 
 you may look upon it as your shroud. 
 
 In crossing the barren heights of the Valtelline, I re- 
 member to have met, on the summit, a little altar raised 
 by friendly hands from the stones which lay strewn 
 around, in a niche of which shone a human skull and a 
 heap of bones. They had belonged to a contrabandista, 
 who, while smuggling his wares across this scene of de- 
 solation, had been overtaken by the mists sweeping 
 upward from the valley, and, unable to proceed, had sat 
 down and been frozen to death. " On such occasions/' 
 said my guide, " nothing is to be done but to lie down 
 and die." Long after having passed the monument I 
 could see, on looking back, the white bones gleaming 
 in the sunlight, for the elements had bleached them to 
 . a snowy whiteness. 
 
 In going to Eischbachau, however, there was no fear 
 of my becoming the hero of a " lamentable occurrence" 
 in the columns of a newspaper, or of having an ex voto 
 erected to my memory. I lost my way however, as 
 might very well have been expected ; but I regained it 
 after a while, and came upon the road that leads from 
 Schlier See. The rain had now ceased, and the sun 
 looked out cheerily and with his very brightest smile, 
 as if determined to make amends for not having shown 
 himself earlier. Schlier See was before me, a little 
 island in the middle of its clear waters, and which, from 
 its glittering brightness, might, for aught I know, have 
 risen out of the lake just before I came. I looked at it 
 
46 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 a long time, for its beauty and freshness reminded me of 
 England. 
 
 The forester's house at Fischbachau had once been a 
 cloister ; and the clergyman of the parish still inhabited 
 one half the building. The corridor was filled with rows 
 of antlers, and the sitting-room of the family was deco- 
 rated in the same appropriate manner. All round the 
 top were ranged the bent horns of the chamois ; below 
 these the more majestic antlers of the stag j and lower 
 down, interspersed also at intervals among the others, 
 were those of the roebuck. The windows were filled 
 with ivy and creeping plants, and these trailed along 
 from antler to antler, and hung down in careless fes- 
 toons, or they were twined round the frames hanging on 
 the wall with engraved portraits in thein, among which 
 I recognized some well-known faces. At the further 
 end of the room was a row of rifles and fowling-pieces, 
 with here a strangely-fashioned powder-flask or cramp- 
 ing-irons for the feet in winter ; on a nail hung the ruck- 
 sack, the green hat above it with a gay flower on its 
 brim ; while a guitar in a corner, and a cithern on a 
 table, gave evidence of gentler pastime than the chase 
 affords. But the neatness and the creeping evergreens 
 had already told of feminine care that presided here. 
 All was as simple as possible, but We place looked com- 
 fortable, and everything was deliciously clean. Having 
 changed my wet clothes, I returned and talked with the 
 forester. " It is no pleasure now/' he said, " to have to 
 do with the chase. I do not like even to think about it. 
 The mountains opposite — those you see from the win- 
 dows — were full of chamois, the Miesing especially. 
 Front this room you might often with a telescope see 
 thirty or forty together ; and now on the whole moun- 
 tain there are perhaps not twenty." 
 
A WALK TO FISCHBACHAU. 47 
 
 " And there were stags, too?" I asked. 
 " Stags and roes in abundance. But now all are 
 shot. The peasants shoot everything. There," said he, 
 pointing to the antlers between the windows, " is the last 
 stag that Berger, my assistant-forester, shot. It was a 
 good one, as you see, and I have put up the antlers in 
 remembrance, for I dare say he will never shoot another 
 — it will be his last." 
 
 " It is hardly credible," I observed, " that in so short 
 a time almost every head of game should have been ex- 
 terminated. It is very sad, for it would take a long 
 time to have all again as it once was." 
 
 " No, it is not surprising when you think that the game 
 had never any rest. Day after day it was disturbed, shot 
 at, scared and driven from place to place. The peasants 
 did not get much, for if they wounded a stag or chamois 
 they had no good dog to follow it with, and so it was 
 generally lost. And all game must have quiet — that 
 is as indispensable as food. A great part therefore 
 went across to the Tyrol ; and the gamekeepers too shot 
 all they could, rather than let the peasants get it." 
 
 And then he told me how he used to go into the moun- 
 tains, and sit for hours and watch the chamois and the 
 young kids as they disported themselves on the green 
 slopes, or stood upon the rocks and leaped from crag 
 to crag; but now, he said, he would go up there 
 no more, for all his pleasure in doing so was gone, 
 and his occupation rejoiced him no longer.* I already 
 
 * In a letter received from the worthy forester since this was writ- 
 ten, he says : — " Although late in the autumn, after you were gone many 
 chamois collected here again. I much doubt if we shall see any 
 next summer, for the poor creatures that are now looking for their 
 winter haunts are so scared and hunted about, that their utter ex- 
 termination must be the consequence. No one can possibly tell the 
 pain all this causes me ; and I therefore never express what I feel to 
 
48 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 knew what excellent hunting-grounds all this neighbour- 
 hood afforded ; for though it belonged to the Crown the 
 whole mountain-range had been rented by a gentleman, 
 who, by carefully preserving the game for a year or two, 
 and by the excellent order he maintained, had greatly 
 enhanced the value of the chase. He had his own fores- 
 ters stationed in all parts; young active fellows, and 
 moreover excellent chamois-hunters, who understood 
 their duty well, and did it. Just as all was in high 
 perfection and the game abundant, those political changes 
 took place which gave the right of shooting to every 
 individual of the community. In order somewhat to 
 diminish his pecuniary losses, the Count, to whom the 
 chase belonged, ordered that the game should be shot 
 by his own people rather than by the poachers; and 
 venison became so plentiful that it fetched but three- 
 pence, twopence, and even a penny a pound.* But 
 in the plain it was exactly the same. In the exten- 
 sive forests of the Prince of Tour and Taxis, with whom 
 I have enjoyed the privilege of shooting for the last ten 
 
 any one but a hunter, and one who loves the chase, and of whom I 
 am persuaded beforehand that he will understand and sympathize with 
 what I suffer." 
 
 * The circumference of the chase was about sixty English miles. 
 The Count calculated that in a few years he would be able to shoot 
 there every year three hundred roebucks, eighty (warrantable) stags, and 
 one hundred chamois. It must however be said, that there is not a bet- 
 ter sportman to be found than Count A., and that such a state of things 
 could only be brought about in so short a time by his excellent manage- 
 ment. He had twenty-four gamekeepers, all picked men, fellows as fear- 
 less and daring as they were excellent hunters. In the short time that 
 the chase was in the Count's hands, they had shot seven poachers in 
 conflicts with them. One of the keepers, he who had killed four, was 
 himself shot soon afterwards at Berchtesgaden. The neighbourhood 
 of the Tyrol was the cause of this influx of poachers. They would 
 come across the frontier at the Kaiser Klause and Fallep, and were 
 at once on Bavarian territory. 
 
A WALK TO FISCHBACHAU. 49 
 
 years, all the red-deer have been destroyed. From forty- 
 five to fifty- two or fifty -three good stags were shot every 
 season, and now there are not half-a-dozen in the whole 
 forest range. Although the peasantry may occasionally 
 have had to complain of the superabundance of game in 
 the lowlands, there could be no excuse for this total 
 destruction of the chamois, which from its habits could 
 do no possible injury to the crops of the husbandman. 
 The higher mountains were their dwelling-place, and the 
 herbs they found on their green sides, with the young 
 sprouts of the latschen,* afforded them nourishment. 
 But the intoxication caused by the possession of a new 
 right blinded the peasantry even to their own profit and 
 advantage ; and rather than let a chase for a good 
 price, as is done with the moors in Scotland, they har- 
 ried the game, and, having depopulated the mountains, 
 find at last that what might have proved a constant 
 source of profit and pleasure is now thoroughly exhausted. 
 But excess characterizes every social revolution. It is, too, 
 the very spirit of all proscriptions that they be carried on 
 unrelentingly, and with a view to extermination j and the 
 red-deer and chamois became suddenly a proscribed race ; 
 a ban was upon them, and none escaped but those that 
 fled into the deepest recesses of the forest, or sought 
 an asylum among the inaccessible fastnesses of the 
 mountains. Their names stood first on the dread list 
 of the victims who were to fall j and so the people rose 
 
 * Latschen — Pinus Pmnilio — is a sort of pine found on the moun- 
 tains, growing on their barren sides or out of the crevices of the 
 rocks. It does not at once grow upwards, but creeps along the 
 ground for some distance before its branches rise perpendicularly. Its 
 foliage is dense and bushy, and forms a good covert for the game. Tins 
 shrub might be called " The Hunter's Friend," for on its boughs he 
 may always rely, as they never break with the strongest pull. He must 
 only be careful not to bend them, for then they snap at once. 
 
50 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 with a shout to take their life indiscriminately wherever 
 they might find them.* 
 
 One great charm of the woods is now therefore gone. 
 They are empty ; they have no inhabitants. Yon now 
 meet no stag's face peeping through the leaves ; nor are 
 you stopped on your path by the sight of well-known 
 pointed footmarks on the soft ground. 
 
 The assistant-forester was not at home; nothing there- 
 fore was to be learnt about the probability of getting a 
 shot. He had been out on the mountains for several days, 
 but was expected home that evening. While at supper 
 we learned that he was returned, and a little later, after 
 having changed his dress, he made his appearance. 
 
 " Well, Berger, good evening \" said the kind old head- 
 forester, as he entered ; ' ' you have had bad weather — eh ? 
 Now, sit down. What have you seen ?" 
 
 " On the Wendelstein yesterday I saw a good chamois 
 buck at about two hundred yards distant. I could only 
 just see the haunch, but still I would have fired, only I 
 had not set the hair-trigger." 
 
 " And you met nobody V 9 
 
 "No, all is quiet. It was terribly cold up on the 
 Wendelstein, and the weather has been as bad as it 
 could be." 
 
 " Well, Berger, do you think there is any likelihood 
 of getting a shot at a chamois when the weather clears 
 up?" 
 
 "Yes; chamois are there, that's certain; and on the 
 Miesing is the best place," he said, turning to me. 
 " We'll go up the Steinberg, and then stalk up the steep 
 part near the latschen. I think we are pretty sure of a 
 shot, — if only all has been quiet, and no poachers have 
 been there to disturb them." 
 
 * See note at the end of the "Volume. 
 
A WALK TO FISCH13ACHAU. 51 
 
 " Well, if the rain ceases and the weather clears, we 
 will start tomorrow early. When yo$ are ready, call 
 me." 
 
 At least twenty times that day T had been to the win- 
 dow, peering, or rather trying to peer, through the clouds 
 of mist, to see if no blue sky were visible. Sometimes 
 the heads of the opposite mountains — the Klein Miesing, 
 the Jager Kamm, and others — would show themselves 
 just above the gloomy mantle whose undulating folds 
 floated around them; but then the spirit of the storm 
 would come sweeping on to recover his supremacy, bring- 
 ing up an array of dim clouds from the chasms that di- 
 vided the mountains, and soon all was again enveloped 
 in impenetrable gloom. It had rained the whole of that 
 day and the preceding night in sullen perseverance, 
 and there seemed no hope of change ; when in the after- 
 noon the wind gave sign of his approach, for fragments 
 of mist like flying banners came hurrying past, and 
 bearing down on the cohorts of clouds that had, till 
 now, in sturdy masses defied the sun, tore great rents 
 through them, and sent them flying in all directions. 
 How glad we were of his victory, and how we rejoiced to 
 see the scattered remnants of that vast army of clouds 
 trying in vain to re -assemble ! The strong wind put them 
 utterly to the rout. We now saw that snow had fallen 
 on the tops of the mountains. Over the flat land the sun 
 was again visible, and there was every prospect of fine 
 weather on the morrow. We looked out again at night, 
 and the firmament was strewn with stars. What more 
 could we desire? 
 
 e 2 
 
o2 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 UP THE MIESING. 
 
 The morning was clear and bright, and not a breath of 
 wind was stirring, an essential thing for the chamois 
 hunter ; for if the air be not calm, all his skill, perse-- 
 verance, and daring will avail him nothing. At best even 
 it is difficult to calculate on the gusts that will sometimes 
 come suddenly rushing up a chasm, or sweeping down- 
 wards just as he gets round the shoulder of a mountain. 
 Thus, when he thinks all is won, and he rejoices in his 
 panting heart at the success which is about to crown his 
 labour, the taint of his presence will be borne along on 
 the rippling air, and the herd on whom for the last hour 
 his longing eye has been so intently fixed looks round 
 affrighted, conscious of the neighbourhood of an enemy, 
 utters a shrill whistle, and, mounting over the sharp ridge 
 of an opposite mountain, is seen for one moment in bold 
 relief against the sky, and then disappears on the other 
 side. But we had no cause to fear that our hopes would 
 be marred by such a circumstance. 
 
 Whilst I breakfasted Berger got ready the rifles ; for 
 not having calculated on being able to go out here, I had 
 not brought mine with me. We went past the little 
 chapel of Birkenstein, whither many a pilgrim resorts, 
 and on through pleasant meadows shut in by gentle slopes 
 
UP THE MIESING. 53 
 
 covered with wood. And now we emerge into a broad 
 valley , and before us is the Miesing, and to the left the 
 Wendelstein, with its high conical summit, whence, ac- 
 cording to the song, may be seen the two tall church 
 towers* " of the great city where the King dwells." It 
 is a striking feature in the mountain-chain, for, though 
 not the highest of the peaks, it seems to be so, rising 
 as it does abruptly and alone. A few cottages were clus- 
 tered together beside a stream at no great distance from 
 our path, and cattle were grazing in the several fields, 
 while a little peasant-boy poured forth his orisons, for 
 such I took his gladsome song to be, in that fair temple 
 not built by human hands. 
 
 As we went along, the neighbouring mountains sug- 
 gested many a tale of interest to the hunter. " There," 
 said Berger, pointing to a wood on our right halfway 
 down the hill-side, — " there, two years ago, was a stag of 
 sixteen. Such a stag ! his antlers were splendid ; and 
 what a size he was !" 
 
 " And who shot him ?" I asked. 
 
 " That I don't know. The foresters saw him often, 
 and could have shot him many a morning had they liked ; 
 but Count A. had given strict orders to forbid them, and 
 at last he was seen no more. He disappeared suddenly, 
 — most likely the poachers got him. It was such a hart 
 as will not often be seen again." 
 
 And some distance further on : — " Up yonder to the 
 left, quite at the top of the mountain, I one day shot 
 three chamois." 
 
 " How did you manage that ?" 
 
 " Why, first I shot two, right and left ; and then, know- 
 ing where the others would cross the mountain, I ran 
 
 * Of the church of Our Lady in Munich. 
 
54 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 forward to meet them, and sure enough they came as I 
 expected, and just as I was re-loading too. I was ready 
 with one barrel, and shot a third. Had I thought of my 
 pistol I might have brought down a fourth, for one stood 
 not twenty paces from me." 
 
 " What I" I asked, " do you carry a pistol with 
 you V 
 
 " Yes, always," he replied, drawing a double-bar- 
 relled revolver (with four barrels) out of his pocket: "one 
 must always be prepared for whatever may happen ; 
 and with that, if I only have a place to lean against, I 
 should not mind one or two." 
 
 " But do the poachers attack you if you do not begin 
 with them f" 
 
 " Their hearts are set on the Jagers' guns : their own 
 are not good for much, and they know that ours are, and 
 they would rather get one of them than almost anything. 
 And they'd give us a good thrashing too, if they could," 
 he added, laughing ; " and you know to be half-beaten 
 to death is not so very agreeable. Besides, if you meet 
 with such fellows in a hut, where everything is so close 
 together, and there is little room to move, you cannot 
 do much with a rifle, it 's too long — in close quarters like 
 that a pistol may do good service." 
 
 " But how did you bring down your three cha- 
 mois ?" 
 
 " One I put in my rucksack, and the other two, as 
 there was snow on the ground, I dragged down. On the 
 Wendelstein once I shot a chamois, and afterwards a roe- 
 buck. The chamois I put in the sack, and the buck across 
 it over my shoulders. One can carry almost anything so, 
 and capitally too." 
 
 We now came to the broad path or mountain way that 
 leads up the Miesing, made to enable the woodcutters to 
 
UP THE MIESING. 55 
 
 bring down the wood in winter, as well as for the cattle 
 which in the summer months are driven up to the high 
 pasturages. Beside us, on our left, a clear stream was 
 falling over the blocks of stone that had tumbled into its 
 channel, and beyond it rose a wall of rock, well-nigh 
 perpendicular, eight hundred feet or more. This was 
 the Gems Wand, a famous place in other days ere the 
 new laws had been put in force, and where, on ledges so 
 narrow that it seemed a bird only might cling there for 
 some moments, the chamois were always to be seen, stand- 
 ing at gaze or stepping carelessly along. But now the 
 rock was indeed desolate. Over the face of this high 
 wall of stone were scattered the friendly latschen, with 
 here and there a pine that had been able to twist its root 
 into some gaping crevice. It was as nearly perpendicu- 
 lar as might be, and, except that the strata of rock 
 formed projecting ridges, there was hardly a footing to be 
 obtained. However, if there are latschen one may climb 
 almost anywhere. We stopped occasionally to look 
 across with our glasses and scan its rocky face, in order 
 to see if perchance a solitary buck were loitering there 
 alone. But not a thing, animate or inanimate, was stir- 
 ring. As I looked up at the precipice I observed to 
 Berger, " To get along there would be no easy matter — 
 eh ? What think you, could you manage it?" 
 
 " I went along there some time ago, when out with 
 Mr. * * * m jj e wounded a chamois, and it climbed 
 upwards along the wall. It was difficult work, for 
 there was nothing to hold on by ; and what grass I found 
 was not firm, and gave way in my grasp. Once I was 
 rather uncomfortable, for while hanging to the rock 
 with both arms raised my rifle swung forward over my 
 arm." 
 
 " Ay, that is a horrid situation ; let go your hold 
 
56 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 you dare not ; and how to get the rifle back again one 
 does not know either. When it swings down and knocks 
 against the rock, it almost makes one lose all balance. 
 The rifle is sadly in the way in such difficult places. 
 Without it—" 
 
 " Oh, without it," said Berger, interrupting me, " one 
 could go any and everywhere. Without it I could climb 
 through the world. The rifle makes an immense differ- 
 ence. But, as I was saying, at last I got up and reached 
 the chamois. The coming down was the worst part. 
 However, I took another way than in going up. I pulled 
 off my shoes, for you can then feel your ground better, 
 and take hold of every little projection with your toes." 
 
 ' ' But that must have hurt you terribly ?" 
 
 "No; I was then accustomed to go barefoot, and 
 would formerly much rather have climbed so than with 
 thick nailed shoes on. Once before I came down yonder 
 wall from over the ridge : it was ugly work, I can tell 
 you. We drove the game that day, and I had to go 
 over the top and roll down stones to make the chamois 
 cross to the other side." 
 
 We had now wound upwards for about an hour, when 
 we left the path and turned off to our right among some 
 latschen and huge blocks of stone. We had not gone 
 many yards when Berger dropped to the earth, as 
 though a shot had passed through his heart. He raised 
 his finger to indicate silence, his eyes were opened wide 
 with expectation, and his lips drawn apart as if utter- 
 ing a " Hush !" though not a breath passed over them. 
 We cowered behind the stones, and he whispered, 
 " There are chamois !" We crept on a little further ; 
 the end of my pole shod with iron touched a stone 
 and made the metal slightly ring. Berger turned round 
 with a reproving look, and made me a sign to exchange 
 
UP THE MIESING. 57 
 
 mine for his, which was not shod. We advanced and 
 lay behind a bush, and drew out our glasses. Five 
 chamois were there, grazing on the slope, skirted by a 
 wood. Berger's whole frame was alive with expectation; 
 his face wore quite a different expression to what it 
 had before ; his eyes seemed larger, his body more 
 supple, his powers of motion other than in everyday life 
 — the whole creature was changed. "Now then," he 
 said, "come along, quick und schon stad /" (quickly 
 and nicely quiet.) We moved on, but a breath of air 
 stirred, and they must have got wind of us, for they 
 began to move towards the wood, and soon disappeared 
 within it. There was now nothing to be done but to go 
 round and get above them, for it was late, and the cur- 
 rent of air had already set in from below. Just as we 
 had reached the top I heard a slight rustle, and stopped 
 to listen ; when in an instant there was a rushing down 
 the steep and over the broken ground as of an animal 
 in full flight. By the step I was sure it was deer 
 (hinds), and said so to Berger. "They were not cha- 
 mois — they made too much noise ; nor was it the rush 
 of a stag. It must have been a hind." 
 
 " You are right," he cried ; " there they go ! I see 
 them down below — two hinds — they heard us moving 
 along above them." 
 
 " Do you think they will take the chamois along with 
 them ?" 
 
 " No, I think not. We shall most likely meet them 
 further on ; if not, we will sit and watch for them." 
 
 This is one of the great difficulties of stalking in the 
 mountains, — to do so almost unheard. Fragments of 
 stone are lying about, latschen with their long trailing 
 branches and dense foliage, or steep beds of Geroll, cross 
 your path, which the lightest step will set in motion, and 
 
58 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 yet you must advance quickly, and pick your way quite 
 noiselessly* I always found the exertion and attention 
 this required fatigued me more than climbing for a longer 
 time when such caution was unnecessary. 
 
 As nothing more* was to be seen of the five chamois 
 we had met with on the Steinberg, we sat down and 
 peered into the vast hollow that lay before us. Rising 
 upwards to our left was barren rock, sharp and broken, 
 grey, bare, and weather-beaten : it looked hoary with 
 age. 
 
 Where the rocks ceased to be perpendicular the geroll 
 began, and continued far downwards, till here and there 
 latschen began to show themselves. We sat in silence, 
 examining with strained eyes every inch of ground, and 
 looking down among the stunted bushes, and upwards 
 among the crags, in hopes of seeing a chamois that 
 might be lured forth by the cheering sun. From time 
 to time, as one of us fancied that some spot at a distance 
 looked like the object of his search, suddenly out flew 
 the glass, and the other, full of hope and expectation, 
 with eyes turned from the mountain-side to his com- 
 rade's face, would watch his- countenance as he looked 
 through the telescope, to learn, before he spoke, if a 
 chamois were there or not. He needed not to say, " ; Tis 
 nothing!" — the other saw this at once, by his expression. 
 But when the glass remained up to the eye some seconds 
 longer than usual, and the Jager, as he still looked, said, 
 "'Tis chamois ! there are three together \" how exciting 
 was the expectation. The glass of each would then in- 
 
 * Geroll. Loose rolling stones on the side of a mountain, like the lava 
 on the sides of a volcano. At every step the whole mass gives way 
 beneath your tread, and slides downwards, carrying you with it. The 
 difficulty therefore in crossing such Geroll without noise may be con- 
 ceived. 
 
UP THE MIESING. 59 
 
 stantly be turned in the same direction, to find the spot 
 on which the hopes of both were now centred. (t I have 
 them ! One is at rest ; the one to the right is a year- 
 ling, I think. Now it's among the latschen; — now — 
 now he has come forward again. What high horns that 
 other one has ! " 
 
 Such are the remarks to be heard on these occasions, 
 made in a subdued voice, uttered quickly, and broken 
 into short sentences — mere ejaculations called forth by 
 the stir of the emotion, by the feelings of the moment, 
 and leaving no time for them to be fashioned into a con- 
 nected form. But neither of us heard from the other 
 such pleasant tidings ; and after having eaten a slice of 
 brown bread and a morsel of goat's-milk cheese, we slung 
 our rifles over our shoulders, and each taking his staff 
 went down the mountain. 
 
 We looked around on all sides, but not a chamois was 
 to be seen. Before us rose the Both Wand, now (Oc- 
 tober 10th) covered with snow; on a verdant patch of 
 pasture-land where we stood was a solitary hut, long de- 
 serted ; and on the mountain-side, to our right, it seemed 
 as if some fiend had dug his nails into the ground, and 
 torn away from top to bottom all the earth that he could 
 clutch. Right through the green latschen came a long, 
 broad strip of loose stones, some hundred feet in width. 
 
 On going along at the foot of this geroll, Berger 
 suddenly stopped; and dropping behind a large block of 
 stone, whispered, " There's a chamois ! " High up amongst 
 the debris a black spot was visible, and this was the cha- 
 mois. W^e saw by our glasses that it was a yearling buck, 
 and for a time watched him at our ease, as we lay on 
 the ground protected by the fragment of fallen rock. It 
 stood at gaze for a moment. 
 
 " Does it see us ?" I asked ; " does it look this way ?" 
 
60 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 "No," said Berger; "but the thing is, how to get 
 near it. Up the stones we can't go — it will make too 
 much noise ; and if we cross over the crest of the moun- 
 tain, and so walk down towards him, it will be too far 
 to fire. If we could only get up through the latschen ! 
 but I fear it is impossible, he would be sure to see us. 
 However, let us try : be still, very still." 
 
 We were just on the point of making the attempt, 
 when, on looking round to scan the sides of the Roth 
 Wand, I saw a chamois about five hundred feet below 
 the summit, on a green spot quite free from snow, and 
 at the foot of a wall of rock. " Hist, Berger ! there are 
 chamois !" 
 "Where?" 
 
 " Look up yonder ; don't you see them?" 
 "No." 
 
 " Look, don't you see a black spot, right across to the 
 right of the geroll, and the snow. Now it moves ! There 
 is another ! — one, two, three !" 
 
 " I see them now! Confound it, they see us ! Let 
 us move on — don't stop to look ; keep away from them, 
 up to the right." And up we went, keeping in a con- 
 trary direction, and then stopped among some large loose 
 stones. 
 
 " Look, Berger! now you can see them well ; they are 
 crossing the snow, but not quickly. W T hat ! don't you 
 see them ? Why now they are moving round the wall 
 of a rock that goes down quite perpendicularly; yet now 
 I see but two, — where can the third be ?" 
 
 " Now I see them. Give me your glass : make haste 
 and reach those latschen yonder; when once among 
 them, all's right. I'll lie here and watch them, and 
 come after you directly. But for heaven's sake get up 
 the geroll quietly, for if a stone move they'll surely hear 
 
UP THE MIESING. 61 
 
 it, though so far off; and be quick, and get among the 
 latschen." Giving him my telescope, which was much 
 the better one, I moved on over the slanting mass of 
 loose stones. 
 
 With body bent as low as possible I tried to creep 
 noiselessly upwards. I dared not use my pole to steady 
 myself, for the weight would have forced it among the 
 loose rubble, and made as much or more noise than my 
 footsteps occasioned. Taking it in my left hand, on 
 which side also my rifle was slung, I steadied myself with 
 the right, and so at last reached some larger fragments 
 of stone, which were firmer to the tread, and over which 
 I could consequently get along more rapidly. The shel- 
 tering latschen were at length gained, and I flung my- 
 self down behind them, quite out of breath with excite- 
 ment and from moving thus doubled up together. 
 
 In this safe haven Berger soon joined me. " They 
 are at rest," he said. " Now alPs right ! we have them 
 now ! But how shall we get across ?" he asked, as he 
 looked round to reconnoitre our position. " Yonder 
 they'll see us ; we must pass over the ridge above, and 
 go round and see if there is a way." 
 
 This we did, and once on the other side, kept just 
 sufficiently low down to prevent our heads being seen 
 above the sky-line. But after advancing some hundred 
 yards, we came to a spot where the ridge swept suddenly 
 downwards, forming a gap between us and the chamois. 
 To proceed without being seen was impossible. On our 
 right it was rather steep, but we were obliged to descend 
 a good way, and then the same distance up again further 
 on, in order to reach the Roth Wand unobserved. 
 
 " Here we are at last ! Are they still at rest, Berger ? 
 just look across through the branches of yonder latschen 
 above you." 
 
62 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Yes, they are still there ! Now then, we must get 
 to the pinnacle right over our heads, and then along the 
 ridge, and so have a shot at them from above." 
 
 The shoulder of the mountain where we stood was 
 steep enough certainly, but it still presented sufficient in- 
 equalities to enable us to clamber up it. Elsewhere, 
 except on this projecting buttress-like shoulder, the 
 declivity was so steep as to be not many degrees from 
 the perpendicular. I proposed therefore that we should 
 choose this less steep ridge to reach the broken rocks above 
 us, on whose jagged forms we might obtain a firm hold, 
 and so creep upwards to the very crest of the mountain. 
 " Oh no," answered Berger ; " we dare not venture 
 that : they would be sure to see us, for we should be quite 
 unsheltered, and our bodies being thrown against the 
 sky would be distinctly visible. No, we must try yonder 
 — up that lahne,"* pointing to the steep declivity before 
 us, to see the summit of which it was necessary to fling 
 the head quite backwards. I confess it was not with the 
 pleasantest feelings that I saw what we had undertaken ; 
 for the slope was covered with snow, making the ascent 
 doubly difficult, and upwards of two thousand feet below 
 was a huge rocky chasm, into which I could look and 
 calculate where I might at last stop, if my foot slipped 
 and I happened to go sliding down. Where the lahne 
 ended beds of loose stones began ; and, as if to remind 
 
 * Lahnen are smooth, steep declivities covered with long grass. In 
 the summer, when this rank herbage has been dried by the sun and air, 
 it is so slippery that a firm footing is almost impossible ; and in winter 
 such an ascent is not made more practicable by its covering of snow. 
 When slipping on such a lahne you shoot downwards as on one of those 
 artificial mountains or slides which form a favourite amusement in 
 Russia. They not unfrequently rise above a precipice ; a false step here, 
 therefore, and a miracle only can save you from going over into the 
 abyss. 
 
UP THE MIESING. 63 
 
 one of their instability, and how hopeless it would be to 
 think of holding fast even for a moment on their moving 
 surface, there rose from minute to minute a low, dull 
 sound, made by some rolling stone, which, set in motion 
 by its own weight, went pattering downwards into the 
 melancholy hollow. 
 
 However, to stand looking upwards at the steep 
 snowy surface of the mountain, or gazing at the depth 
 below, was not the way to get a shot at the chamois ; 
 so giving my rifle a jerk to send it well up behind my 
 back, and leave the left arm free, I began to mount, 
 keeping in an oblique direction in order to lessen the 
 steepness of the ascent. Berger was before me, some- 
 times on his hands and knees, sometimes on his feet, 
 and looking every now and then anxiously behind to 
 see what progress I made. Neither of us got on very 
 fast, for a firm footing was impossible. If you slipped, 
 down you came on your face, with both feet nowhere, 
 and the rifle swinging over the left arm into the snow, 
 most inconveniently. Once, when I was quite unable 
 to plant either foot firmly, Berger, who was just above 
 me, and had, as it seemed, a safe spot on which to 
 stand, was obliged to let down his long pole that I 
 might hold on by it, and, with his heels well dug into 
 the ground, gave me a helping pull. We had mounted 
 halfway when suddenly both my feet lost their hold on 
 the snow, and somehow or other down I went over the 
 steep declivity on my back, like an arrow sent from a 
 strongly-drawn bow. It was disagreeable, for I knew 
 how difficult it is to stop when once gliding at full speed 
 down a lahne; and all my endeavours to do so, with 
 help of my heels or my hands, were ineffectual. But I 
 remembered the advice my friend Kobell had once given 
 me : " Should you ever be unlucky enough to slip when 
 
64 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 upon alahne, turn round so as to get on your stomach as 
 quickly as possible, or else you are lost." While shoot- 
 ing downwards therefore I turned, and grasping my 
 stick, which was well shod with an iron point, I dashed 
 it with all my force into the ground. It stuck fast ; I 
 held on by it, and was stopped in my career. While 
 gliding down, my eyes were turned upwards to Berger. 
 I saw fright expressed on his countenance: our eyes 
 met, but neither uttered a word. Only when I had 
 arrested my further progress, and was cautiously pre- 
 paring to find a sure footing, he called out, "It was 
 lucky you were able to stop ; for heaven's sake be care- 
 ful, it is dreadfully slippery." At last, by making a 
 zigzag line, we reached the top of the lahne. Here 
 were rocks by which we could hold, and getting amongst 
 them came to a perpendicular wall about seven feet 
 high. Its face was as straight as a plummet-line, but 
 it was rough, so that some crevices were to be found 
 which might serve as steps in passing over it. At its 
 base was a small ledge, on which one person could 
 stand, holding on with his own face and the face of the 
 rock close against each other, and behind, below, was — 
 what was not quite pleasant to think of. Berger got 
 over first, having previously with one hand laid his rifle 
 and pole on a ledge of rock above him to have both 
 hands free. Handing up my rifle to him, I followed ; 
 and though the place seemed rather formidable, in 
 reality it was easy enough to climb. As I stood on the 
 ledge face to face with the perpendicular rock, I debated 
 within myself whether I should look behind me or not. 
 I knew that below and behind was nothing but air, and 
 I decided on proceeding without turning round ; so I 
 searched for the most favourable crack or roughness in 
 the rock to make a first step, which moment of delay 
 
UP THE MIESING. 65 
 
 Berger attributed to indecision and to fear ■ and stretch- 
 ing out his hand to me, he cried roughly, " Come, what 
 are you thinking of? give me your hand, — that 's right. 
 Now then ! " He was wrong in his supposition, for I 
 was neither undecided nor afraid, but he feared that if 
 I grew alarmed I might let go my hold ; and as the 
 moment was critical he thought to rouse and re-assure 
 me by his manner, and by holding my hand firmly in 
 his grasp. " Patience, Berger ! patience ! I shall be up 
 in a second ; I only want to find a place for my foot ; 
 don't think I am giddy. There, now I am up." And 
 then one of us, lying down at full length, reached with 
 one arm over the ledge of rock, to the spot below where 
 the rifles and poles were lying. 
 
 With bended bodies we now stole along the crest of 
 the mountain as noiselessly as possible, for the chamois 
 were below us on our left, just over the ridge. We 
 presently looked over. I could not see them, on account 
 of a projecting rock, but Berger whispered, " There they 
 are ! Quick ! they are moving." Still as we were, 
 they must have heard us coming upon them, and, sus- 
 pecting danger, were already in motion. But they had 
 not yet whistled. By " craning" over, as a fox-hunter 
 would say, I just obtained a glimpse of one far below 
 me on a small green spot, and standing at gaze. To 
 fire in this position however was impossible. Berger, 
 all impatience and fearing they would escape, was in a 
 fever of anxiety. " Look here ! can you see them 
 now?" as with the left foot planted on an advancing 
 crag not larger than the palm of my hand, I stood as it 
 were in the air, immediately above the spot where the 
 chamois were.* A crack from my rifle was the answer. 
 
 * While firing at a chamois under exactly the same circumstances, a 
 terrible accident happened to a Swiss chamois hunter, Ulrich Zurfluh, 
 
 F 
 
66 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 To aim nearly straight downwards is always more diffi- 
 cult than in any other direction, and standing as I did 
 made it much more so ; but still I thought I had hit 
 him. 
 
 " He remains behind," cried Berger ; " you have hit 
 him ! Well done ! ' Faith, that was a good shot — a 
 hundred and thirty yards at least. Quick, quick ! we 
 may get a shot at the others as they go over yonder 
 rocks;" and darting up the ridge before him, he ran 
 on along the edge of the precipice as if it had been a 
 broad highway. At another time, without a rifle in my 
 hand, I should have followed him with caution ; but the 
 excitement of the hunter was upon me, impelling me 
 to undertake anything, and I sprang after him, and on 
 along the edge, driven forwards by a longing and a 
 thirst and craving which made everything seem possible. 
 
 " There they are ! they're crossing that patch of snow. 
 
 in August, 1855. He was out with his son, following a buck along the 
 north side of the Engelhorner, when at last, by craning over the brink 
 of the precipice, he was just able to get sight of the game. To obtain 
 a fuller view he, like myself, rested one foot on a small projection of 
 rock, when, at the very moment he was about to fire, the stone crumbled 
 away beneath his tread, and over he went into the abyss. What is most 
 remarkable is that his son, as yet a boy, seems from that moment to have 
 been unconscious of what he did. All he knows is, that he soon after 
 found himself beside his dead father's body, holding his shattered head 
 and kissing his face. Afterwards he went to his uncle in Eosenlaui to 
 bring him the sad intelligence. It was too late that day to go for the 
 body, but on the morrow four of the most experienced and agile moun- 
 taineers proceeded to the spot with ropes, etc., to help them in getting 
 down to the chasm. The difficulties were so great, however, that one of 
 the men would go no further, but gave up the task. At last, and after 
 incredible risks, they reached tbe corpse, and brought it to Rosenlaui. 
 
 And yet the boy, in the excitement of anguish, and blind to the sur- 
 rounding obstacles, without help surmounted them all ; and in the total 
 unconsciousness of danger, passed safely tlirough the most fearful perils. 
 It is a psychological mystery. 
 
I 
 
 v'> -. 
 
 Comp vThHorsclielt 
 
 Geclx.!) Jul. Adam :n Munch en 
 
 Getting a shot. 
 
 r Hohe 
 
UP THE MIESING. 67 
 
 Now they 're stopping again — but too far off; let us go 
 back and look after the wounded one." 
 
 The wounded chamois was standing some distance 
 further down than when I had fired. It was evident by 
 his look that he was very ill — sehr krank, to translate 
 literally the German expression made use of in like cir- 
 cumstances. Stretched out at full length upon the 
 rocks, we looked over the edge, and examined him with 
 our glasses. We saw distinctly where the ball had 
 struck him, — rather high up behind the shoulder. He 
 presently moved off, crossed the snow, and getting 
 among the latschen, after turning round four or five 
 times, lay down. " All 's right now ; we must let him 
 rest for an hour. Let me see ; it is half-past two exactly. 
 We '11 try then to come nearer to him. But where can 
 we get down V said Berger ; " here it is impossible." 
 
 " A little further on, I think, we may manage it ; 
 some latschen are there, and they will help us. But let 
 us stop a little ; there is no hurry, and if we wait some 
 time, it will be all the better." 
 
 I now looked around me. The scene was magnificent. 
 The spot on which I stood was near six thousand feet 
 high j and to the south the view was bounded by ranges 
 of mountains covered with snow, whose peaks rose up 
 one behind the other in every variety of abruptness. 
 Over the vast fields of snow fell here and there a broad 
 shadow, and the brilliant whiteness of the peaks facing 
 us formed a strong contrast with the darker sides that 
 looked towards the east. With my glass every snow- 
 drift was distinctly visible, and terrific places amongst 
 those awful solitudes where no living creature had ever 
 moved. Stretching far out to our left they formed an 
 amphitheatre before us ; and behind, all distant view 
 being shut out by the Miesing, was the valley between 
 
68 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the mountains, where, just visible among the rocks, the 
 deep blue of the Soen Lake showed how clear the air 
 was, and how bright the sky. Opposite this lake the 
 sides of the Miesing were covered with the dark green of 
 the latschen ; but nearer to where we stood all was deso- 
 lation : — against the sky the barren and blasted rock, 
 and thence to its foot a bed of loose rolling stones, cold 
 and monotonous in hue. But it was towards the dis- 
 tant mountains that I turned and gazed, and yet never 
 could see enough. And then again I looked at them 
 through my glass, and peered into their dark places, and 
 at their bold projections, and at their very highest pin- 
 nacles, as though I might at last be enabled to unravel 
 the mystery — to discover something that might clear the 
 doubts, and so remove the strange awe that hung over 
 and around them. And still I looked, and watched, and 
 pondered, and the spell that bound my gaze grew stronger, 
 and I could not turn away. For me mountains have a 
 fascination ; and in their presence I sit down, and with 
 fixed look scan their unexplored summits, not in won- 
 der, but with an overwhelming sense of awe at the frozen 
 stillness of their deserts, so far beyond the sphere of all 
 human sympathy, — where all life has ceased, and where 
 nothing ever moves, save the storm and the avalanche. 
 It is not a region of death, for death speaks to us of 
 change ; but it is one of numbness and rigidity, — of life 
 that, once warm, has become still and stark. It pro- 
 duces an effect as different from ordinary death as the 
 sight of the motionless soldier on the plains of Russia, 
 still standing upright and looking as though yet alive, 
 differs from that feeling awakened by death in any other 
 form. He with the scythe and the hour-glass kills, — 
 he destroys life and turns it into death ; but that power 
 which sits on the frozen mountain-tops seizes on warm 
 
UP THE MIESING. OV/ 
 
 life and enlocks it in a glaze which chills vitality, while 
 the semblance of life remains. It is not of death these 
 icy solitudes remind you, but of benumbed life. 
 
 Berger came and roused me from my musing. He 
 took my telescope, and looked at the plains of snow on 
 the distant mountains. He too felt all the magnificence 
 of the scene, and gazed around him with delight. Then 
 awoke in him the longing to climb some vast mountain, 
 where difficulties were to be overcome such as men who 
 had once encountered them like not to think of, and 
 who, while they relate, feel a shuddering and a fear. « I 
 never was on such a one," he said, " but I should like 
 to venture. If only once I could see such places \" And 
 I told him of the Ortler Spitz, deemed inaccessible until 
 a few years ago, when an old chamois hunter found a 
 way to its icy summit; and how a short time afterwards 
 he went up again with his son*that he too might find the 
 path when the father was gone, and that thus the know- 
 ledge might not die with the old hunter ; and how the 
 son, a youth of eighteen, had said there were places to be 
 passed that made his flesh creep as he hung over them ; 
 and how he vowed at the time, as he stood amid the 
 frightful chasms and walls of ice, while his heart almost 
 ceased to beat for very horror, that if God should let 
 him reach the green valleys alive, no power on earth 
 should ever make him attempt the dreadful way again. 
 And as I related, Berger stood before me with lips apart, 
 and his very eyes were listening, as he heard of those 
 unvisited regions which had for him such a mighty 
 charm, and inspired so inscrutable a longing. 
 
 But it was time to look after our chamois. We went 
 lor ward to the place I had indicated as being the one 
 where we might best descend from the summit of the 
 mountain. The spot was steep enough, but there were 
 
70 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 latschen growing about, and wherever they are found 
 anything may be undertaken. 
 
 " Let us mark the place well where he is lying," said 
 Berger, "otherwise we shall not find him when once 
 down below; as we have no dog we must be careful 
 what we are about. Let me see ! he is just below yon- 
 der high piece of rock with the tall latschen." 
 
 " Look, Berger," I said ; " from the top of the Roth 
 Wand a line of rough-pointed rocks stretches down- 
 wards to the valley." 
 
 "Well, I see them." 
 
 "They form two ridges beneath each other. Now, 
 over the second ridge the chamois is at rest. If we mark 
 those high ridges well, we cannot be at fault." 
 
 And observing attentively the form of the rock where 
 we now stood, in order that it might afterwards serve as 
 a landmark, we prepared to descend. Berger went first 
 over the bed of geroll. He stopped a moment, and 
 said, " Now give me your rifle ; you '11 get on then much 
 more easily." He slung it over his shoulder with his 
 own, when suddenly his foot slipped, and down he went, 
 sliding on his back over the loose stones ; and, though 
 he turned himself round immediately, was quite unable 
 to arrest his progress. At the foot of the bed of stones 
 there was fortunately no precipice, or over it he would 
 most certainly have gone. 
 
 " Are you hurt, Berger ?" I added, when at last he 
 stopped. 
 
 " No," he answered laughing. " But what a noise it 
 made ! how the stones came rattling down ! Now then, 
 carefully ! Stop ! Rest one foot against my pole ; it is 
 planted firmly, and will bear your weight !" 
 
 " Quick, Berger ! quick ! take care ;" and at the 
 same moment down came a great stone that had been 
 
UP THE MIESING. 71 
 
 loosened, and dashed by close to his shin. But he 
 moved his foot, and it passed without striking him. We 
 had proceeded some distance, and the question now was, 
 " Where is the chamois V The rocky ridge was close 
 to our right hand, but every feature looked different 
 when seen from below to what it had done before. 
 
 " He must be on the other side, just over that rock." 
 
 " No, he is certainly lower down," I answered. "Look! 
 we are still comparatively near the summit of the moun- 
 tain ; and if you remember, from thence it seemed some 
 distance to where he was at rest ; from yonder ridge how- 
 ever we should certainly catch sight of him." Having 
 clambered thither, Berger suddenly exclaimed, " Hist ! 
 there he is ! It is far, but still within range : take your 
 time !" The report of my rifle thundered among the 
 rocks, and again and again it reverberated, till at last, 
 like thunder heard afar still faintly rolling, it gradually 
 died away. 
 
 " You have missed him \" 
 
 " I don't think so. I had him capitally, and the rifle 
 went off just as I could wish ; I was as steady too as 
 possible." 
 
 "It may be; but you see, he is moving away," said 
 Berger gloomily. 
 
 " I see he is going : but he moves quite differently now. 
 Look, he staggers ; his step is uncertain, is it not ?" 
 
 " He is off nevertheless." 
 
 " Well, I '11 go to the spot where he was standing, and 
 then we shall soon see whether I have missed or not." 
 
 There w r e found hair strewn about, and a pool of fresh 
 blood. At the sight of it Berger' s face cleared up, and 
 with light hearts we followed the slot of the wounded 
 animal. The snow was dyed red where he had passed, 
 and the herbage was wet and crimsoned on both sides of 
 his path. 
 
72 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " He cannot be far of, Berger," I said ; " look at the 
 blood. That 's the right colour — deep red ! Here he 
 stopped for a moment ; but how strange that with two 
 such shots he should still climb that rock [" 
 
 Mounting over a block of stone, Berger looked down 
 among the rocks, and presently cried out, " There he 
 lies !" I soon joined him, and looked at the spot where 
 he had made his last effort and had given his dying leap. 
 We slid down and stood before our chamois. My first 
 ball had gone right through the body in an oblique direc- 
 tion downwards; the second too was w r ell lodged. We 
 laid our rifles aside, and Berger, taking out his hunting- 
 knife, prepared to gralloch the chamois. It was a doe, 
 that had no kid. I looked around while Berger was 
 busied with his work, to see the wild spot whither the 
 chamois had led us. It was a narrow chasm among the 
 rocks ; behind us the high, grey, weather-beaten walls 
 rising perpendicularly, and below a slope of barren stones 
 of all forms and sizes flung together indiscriminately. 
 
 The chamois cleaned, I opened my rucksack, and lay- 
 ing it on the ground, put our chamois into it — all four 
 feet together, and the head hanging out of the opening 
 in the middle. Then, staff in hand, we went down over 
 that wild sea of stones. Though such a chamois as I had 
 shot that day might not weigh more than 401b., it is still 
 an impediment to one's free movements where the road 
 to be traversed is uneven or difficult : such a dead weight 
 settles down and hangs against your back more heavily 
 than would be imagined. But when once the road was 
 gained that led to the valley, we tripped along with foot- 
 steps as light even as our hearts were, and beguiled the 
 downward path with recounting the thousand episodes of 
 our epic of that day. It began to be dark as we reached 
 the meadows in the vale ; but that mattered little, for 
 
UP THE MIESING. 73 
 
 we had intended not to return to Fischbachau the same 
 evening, but to stop at the village of Baierisch Zell, at 
 the foot of the mountains, and ask a night's shelter and 
 hospitality of the Solachers — a family well known to 
 all who in those parts had ever watched for the stag in 
 the forest, or climbed up the mountain- sides after the 
 chamois. 
 
 A light was shining from out the cottage window ; we 
 crossed the trout-stream that flowed before the garden, 
 and, passing the little wicket, were at once at the door 
 of the old hunter's dwelling. We laid the chamois upon 
 the stones, and lifting the latch went in, and were met 
 with hearty and friendly welcomings. 
 
74 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 AETEK THE CHASE. THE SOLACHERS. 
 
 To every one who has followed the chamois or the red- 
 deer in the Highlands of Bavaria, the name of Solacher 
 is a familiar word. And though he may not have car- 
 ried a rifle in those parts, yet if he be a lover of the 
 chase, that name will still have reached his ears, and be 
 known to him in connection with many a story of adven- 
 turous climbing, of desperate encounter with poachers, 
 and of trophies borne off from the shooting-matches at 
 Munich or the village festivals. If, when sitting round 
 the table of the little inn of an evening, you hear some 
 old fellow telling when the last bear was seen in the 
 mountains, and whence he came, and how great the ex- 
 citement when the news ran of his arrival, you may be 
 sure it was a Solacher who was first in the pursuit, and 
 that, whether they killed the monster or not, to one of 
 that name the honour of the day was due. 
 
 Each and all of them have been " hunters of the hills," 
 shunning the plain, and any other occupation save that 
 hard one which they have always followed — father, son, 
 grandchildren, and uncles. The name of Solacher to the 
 hunter of the chamois in Bavaria is like that of Napier 
 with us in England, — it carries with it reputation : we at 
 once expect to hear of pre-eminence in him who bears 
 
THE SOLACHERS. 75 
 
 it ; and we look as certainly for boldness of deed in a 
 Solacher as we do for boldness of thought, of action, or 
 of word, from one who is a Napier. A Solacher is an 
 authority in all matters of the chase in the mountains. 
 They have all been hunters from their youth upwards ; 
 from their first childhood they have heard exciting stories 
 of the chase, and have been fed with traditions of the 
 times before them. To follow the chamois is, with them, 
 rather an instinct than a passion ; the air of the moun- 
 tain-tops seems their proper element, and they have pre- 
 ferred that, and freedom of breathing and of limb, to all 
 beside where these were not to be obtained. 
 
 Max, with whom I became acquainted later, told me 
 how once a nobleman had proposed to take him into his 
 service, and made him very advantageous offers. And 
 on my asking if he had not been inclined to accept them, 
 he laughed at the thought, and said, " What ! quit the 
 mountains ! why I don't think I should be able to en- 
 dure it for a day. Had he offered me ten times as much 
 I should have refused. For my part, I can't imagine a 
 happier life than that of a forester j I know very well 
 that /would not change with anybody in the world V 
 And thus they are all ; the very maidens look upon a- 
 hunter's life as the most enviable lot that could fall to 
 the share of man ; and the daring climber, the skilful 
 stalker, and the unfailing shot, are sure of due apprecia- 
 tion at their hands. All such do they hold in high 
 honour. They speak of their brothers with genuine sis- 
 terly pride, and right pleasant it is to hear them. 
 
 At the same moment with ourselves these daughters 
 entered the room of the cottage. They had, it seems, 
 been to a neighbouring village wake, and had only just 
 returned. It was dark when we came in, but now a 
 light was brought ; and as I turned suddenly to look at 
 
76 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 her whose voice and friendly manner had already pre- 
 possessed me, I was struck by the beauty that was close 
 beside me, and bursting at once upon me through the 
 dispersing gloom. It took me by surprise, and she must 
 have been other than a woman not to have rightly inter- 
 preted my long astonished gaze. There was not even a 
 shade of coquetry about her; if there had been, she 
 would have kept on her becoming green hat a minute or 
 two longer; but she smiled on seeing the mischief she 
 had done, and with friendly words inquired where we 
 had been. 
 
 She was of commanding height, this fine-featured se- 
 cond sister, and the long dark-coloured cloth cloak made 
 her look still taller. It was simply drawn together at 
 the throat ; and, falling in natural folds closely over her 
 shoulders, gave dignity to the figure without preventing 
 you from discovering the outline of the womanly form. 
 On her head she wore the picturesque high-crowned green 
 hat peculiar to these valleys ; over the brim hung the 
 tassel of green and gold, and at the side were a bright 
 red rose and other artificial flowers. Her braided brown 
 hair showed itself beneath the broad brim of the hat ; 
 and as I afterwards looked at her finely-marked fea- 
 tures, and at the beautiful outline running from the tip 
 of the ear to the chin — which by the way is more sel- 
 dom seen in perfection than any other part of the face — 
 I could not help thinking that such a bonnie green hat 
 was, after all, the most becoming head-gear a girl could 
 wear. 
 
 But beside the full-blown flower was another; a full 
 bud just about to unfold and burst into opening loveli- 
 ness. It was the youngest sister — Marie. She hardly 
 ventured to raise her large dark eyes to the stranger, 
 and quickly left the room to lay aside her hat and cloak. 
 
THE SOLACHERS. 77 
 
 She returned however soon after; and never did I so 
 earnestly endeavour to inspire confidence as now, when 
 doing rny best to win trust in my good faith from this 
 sweet-mannered village maiden. It was difficult at first 
 to entice her into conversation; but later, when she saw 
 that the rough-looking creature before her was gentle in 
 his demeanour, and treated her with comely deference, 
 she would gradually lift her eyes as she smiled a reply ; 
 and eventually, though timidly at first, would let them 
 rest full and fearlessly on the stranger's countenance. 
 Yet later, when our supper came, and I begged them all 
 to sit at table and sup with us, I could not prevail on 
 this coy girl to eat with me, or drink out of my cup. 
 It was not fitting that she should do so, she answered; 
 yet when my companion made her the same offer, she 
 at once accepted it, and laughed and chatted with him 
 right merrily. If I could only have made her believe 
 that I too was an assistant forester; or, by my faith, 
 have really become one for that modest lassie's sake ! 
 Here is her picture : — 
 
 &fje Uertietet's ©augfjter of Batcrfsrfj EelL 
 
 We since dawn had been out stalking, 
 And returning now were talking 
 Of the chamois ; all in walking 
 
 Very slowly : — we did dally 
 
 On our way down to the valley, 
 The Vale of Baierisch Zell. 
 
 For 't is pleasant, homew r ard walking, 
 To beguile the way with talking 
 Over what you 've seen in stalking ; 
 
 And though we did sorely dally, 
 
 Still at last we reached the valley 
 Of peaceful Baierisch Zell. 
 
78 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 There may be palm-treed oases, 
 
 Well- deserving all their praises ; 
 
 But such pastures strewn with daisies, 
 Uplands musical with wellings, 
 You will find but round the dwellings 
 Of verdant Baierisch Zell. 
 
 Looking up, my comrade started, 
 Grazed and gazed, with lips still parted, 
 At a maiden who, light-hearted, 
 
 Singing, village-wards came wending, 
 Where the trout-stream makes a bending, 
 Not far from Baierisch Zell. 
 
 'Twas a piece of spotless nature, 
 Fresh of soul and fair of feature, — 
 A young, guileless, healthy creature, 
 
 Tripping on beside the water. 
 
 " Who is she ?" " The Verderer's daughter, 
 
 That lives in Baierisch Zell. 
 
 " We will at his cottage tarry, 
 
 And our chamois thither carry ; 
 
 You may then converse with Marie." 
 
 " What, you know her ?" " Since two summers 
 She is shy though of new-comers, 
 This maid of Baierisch Zell." 
 
 So we entered. — Within, neatly 
 All was ordered ; plain and meetly ; 
 She was there too, she who sweetly 
 
 Through the valley had been singing, 
 
 Till with echoes it was ringing ; 
 This vale of Baierisch Zell. 
 
 Brown her cheek, but fresh and glowing, 
 Health, and strength, and vigour showing, — 
 A wild flower of Nature's growing. 
 
 She was modest as a daisy, 
 
 Springing up beside the mazy 
 Brooklet of Baierisch Zell. 
 
THE SOLACHERS. 79 
 
 Some power with a spell did arm her 
 Stronger than of wisest charmer, 
 For nought evil dared to harm her. 
 
 And when near, you felt her winning 
 
 Presence kept you too from sinning ; 
 This flower of Baierisch Zell. 
 
 As round Bethlehem's humble manger, 
 Where the Mother, fled from danger, 
 Bent above her little stranger, 
 
 Beams of softened light did cluster ; 
 
 So round her was shed a lustre — 
 This maid of Baierisch Zell. 
 
 Purity, which was her dower, 
 Did this radiance o'er her shower, 
 Giving too a queenly power. 
 So like Una in the story, 
 On she stepped in maiden glory, 
 The pride of Baierisch Zell. 
 
 Sisters, brothers, — each would measure 
 By her his own pride and pleasure : — 
 She was their chief household treasure. 
 Done by her, each common duty 
 Seemed to win an air of beauty, 
 Like her own Baierisch Zell. 
 
 Hers a sense, an instinct nearly, 
 G-uiding rightly, surely, clearly : 
 Was it then a fancy merely, 
 
 If to them their sister Mary 
 Were the good and guardian fairy 
 Of happy Baierisch Zell ? 
 
 It is no poetic sally, 
 
 But she and her native valley 
 
 Did accord most musically. 
 
 Hers the voice belonging to it, 
 Trilling, as she wandered through it, 
 Some song of Baierisch Zell. 
 
80 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 Even as the merry thrush's 
 Note belongs to hawthorn-bushes, 
 Breezy whispers to green rushes, 
 
 Noisy bees to bloomy heather ; 
 
 So too did belong together 
 Tins maid and Baierisch Zell. 
 
 The eldest of the sisters was no beauty, but there was 
 an open honesty about her — indeed this they all had — 
 and she possessed a store of such genuine, healthy, sound 
 common sense, that I always liked to talk with her. 
 She was a famous knitter j and many of the peculiar 
 sort of stockings, richly ornamented, worn by the young 
 foresters both far and near, have been produced by her 
 skilful fingers. 
 
 The three sisters lived here together with an old aunt 
 — a Solacher, in whose withered features lines were still 
 to be seen which proved that, in bygone days, she might 
 have been counted among the fairest of the dale. She 
 was tall, and still walked erect ; she spoke little, and all 
 her household duties were done in stern silence. The 
 elder brother, the chief of the family, was not at. home : 
 he had gone to Munich to be present at the great 
 annual shooting-match, and was expected back on the 
 morrow. In former days, when game was abundant on 
 the hills, the gentlemen who came here to shoot would 
 take up their quarters in the dwelling of this worthy 
 
 family. Prince L was constantly here, and the 
 
 Princess too would accompany him : they enjoyed the 
 beautiful scenery around, and loved the simplicity and 
 kindly-proffered service of their peasant hostesses. Nor 
 do I wonder they so liked them, for gentle-mannered 
 they are all. 
 
 The cottage is their own, and the pasturage around it, 
 as well as the trout-stream that runs beside the garden. 
 
THE SOLACHERS. 81 
 
 The building is low, having only one story and the 
 ground-floor ; but it is roomy, and, like all houses built 
 of wood, extremely warm. It had been bought and 
 given to them by a few of the gentlemen who used to 
 stay here, in proof of their regard for the worthy old 
 forester, and as a means of rendering a lasting service to 
 his family. They spoke of the circumstance with evident 
 satisfaction, and perfect freedom from all false shame; 
 on the contrary, they rightly looked on the gift as an 
 honourable token how much their father had been re- 
 spected. The beams and wainscot of the room where 
 we sat were dark with age ; the usual bench ran round 
 the sides, as well as round the stove, which occupied a 
 large space ; and in one corner was a small square table 
 where we sat and supped. 
 
 When I went out into the kitchen, I found Berger 
 busily occupied with Nanny, the second sister, in pre- 
 paring our meal. As usual he was full of fun ; and 
 while making the dumplings, or boiling the potatoes, he 
 was joking with his pretty helpmate, and laughing so 
 heartily that it was quite a pleasure to hear him. We 
 cooked the liver of our chamois, roasted a piece of veni- 
 son that was luckily in the house, and with our dump- 
 lings and potatoes served up a right famous supper. 
 And how we enjoyed it ! If anything were wanted 
 besides my wolfish appetite to give it a zest, this was 
 furnished by Berger's fun and merriment. How he 
 contrived to satisfy his hunger as he did, and yet to talk 
 so much, was to me a mystery. Now he would play 
 Marie some trick, who would give him a gentle pat as 
 a punishment, while her laughing mouth — laughing in 
 spite of herself — would threaten a severer penalty ; then 
 Lisl, the elder one, would be tried with some satirical 
 question, but she was clever enough to turn the intended 
 
 G 
 
82 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 joke against the questioner, and cause a hearty laugh at 
 his discomfiture. Now would come a sly innuendo 
 about a lover, or a tale told me with the utmost gravity 
 of how Nanny had promised she would marry him, and 
 how he had refused — for which unparalleled effrontery 
 he was of course duly made to suffer. But nothing 
 could stop his good humour and his flow of spirits ; on 
 he went in the fullest joyousness, and seldom, I think, 
 have heartier peals of merriment resounded in the cot- 
 tage than on that pleasant evening. 
 
 Hardly was supper over when Berger took down a 
 guitar which was hanging up in a corner, and playing 
 upon it challenged the girls to accompany him in a song. 
 At first they would not ; but it was not likely he was to 
 be disconcerted by a refusal, so he began alone, now 
 some song about the chamois -hunter, now a merry 
 Schnadahupfl ; and even in singing he contrived to have 
 his joke, by the choice of a verse with some sly allusion, 
 and by the look of intelligence he would then give this 
 one or that as he rattled out his noisy rhymes. But all 
 was taken in good part ; he was an old friend of the 
 house, and evidently a favourite. 
 
 One of the girls played the cithern, and the others 
 accompanied her with their voices. Marie was also at 
 length induced to sing, and with cast-down eyes, and as 
 embarrassed at my presence as though a large audience 
 were listening, warbled forth a charming little song, in 
 which a Sennerinn reproaches her hunter-lover for his 
 long absence from her hut. Everything this sweet young 
 mountaineer did had a charm about it. I thought at the 
 time, and think so still, that I had never seen such 
 modest grace in any girl — she was so truly maidenly. 
 In her presence you felt that there was a power which 
 guarded her, protecting her even against evil thought, 
 
THE SOLACHERS. 83 
 
 and which, following her steps, would shield her from 
 any harm. And such a power did protect her, — it was 
 her own pure womanhood. 
 
 To understand and feel all the beauty of these simple 
 ditties, they must be heard under like circumstances : 
 beneath a cottage roof, and sung by such a group as were 
 assembled round our little table. They belong to and 
 form part of the mountains and mountain life, and 
 nowhere else do they sound so beautiful ; just as a com- 
 mon wild-flower shows most bright in its native lane or 
 hedgerow. 
 
 Berger now jumped up, and pushing aside the table 
 to make more room, was in an instant dancing first with 
 one then with another of the sisters. It would have 
 made the prettiest picture in the world that dark wains- 
 coted room, with its low ceiling also of dark wood, the 
 girl playing the cithern and the other group dancing to 
 its music, with the impenetrable, imperturbable, silent 
 old aunt sitting quite in shade in the background, and 
 calmly looking on. There is nothing more infectious 
 than the dance ; as soon as Berger stopped I took the 
 other sister and danced with her; a matter requiring 
 some little skill, so small was the space we had to per- 
 form in. When one pair stopped the other began ; the 
 walking and climbing of the day was forgotten, and we 
 changed partners many a time that evening before we 
 thought of going to our beds. However, as we were to 
 be up early on the morrow, some hours' rest was not to 
 be disregarded. My little bedroom was as comfortable 
 as possible ; everything was homely, but neat and deli- 
 ciously clean. 
 
 g 2 
 
84 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 In a preceding chapter I spoke of the high estimation in 
 which the Solachers hold their calling ; how they love it 
 above every other, and look upon all other joys as tame 
 and insignificant, when compared to those which their 
 free mountain-life affords. Some such feeling Kobell* 
 has embodied in a little poem, of which the following 
 verses are a translation ; and I give them here, because 
 they seem to be not misplaced in a picture of mountain 
 life. 
 
 Eije Cjjamot'g J^unter. 
 
 Where Edelweisf blooms on the bare rock's face, 
 Up there right well do I know each place ; 
 Up there how gladsome is life, how free ! 
 Methinks it could nowhere more joyous be. 
 
 No praters are there to watch and pry, 
 It's too far for them, 'tis up too high ; 
 Up there you are with your God alone, 
 And mild and better your heart has grown. 
 
 And let them say whatever they will, 
 By night 't is there so solemn and still ; 
 And when the peaks in the starlight gleam 
 To pray more readily then I seem. 
 
 * Franz von Kobell is weU known as the author of some volumes of 
 poems in the Bavarian dialects. 
 
 f JEdelweis — Gnaphalium Zeontopodium — a flower met with only on 
 some of the highest mountains in certain parts of Tyrol and Bavaria. 
 It is to be found in Berchtesgaden, and on the Scharfreuter in the 
 Hinter Biss. It is much valued for the snowy purity of its colour, as 
 well as on account of the difficulty of getting it. The very name, " Noble 
 Purity," (edel, noble, weiss, white,) has a charm about it. Strangely 
 enough it always grows in a spot to be reached only with the utmost 
 peril. You will see a tuft of its beautifully white flowers overhanging a 
 precipice, or waving on a perpendicular wall of rock, to be approached 
 
85 
 
 THE CHAMOIS HUNTER. 
 
 A chamois-hunter you think is poor 
 And more forlorn than the veriest boor ; 
 Yet it is not so ; for, look you, if 't were 
 How sad his fate should his foot but err ? 
 
 The nearer Heaven, more sure you are 
 Your guardian angel cannot be far ; 
 But down below in the crowd he might 
 Not always find you or see aright. 
 
 And mark ! the Devil, who is no fool, 
 Prowls ever there when he wants a tool ; 
 Where men together so thickly herd, 
 He has a handful without a word. 
 
 but by a ledge, where . perhaps a chamois could hardly stand. But it is 
 this very difficulty of acquisition which gives the flower so peculiar a 
 value, and impels many a youth to brave the danger, that he may get a 
 posy of Edelweis for the hat or the bosom of the girl he loves ; and often 
 has such a one fallen over the rocks just as he had reached it, and been 
 found dead ; in his hand the flower of such fatal beauty, which he still 
 held firmly grasped. 
 
 It has been made the theme of many a verse, and by no poet has its 
 praise been oftener sung than Kobell, of one of whose poems on this 
 flower the following is a translation : — 
 
 EDELWEIS. 
 
 The mountains deck their rocky crowns 
 With flowers which are the rarest j 
 
 For only on the highest spots 
 Grow those which are the fairest. 
 
 Hence in my songs, the Edelweis 
 
 I praise where'er I wander, 
 An image of pure love, within 
 
 The stony realm up yonder. 
 
 Like that flower should it germ, beyond 
 
 The reach of every rover, 
 And bloom above the common world, 
 
 And last when life is over. 
 
86 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 But here 't were not worth his while, and all 
 He'd get by coming would be a fall : 
 His God protects him, the hunter knows ; 
 The Devil has none, so down he goes. 
 
 Ay, up on high do I love to be, 
 Where bounds the chamois so wild and free ; 
 Where the marmot whistles from 'neath the stone, 
 There love I to be with my God alone ! 
 
t 
 
87 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CHAMOIS. 
 
 Having come thus far, it is time, I think, to give some 
 account of the chamois itself. First of all be it known 
 that the chamois is no goat,* but belongs to the ante- 
 lope genus, f of which it is the only specimen inhabiting 
 Europe. It is larger and more strongly built than a 
 roebuck, and is much heavier. A good buck will weigh 
 55 lbs., and one above 601bs. is a particularly fine fellow. 
 Some however have been shot that weighed 74lbs. and 
 82lbs4 But such are rare and difficult to get at; for 
 these old bucks remain alone in their inaccessible fast- 
 nesses and the most secluded places ; and it is only when 
 the winter has set in, and the rutting season begun, that 
 there is any chance of seeing them. In order to do so 
 the hunter must brave the intense cold as well as all the 
 dangers of a region of snow and ice, for he will be led 
 
 * " Well, Peter, I do not think that the sport was so bad after all ; 
 for I believe that the chamois, in chase of which the Swiss risk their 
 lives, and are out for days together on mountains of eternal ice and 
 snow, is little better than a great goat after all." 
 
 " I didna hear of sic a beast mysel ; but I ken, by yer honour's ac- 
 count, he is no worth the speering at."— The Art of Deer Stalking, by 
 W. Scrope, Esq., chap. vii. 
 
 f Antilope rvpicapra. 
 
 % In 1856 I shot one in the Tyrol that weighed, when cleaned, 75 lbs. 
 
80 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 to spots where good nerves are required not to feel over- 
 come with horror at the scene around. 
 
 The hair of the chamois changes in colour at various 
 seasons of the year, as is the case with the roe, and red 
 and fallow deer. In summer their coat is of a red yel- 
 lowish-brown ; in autumn it grows much darker, and in 
 winter is quite black. But though the changes here in- 
 dicated may be looked upon as a general rule, there will 
 often be found in the same herd one or more differing 
 strikingly from the rest, of a buff-colour perhaps, while 
 all the others are of a reddish-brown. The hair of the 
 forehead, around the nose, the lower jaw, and the in- 
 side of the ears, is of a yellowish tinge, and remains 
 throughout the year the same. The belly, the inside of 
 the legs, and the shaggy hair that overhangs the hoofs, 
 are also of this colour, and never change; the black 
 stripe too, on both sides of the head, extending from the 
 eye to the corners of the mouth, remains a striking fea- 
 ture under every circumstance. 
 
 The outer hair is long and coarse ; that on the ridge 
 of the back is of greater length than on any other part 
 of the body, especially in winter, and of this the orna- 
 ment called " Gems-bart" is made Each hair is tipped 
 with white ; so that when a number of exactly the same 
 length are bound together and spread out like a fan, a 
 white line is seen to border the black surface, and pre- 
 sents a pretty appearance. The longer the hair the more 
 it is esteemed for this purpose. 
 
 The eye of the animal is large, dark, and intelligent ; 
 it is full of animation, — but this, in its expression of 
 keen watchfulness, is the animation of fear. It carries 
 its head erect, and its graceful ears pointed, as if pre- 
 pared against surprise. 
 
 The horns, which are black, rise from the head just 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 89 
 
 above and between the eyes ; they are round and rougher 
 at the base, but incline somewhat to flatness towards the 
 top, which is smooth and polished. They do not stand 
 up perpendicularly, but slant forwards at a right angle 
 with the forehead ; their points, which are very sharp, 
 being bent back and downwards. This feature is not 
 peculiar to the buck alone ; there is however consider- 
 able difference between the horns of the male and female, 
 which often assists the sportsman in distinguishing the 
 two. The horns of the male chamois are thicker and 
 altogether stronger-looking than those of the female ; 
 and instead of diverging from each other in so straight a 
 line as hers generally do, their outline describes a slight 
 curve as they rise upwards and apart from each other. 
 But a still more striking characteristic of the buck is, 
 that the points of his horns are bent much more inwards 
 than those of the doe ; hers form a semicircular curva- 
 ture towards the back, while his, turning over abruptly, 
 form rather a hook. This gives the head quite another 
 expression ; it has something more resolute about it, as 
 well as a dashing air and a look of bravado. The horns 
 of a very good buck will be seven inches high, but I 
 have seen some that much exceeded this measurement.* 
 Although, when near, all these peculiar differences in 
 the horns of the buck and doe are easily discernible, at 
 
 * The finest I ever saw are in the collection of Count Arco of Munich, 
 and are 9i inches high. The buck to which they belonged was shot by 
 poachers at Berchtesgaden a few years ago. This collection of the Count 
 consists of antlers of the red-deer and the roe-buck, with a fair number 
 of the horns of the chamois, and is perhaps the finest in the world. 
 Never before were antlers of such magnificent size and such strange 
 formation collected together ; and the room in which they are placed, 
 built expressly for the purpose, and the tasteful arrangement of the whole, 
 contribute greatly to the beauty of this superb collection. £30,000 has 
 been offered for it, and refused. 
 
90 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 • 
 
 a distance the distinction of course is not so striking, 
 and the male is then recognized by his stronger build, 
 by his general appearance and more gallant bearing. It 
 is the same thing as with the stag, which, as he passes 
 through a wood, though you should not see his antlers, 
 you recognize instantly. How different his carriage from 
 that of the hind, and particularly the way in which he 
 bears his head ! But it requires a very practised eye to 
 distinguish thus with chamois, and it has often asto- 
 nished me to witness how quickly and with what cer- 
 tainty the foresters have decided, almost at a glance, 
 whether a buck were among a herd. 
 
 The head of the chamois is admirably constructed for 
 uniting strength with the greatest possible lightness. 
 The frontal bones are extremely thin, — so much so in- 
 deed that they would of themselves be liable to fracture 
 on the slightest casualty. But to make them strong, 
 and at the same time retain their lightness, a second 
 set is thrown over the first, and the space between is 
 divided into cells, formed by the arched girders of solid 
 bone which uphold the roof and bind the whole toge- 
 ther. The system which Nature has here adopted is ex- 
 emplified in the cells in the upper and lower part of the 
 tube that forms the Britannia Bridge. Just as these 
 thin iron plates would separately be unable to bear much, 
 but placed above and united to each other present an 
 amount of strength and firmness capable of resisting 
 almost any opposing force, so these fine thin bones of the 
 chamois' head, thus beautifully united by an arched cel- 
 lular construction, become as firm as the rock on which 
 the creature stands, and are at the same time so light as 
 not to hinder any of its agile movements. The arched 
 girders which occupy the space between the upper and 
 lower surface rise, bridge-like, with a spiral twist, and 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 9J. 
 
 here and there a flying buttress will give additional 
 strength to the walls, or a lateral arch help to support 
 the vault above. 
 
 The horn of the chamois is hollow up to a certain 
 height ; thence to the point it is a solid mass. This 
 hollow part of the horn however is fixed on, and filled 
 out with, a bony substance which grows with and forms 
 part of the skull itself. By a forcible twist the two may 
 be separated. Among the many stories related of the 
 chamois, it was said that they made use of their crooked 
 horns to let themselves down by, in places where descent 
 by other means was impossible. Ridiculous as the tale 
 is, many believed it ; but of such hereafter. 
 
 The food of these animals consists of the herbs found 
 on the mountains, and the buds and young sprouts of 
 the alpine rose and the latschen. This is their sole suste- 
 nance j no creature therefore is more innoxious than the 
 chamois, and the wholesale destruction of them which 
 has taken place since 1848 cannot even be excused on 
 the plea that, like the red-deer, they occasionally tread 
 down and injure the crops of the husbandman. They 
 keep to their rocks, delighting in the highest and most 
 inaccessible places ; and it is only when winter sets in 
 with all its rigour, that they descend to seek shelter and 
 food in the woods somewhat lower down the mountain. 
 At this season they feed on such grass and leaves as they 
 can find, and probably also on the Iceland moss, which 
 is met with on the mountains. In their stomach a hard 
 dark-coloured ball is often found, bitter to the taste, but 
 of an agreeable smell : this is called Bezoar, and owes 
 its formation to the fibrous, resinous nature of the sub- 
 stances the chamois feeds on; and which, conglomera- 
 ting by degrees, at last grows into a stone-like mass. 
 
 Chamois cannot endure the neighbourhood of sheep. 
 
92 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 When these appear they leave the spot at once, so great 
 is their antipathy. They have no such dislike to cattle, 
 and I have often seen the two in close proximity. But 
 if, when on the mountain, you hear the dreary bleating 
 of a sheep, you may turn back at once, for there is no 
 chance of seeing a chamois among those rocks."* 
 
 The rutting season begins in November. At this 
 period a sort of bladder forms beneath the skin at the 
 root of the buck's horn, the lymph within which has so 
 strong a musk-like smell, that if the animal be shot at 
 this time the odour will remain for years. Now too the 
 stronger bucks make their appearance, and desperate 
 battles take place. In fighting they give each other 
 such gashes, that they bleed as though they had been 
 shot. One combatant will lower his horns under the 
 throat of his opponent, or turn his head sideways, so 
 that the sharp points may catch the other's shoulder, and 
 then drawing them back, he endeavours to inflict a wound. 
 You may be startled also by an occasional bleat, uttered 
 with angry impatience in the fervour of desire. If able 
 to imitate the call, you will soon see a black form leaping 
 along through the latschen or over the rocks, and coming 
 
 # It is strange that the sheep on the mountain pastures often grow 
 quite wild : the lambs however are, in this respect, still worse. When 
 they have got into this state there is little chance of recovering them ; 
 and after a certain day (Nov. 10) the Jager have a right to shoot all 
 the wild sheep they find on the mountain. Before leaving the hut, there- 
 fore, to winter in the plain, the herdsmen go out to search for any of the 
 flock that may be missing. This " Schaf-suchen" lasts sometimes a 
 day or two, for it takes a long time to scour such vast tracts of country, 
 to climb into the dangerous places where a sheep may have got without 
 being able to escape, and to examine every spot, on those dreary heights 
 where a truant animal may have strayed. Such " Schaf-suchen" is hard 
 work. But the goats never grow wild, although they rove as freely as 
 the other animals, and, from their agility, climb to much wilder spots. 
 {See Note at the end of the Chapter.) 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 93 
 
 towards the spot whence the sound proceeded. In this 
 way they may be attracted from a considerable distance. 
 If too they see some object that they cannot well make 
 out, their curiosity will drive them to the spot to see 
 what it can be.* The period of gestation in the doe is 
 twenty weeks. In May her young kid may be seen be- 
 side her, playing in the prettiest manner, leaping into the 
 sunny air and rolling on its back upon the soft herbage. 
 With a bound it will turn heels over head ; not however 
 forwards or backwards, but sideways ; a proof of the 
 wonderful strength and elasticity of its limbs even at 
 this young stage of its existence. 
 
 There is something very amusing in the wiseacre look 
 of such a little kid. Its bright eye twinkles like a star ; 
 its silly little face is full of drollery ; and, pricking up 
 
 * Two striking instances of this were told me by the late Prince 
 Leiningen, as good and thorough a sportsman as might anywhere be 
 found ; one too who knew the habits of game, and had watched and 
 studied them for years. 
 
 He was out stalking in the Vorder Eiss late in the season ; there he 
 saw, at a good distance, a capital chamois buck. He pointed him out 
 to the forester that accompanied him, who said, " We'll soon have him 
 nearer!" and taking off his cap, stooped down just behind the ridge, 
 so as to have nothing visible on the sky-line but his bald crown. This 
 he kept on bobbing up and down, then turning his head on this side 
 and on that, till at last the chamois could not help remarking it. After 
 looking at the unusual object for a time, he set off to see what it was, 
 and came within range of the Prince's rifle, but by chance stopped to 
 gaze just behind a projecting stone, so that it was not possible to fire. 
 After standing there for some time quite near, he scampered off. 
 
 On another similar occasion the Prince merely turned back the cuff of 
 his coat so as to display the white wristband of the shirt ; and putting 
 it up just above a bank behind which he lay concealed, moved it up and 
 down and sideways, as though it were a thing with life. The buck at 
 last perceived the white something that was in motion, and came leap- 
 ing along to examine into the matter. While he looked, a bullet striking 
 him, solved the mystery. 
 
94 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 its pretty velvet ears, it will turn its head most know- 
 ingly on one side, and seem to cogitate on the meaning 
 of a flitting shadow ; and then, not from any fear, but 
 out of mere fun, will start away as though the shadow 
 were its playfellow and were running after it in sport. 
 
 But I have seen others, of riper years even, diverting 
 themselves in the most fantastic manner. In the Hinter 
 Riss, at a spot called the Wechsel, I for a long time 
 watched the antics of a buck, who seemed to me to be 
 " sheer deleerit." He was in a hollow, on a large field 
 of snow, which he had all to himself. There he was 
 quite alone, and round and round he kept racing, like a 
 horse in an equestrian circus. Then he would turn and 
 go round in the opposite direction. Now he stopped, 
 pretending to attack some invisible enemy ; then look- 
 ing round astonished, bounded into the air, and off again 
 at his equestrian performances as before. How long he 
 continued at this game I do not know. I stayed looking 
 on for a good while, and he was still going on with it 
 when I went away. 
 
 When chamois play such pranks as these, and jump 
 about " ganz wild und n'ar'sch," the mountaineers say it 
 is a prognostic of bad weather. 
 
 A doe has generally but one kid at a time ; that she 
 should have two is however by no means of unfrequent 
 occurrence. The little creature at its birth is of a dark 
 brownish-yellow colour ; and when a day old is no longer 
 to be caught. 
 
 There is perhaps no animal so peaceful and at the same 
 time so timid as the chamois. Nature therefore, besides 
 endowing it with a facility of climbing into the most in- 
 accessible places, and thus avoiding pursuit, has enabled 
 it to guard against the approach of danger by the great 
 acuteness of its senses of sight, smell, and hearing. It is 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 95 
 
 this which makes it so very difficult to get near them. A 
 rolling stone or a spoken word at once attracts their at- 
 tention ; and they will look and listen to discover whence 
 the sound has come that breaks the silence of their moun- 
 tain solitude. For an incredibly long time they will then 
 stand gazing fixedly in one direction, quite immoveable ; 
 and if it happen to be towards something in your neigh- 
 bourhood that their attention has been attracted, you 
 must lie still and close indeed to escape their observa- 
 tion. The eyes of the whole herd will be fixed on the 
 spot in a long steady stare ; and as you anxiously watch 
 them from afar they almost look like fragments of rock, 
 so motionless are they while they gaze. You begin to 
 hope they have found no cause for alarm, when "Phew !" 
 the sharp whistle tells they have fathomed the mystery, 
 and away they move to the precipitous rocks overhead : 
 unless panic-stricken, they stop from time to time to look 
 behind; and then suddenly uttering the peculiar shrill 
 sound, again move on. 
 
 It is true that on the mountains, where an awful si- 
 lence ever broods, the slightest noise breaking the still- 
 ness is heard with wonderful distinctness a great way off; 
 but even making allowance for this, there is sufficient 
 evidence that the senses of these animals are particularly 
 acute. If but the gentlest wave be moving in the air, 
 flowing from you to them, they at once become aware of 
 your presence, long before you may perceive them or 
 they see you. 
 
 In the human being this particular sense is, compara- 
 tively speaking, less developed than the others.* It is 
 
 * This 3ense of smell is developed in a very high degree in the wild 
 boar. I have often been surprised, when stealing upon one in the woods, 
 to observe how soon he has become aware of my neighbourhood. Lift- 
 ing his head, he would sniff the air inquiringly, then, uttering a short 
 grunt, make off as fast as he could. 
 
96 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the one which man least needs, not wanting it for his 
 safety, but possessing it solely to minister to his plea- 
 sures. When therefore we find it extremely acute in 
 another animal, it strikes us more than any example of 
 an unusually sharp sight or an extraordinary power of 
 hearing; just as we are always more astonished at that 
 in another which we are least able to achieve ourselves. 
 A chamois, when dashing down the mountains, will sud- 
 denly stop as if struck by a thunderbolt, some yards from 
 the spot where recent human footprints are to be found 
 in the snow, and, turning scared away, rush off imme- 
 diately in an opposite direction. The taint which the 
 presence of the hunter has left behind is perceived by it 
 long after he has passed. 
 
 Chamois are instinctively very cautious in passing a 
 spot exposed to avalanches. They do not cross alto- 
 gether, but one advances slowly towards the middle of 
 the passage, and then darts on with all speed. So the 
 others. Should snow come sliding down while one is 
 passing, he does not run onwards, as a man in his fright 
 would no, but sidewards to the shelter of the overhang- 
 ing rock. 
 
 The agility of the chamois has become almost pro- 
 verbial ; but to have any idea of what it is, one must be 
 an eye-witness of the bounds they make, and see the 
 places they will race down at full speed when pursued. 
 A smooth surface of rock, so smooth that a footing there 
 seems impossible, and of nearly perpendicular steepness, 
 is no obstacle to their flight. Down they go, now bound- 
 ing, now gliding, with a velocity which seems to ensure 
 their being inevitably dashed to pieces. 
 
 The chief strength of the animal is in its hind legs, 
 which, if extended, would be longer than the others. On 
 this account it springs upwards with more ease than it 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 97 
 
 descends the mountain, and on level ground its walk is 
 clumsy and ungraceful. It is not made to run, but 
 bounds along over the ground. The hoof is cloven, long 
 and pointed, and the slot of the chamois resembles that 
 of a sheep. The edges are sharp, which causes it to slip 
 easily on the ice, and on this account it rather avoids 
 passing the glaciers. When standing, the hind legs are 
 always bent, as if the animal were preparing to lie down, 
 which no doubt helps considerably to break the fall when 
 leaping from a great height. Notwithstanding this, the 
 croup is still somewhat higher than the fore part of the 
 body. The elastic force which the hind legs possess is 
 immense. With a sudden bound the chamois will leap 
 up against the face of a perpendicular rock, and merely 
 touching it with its hoofs, rebound again in an opposite 
 direction to some higher crag, and thus escape from a 
 spot where, without wings, egress seemed impossible, 
 When reaching upwards on its hind legs, the fore hoofs 
 resting on some higher spot, it is able to stretch to a 
 considerable distance, and with a quick spring will bring 
 up its hind quarters to a level with the rest of the body, 
 and, with all four hoofs close together, stand poised on a 
 point of rock not broader than your hand. On narrow 
 overhanging ledges some thousand feet high they walk 
 and gaze about, enjoying the security from pursuit which 
 such spots afford. 
 
 But astonishing as their dexterity really is, much has 
 been related of them that has no foundation in fact, any 
 more than the tale of their placing sentinels to announce 
 when danger is near. Indeed there is something very 
 strange in the imperfect information obtained about the 
 chamois, and the marvellous stories related of it, and of 
 those who went in its pursuit. That this should have 
 been the case for a time is very natural, especially in 
 
 H 
 
98 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 places remote from where the chamois was to be found. 
 I conceive too that even later, and where men dwelt who 
 followed the chase, there still hung about the chamois- 
 hunter's life somewhat of mystery. We can well imagine 
 that he was looked upon as one familiar with places 
 where ordinary men would fear to venture, — accustomed 
 to have Death stalking beside him as a companion, and 
 to meet him face to face. His departure for the moun- 
 tain — an unknown region hidden in cloud, and mist, and 
 mystery, — his absence for whole days together, his start- 
 ling accounts of the wildness, the silence and the soli- 
 tude, and then occasionally the going forth of one alone 
 who never returned, — all this gave a dim and dread uncer- 
 tainty to the pursuit ; and where uncertainty is, imagi- 
 nation will be busy at her work. His very countenance 
 — his widely-opened eye, always on the watch — even this 
 must have awakened strange surmises of sights more 
 fearful than he had yet hinted of. 
 
 But that much ignorance on the subject should have 
 continued to the present day is still more remarkable, 
 since the home of the chamois — Bavaria, the Tyrol, 
 Switzerland, Styria — are not remote lands, but lie in 
 the very heart of Europe. Had it been otherwise, this 
 haze and indistinctness might have been accounted for 
 by distance, which effaces outlines, and invests objects 
 with tints, and shapes, and proportions that are not their 
 own. 
 
 One author of recent date acknowledges that little is 
 known of the habits of these animals, and accounts for 
 it by the circumstance of the "chamois-hunter being 
 generally a rude, uncultivated being; and that, as to 
 naturalists, they have seldom had an opportunity of ob- 
 serving this animal in its solitary and dangerous haunts." 
 The writer of this ' New and Perfect Art of Venery ' re- 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 99 
 
 peats also an account to be found in many earlier works, 
 which as a curiosity is worth extracting : — " One really 
 great peculiarity is the way in which the chamois cross 
 the fields of snow without sinking in. On account of 
 their narrow and sharply-pointed hoofs they would na- 
 turally fall through, and the snow would be unable to 
 carry them. They therefore hasten their flight in the 
 following cunning manner. The last chamois jumps on 
 the back of the one before him, passes in this way over 
 the backs of all the others, and then places himself at 
 their head; the last but one does the same, and the 
 others follow in order; and in this manner they have 
 soon passed over such a field of snow." The same writer 
 tells us also that ' ' it is their inner heat which impels 
 them to seek those places where snow is to be found." 
 
 A most curious opinion seems to have been prevalent 
 — for I find the same thing related in old books of natural 
 history, as well as in the recent publication from which 
 the above extracts are taken — with regard to the chamois, 
 when hard pressed and unable to escape its pursuers. I 
 give the whole passage : — ' ( The most dangerous chase of 
 all is that of the chamois. The hunter must manage all 
 alone, as neither man nor dog can be of any service to 
 him. His accoutrements consist of an old coat, a bag 
 with dry bread, cheese, and meat, a gun, his hunting- 
 knife, and a pair of irons for the feet. He then drives 
 the chamois from one crag to the other, making them al- 
 ways mount higher, climbs after them, and shoots them 
 if he can, or if he finds it necessary ; but if that should 
 not be the case, and he has driven one so far that it is 
 no longer able to elude him, he approaches quite close, 
 puts his hunting-knife to its side, ivhich the chamois of 
 its own accord pushes into its body, and then falls down 
 headlong from the rock." 
 
 h 2 
 
100 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 In another work published at Frankfort-on-the-Maine 
 in the year 1661, it is also said: — "At last, when the 
 chamois can go no further, and the hunter is about to 
 throw or thrust it down from the precipice, if he draweth 
 his knife and will thrust the same into it, the chamois 
 pusheth its own body with force upon the knife ; where- 
 upon it is caught, and falleth downwards from a great 
 height. The skin remaineth generally quite unbroken."* 
 The same old writer tells us : — " Some hunters do drink 
 the blood and the fat, that they may thereby obtain a 
 steady head and freedom from giddiness when they come 
 to steep places, and when they must hold on very firmly." 
 
 It is not at all unlikely that these properties were 
 attributed to the animal's blood ; for the hunter, like all 
 men who live much with Nature, and make companion- 
 ship with her various aspects, is by no means free from 
 superstition. At the present day even the peasantry of 
 Bavaria consider a certain part of the stag, when dried 
 and powdered, a potent remedy in diseases of the bladder ; 
 and the resinous-looking drops which are found in the 
 corners of the hart's eyes, called by some the "tears" of 
 the stag, are looked upon by many as a sure specific in 
 various disorders. 
 
 Strange are the shifts to which it is said the chamois- 
 hunter is sometimes put, when, like the animal he is in 
 pursuit of, " he can go no further." The author of the 
 'New and Perfect Art of Venery/ who has given so 
 
 * This is true. Though the body be never so bruised, the skin always 
 remains whole. It is also a peculiarity of the skin of a chamois that it 
 is of the same thickness throughout. By this you may always dis- 
 tinguish- it from other skins, which are much thinner in some places than 
 in others. Dealers who wish to palm off doe for chamois leather assist 
 the deception by cutting a slit in some part and sewing the hole up again , 
 such being always found in real chamois-skins where the ball has passed. 
 If however you feel the skins carefully, you can hardly be deceived. 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 101 
 
 amusing an account of how the chamois play at leap-frog 
 over the snow, says that in such cases, " when the hunter 
 can get neither forwards nor backwards, and is unable to 
 save himself by a leap, nought is left him but to fling off 
 everything, and wounding the soles of his feet cause the 
 blood to flow, so that by its stickiness he may be enabled 
 to hold himself better on the slippery rocks." 
 
 In the ardour of pursuit, indeed, one might easily get 
 into a place whence, unassisted, it would be quite im- 
 possible ever to get out. A spot may often be seen below 
 which can be reached by a jump or by sliding downwards ; 
 but the question is, whether, when once there, it will be 
 possible to get further or back again ; for though you may 
 let yourself down the smooth rock, there is no climbing 
 up its steep surface. It is therefore necessary to be as- 
 sured of this before taking such a leap, or you may find 
 yourself, like the Emperor Maximilian, on a narrow ledge 
 of rock, at your back the smooth stone, and before and 
 below you nothing but the yielding air. 
 
 The danger of such a proceeding is illustrated by the 
 following adventure of another chamois-hunter, Rudolf 
 Blasi of Schwanden, (born in Ennenda in Glarnerischa) . 
 One day he went out with his friend Walcher up through 
 the Sernft valley, out of which lead two of the wildest 
 and most difficult passes across the mountain-tops to the 
 valley of the sources of the Rhine. One of these towers 
 over the ice-covered point of the Tschinfel. On their 
 way they found the fresh traces of a chamois, and from 
 the direction the animal had taken they knew that if they 
 were to advance from different sides, the game would not 
 be able to escape them. They parted, therefore, agreeing 
 to meet at the Ealz Alp. Blasi soon perceived the cha- 
 mois, and in the ardour of pursuit jumped across a chasm 
 to a narrow ledge, when to his horror he remarked that 
 
102 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the spot where he then stood was lower than that whence 
 he had sprung, so that return was impossible. The ledge 
 where he had landed was, too, so narrow that he could 
 not sit down there, but only stand ; and thus, leaning on 
 his rifle, his back against the smooth perpendicular rock, 
 and before him an abyss, he stood awaiting his fate. A 
 step would have precipitated him below. Night came 
 on, and to add to the horror of his situation a thunder- 
 storm roared and poured down torrents of rain over the 
 rocks. 
 
 His comrade meanwhile had arrived at the meeting- 
 place, and missing his companion, began to fear an acci- 
 dent had befallen him. The following morning, as soon 
 as it was light, he set out to search, and towards eleven 
 a.m., Blasi to his great joy sees his friend looking down 
 upon him from a rock. A rope is let down, and he who 
 may be said to have already tasted of death, is drawn 
 up and saved. That one night, however, was enough to 
 bleach entirely the hair of the mountaineer. 
 
 Ikte. 
 
 I subjoin a few points of difference between the Goat and the Chamois. 
 Their skeletons, it seems, are not the same ; for not having myself 
 examined the arrangement of the bones in the two animals, I quote, 
 regarding their formation, from ' Histoire Naturelle, generate et parti- 
 culiere, avec la Description du Cabinet du Roi. Tome douzieme. Paris, 
 mdcclxiv.' " L'apophyse epineuse de la seconde vertebre cervicale dif- 
 fere de celle du bouc, en ce qu'elle est moins haute et presqu'aussi saillante 
 en arriere qu'en avant, ce qui ne se trouve ni dans la gazelle, ni dans le 
 cerf, le chevreuil, etc. ; la branche inferieure de l'apophyse oblique de la 
 sixieme vertebre n'est pas echancree comme dans le bouc : elle ressemble 
 a celle de la gazelle, du chevreuil, etc." The frontal bone of the chamois, 
 just before the horns, is concave ; that of the goat, convex. The horns 
 of the latter recede ; those of the former animal always advance. The 
 goat's horns too are flat near their base, and wrinkled ; the chamois' are 
 
THE CHAMOIS. 103 
 
 round, and not indented. The goat has frequently a beard, a chamois 
 never ; nor does it emit any disagreeable odour except during the rutting 
 season, whilst the effluvium of the goat is always insupportable. The 
 nose of the chamois is not drawn back like the goat ; consequently the 
 upper lip projects less beyond the nostrils. Its upper teeth advance 
 slightly over the lower : in the goat they rest exactly on each other. In 
 the chamois there is less depth from the top of the head to the lower jaw 
 than in the goat, which gives the head more lightness and greater elegance 
 of form. But the most decisive proof of the non-affinity of the two 
 animals is that they never generate together. Although iu the moun- 
 tains herds of goats are constantly wandering about near the haunts of 
 the chamois, no one instance is known of a she-goat having brought 
 forth young which were a cross between the two breeds. The chamois 
 indeed always avoid the places where goats have strayed. They dislike 
 all intrusion on their solitude. TheSteinbock (Capra Ibex) on the con- 
 trary, classed by naturalists among the goat genus, cohabits occasionally 
 with the tame animal ; and offspring presenting the peculiar features of 
 such mixed race have been seen not unfrequently in Switzerland. The 
 author cited above says that chamois, when taken young and brought up 
 with the domestic goat, " vraisemblablement s'accouplent et produisent 
 ensemble." In this he is mistaken. He adds, however, that he never 
 heard of any example of the kind. " J'avoue cependant que ce fait, le 
 plus important de tous, et qui seul deciderait la question (of homogene- 
 ousness of race), ne nous est pas connu; nous n'avons pu savoir, ni par 
 nous, ni par les autres, si les chamois produisent avec nos chevres ; seule- 
 ment nous le soupconnons." 
 
 It is quite evident then that chamois are not merely ferce capra. It 
 was an originally wild animal, and not one become so by having wan- 
 dered away into the wilderness. Animals wild by nature always retain 
 somewhat of that original state, if taken even at their birth and attempted 
 to be tamed. Groats, though quite at liberty, still like the society of 
 man, and will come skipping to the spot where he is ; indeed from the 
 earliest times the goat is always mentioned as a houseliold animal. The 
 chamois, on the contrary, will flee at the very approach of a human 
 being ; and its terror and natural timidity can never be overcome, even 
 though you may have reared it as a kid, and it has lived among men for 
 years. 
 
104 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 KKEUTH. 
 
 On coming down next morning I found coffee awaiting 
 me, which Nanny had made in order that I might have 
 a warm breakfast before starting. We took the same 
 road as the preceding day, till near the summit of the 
 mountain ; we then directed our steps at once to the 
 ridge, whence a view could be obtained far down its sides 
 and into the deep bottom. Here we waited a long time, 
 in hopes that some chamois would be on the move, but 
 in vain. One of the delights attending the pursuit of 
 game in the highlands is, that, even should the pleasure 
 of a successful day's sport be wanting, the grandeur of the 
 scenery amidst which you move is in some sort a recom- 
 pense for the labour endured. It is ever varying ; and 
 should the cloud-drift or the sun-rays not produce their 
 endless changes, you are sure that in going a hundred 
 steps further some new feature will present itself, or that 
 you will see the same under a totally different aspect. 
 Our view here extended over fields of snow, stretching: 
 along the horizon into endless distance — one vast range 
 of desert and of frost. 
 
 As nothing was to be seen we descended, intending 
 to go toward the Kaiser Klause, where we confidently 
 
KREUTII. 105 
 
 expected to find game. Passing at the foot of the rocks 
 where the day before my chamois had dropped, Berger 
 went to fetch his knife, which he had forgotten, while 
 I kept on to the left. Here the whole declivity, which 
 was long and steep, was covered with large blocks of 
 stone, lying in all positions, some firmly wedged, and 
 others so loose that without the greatest care your foot 
 slipped clown between them; — nothing more easy than 
 to break an ankle in such a place ! After crossing this 
 sea of stone for nearly three-quarters of an hour, fog 
 and mist came drifting towards me, followed by a thick 
 rain, while the wind increased at every moment ; and by 
 the time I was nearly at the end of my stony passage, 
 it came blowing furiously over the ridge in front. The 
 rain too now poured down in torrents, the wind was 
 bitingly cold, and in a few minutes I was wet to the 
 skin. With such weather all stalking was at an end : so 
 I began to look about for Berger, whom I at last saw 
 far off combating with the blast and with the difficulties 
 of his position. I made a sign to return ; and when we 
 got lower down, the wind, coming up from the other 
 side, rushed by over our heads without much incon- 
 veniencing us. 
 
 " I looked well at the place you fired from yesterday/' 
 said Berger ; "lam quite sure it was more than a hun- 
 dred and thirty yards. When looking upwards from 
 below, one sees how far it is." 
 
 By the time we got to the green hill-side where we 
 first saw the chamois, the rain had ceased, the gloom 
 had disappeared, and air and sky were bright again. 
 Berger proposed that I should take my stand at a cer- 
 tain tree, while he would go down to the path, and en- 
 tering the wood some distance off, pass through it in an 
 oblique direction. 
 
106 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Most likely it is not empty," said he ; " and if cha- 
 mois are there, they will come out near yonder trees, 
 pass within shot of you, and then bear away in a curve 
 for the higher ground.* Here you have chance enough, 
 and if anything comes, you will have a fair shot, though 
 perchance a long one. However, any you may get here 
 will be easy after that of yesterday." 
 
 I took up my position beside the withered trunk of a 
 tree, anxiously listening for any sound. At last there 
 was a rustling, and Berger emerged from the wood : he 
 had seen nothing. It was too late in the day to think 
 of trying elsewhere ; we therefore at once set off home- 
 wards. When we had proceeded some way down the 
 mountain, a bounding was heard among the underwood, 
 as of an animal in flight. We listened : there were two. 
 Berger ran forward, and saw a couple of chamois making 
 for the rocky pastures on the other side of the Miesing, 
 just below its summit, and where no one could follow. 
 
 " There the wall of rock is perpendicular," Berger 
 observed : " that is their usual retreat when pursued. It 
 would be useless to follow them, for they pass along the 
 narrow ledges, and wait in places where there is no ap- 
 proaching them." 
 
 * It may often seem unaccountable to one not a sportsman, how the 
 movements of the game can be predicted with such certainty. It de- 
 pends of course very much on the nature of the ground, as well as on 
 the habits of the animal in question. Sometimes however, as in certain 
 steep gullies, there is but one single path by which man or beast can get 
 out of them : and if the hunter can reach that spot unobserved, he is sure 
 of a shot eventually ; for as soon as the chamois are disturbed, by the 
 rolling of a stone or any other means taken to make them move, on they 
 come to the well-known path. Perhaps they may observe their danger : 
 if they do, they will stand still and gaze before attempting the pass ; 
 and then, well aware that it is the sole place of egress, they will rush 
 headlong forwards, braving in their extremity every danger. Chamois 
 perceive in an instant the perils of their position when retreat is thus 
 cut off, and their consternation is great and evident. 
 
KREUTH. 107 
 
 " But how low down they were ! Who would have 
 thought of meeting them here ?" 
 
 " Ay, who indeed ?" answered Berger. " I came 
 nearly as far as this when I went through the bushes ; 
 I thought it was far enough. Had I but gone a little 
 further, they would both have gone upwards, and have 
 come out, as I said, where you were standing. You 
 might then have brought down both." 
 
 " If we had gone toward the Klause today, do you 
 think we should have seen anything?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes," he replied, " for some capital places are there. 
 If we had seen no chamois, we might still have met with 
 deer. The number of stags there formerly was asto- 
 nishing. Even now, after so many have been killed, 
 fifty were shot quite lately. The order was given to 
 destroy them, so the under-gamekeepers shot all they 
 could find." 
 
 " But what a pity to exterminate them in that way !" 
 
 " Pity, indeed, for they do no harm to anybody, — 
 there is nothing for them to destroy. But you see it is 
 close to the frontier, and poaching now is carried on so 
 audaciously that we have no alternative but to shoot 
 everything." 
 
 " Had you ever an adventure with any of the poachers 
 there?" I asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes," said he ; " and once in particular I acted 
 foolishly enough ; I went to a hut, and finding the door 
 fastened on the inside, suspected there were some fel- 
 lows inside. Foolhardy as I was, I went to the back 
 window and tried to get in there. I had got my shoul- 
 ders through, when what should I see through the door 
 that divided the hut but a band of poachers who had 
 taken shelter there? Back I squeezed myself quick 
 enough, you may be sure. The fellows saw me too, but 
 I was off and behind a tree just in time." 
 
108 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Did they not follow you ?" 
 
 1 ' Not they ; some came as far as the door, but when 
 they found I was not to be seen they did not trust them- 
 selves any further; for had I liked, the first that came 
 out might have had a ball sent through him ; and that 
 they knew." 
 
 " And how did you get off?" 
 
 "Oh, easily enough; I went from one tree to an- 
 other, and when I was out of shot walked away at my 
 leisure." 
 
 We now went to the cottage of the Solachers to fetch 
 the chamois, and without delay set off for Fischbachau, 
 which we reached before dusk. 
 
 On the morrow I bade my friends farewell, and set off 
 betimes for Egern. In the afternoon I left for Kreuth, 
 and went at once to the forester. 
 
 If ever a man had an honest open countenance it was 
 this one. His bared throat was, like his face, ruddy 
 from exposure to wind aud weather. I felt sure of a 
 good reception as soon as I looked at him, and presented 
 my letter with confidence. He promised to do what he 
 could ; but then came the old tale of the scarcity of game, 
 and the many difficulties attendant on granting the per- 
 mission required. He told me that the following day 
 nothing could be done, for none of the assistant foresters 
 were at home : they were out on the mountains, and it 
 was uncertain what day they would return. 
 
 The next morning on rising I heard it was raining, 
 and this continued the whole day. In the evening the 
 young foresters returned, and as Max Solacher sat over 
 his tankard of beer in the parlour of the inn, I made his 
 acquaintance. He has a name for being an excellent 
 sportsman, and is considered one of the best climbers 
 in the mountains. I found him below the middle height, 
 
KREUTH. 109 
 
 — a great advantage in certain difficult places j but his 
 limbs were firmly knit, and it was always a pleasure to 
 look at his sinewy legs as he stepped lightly along up the 
 mountain before me. A chamois-hunter has never any 
 superabundant flesh j he is spare of habit, and I have re- 
 marked, or perhaps only fancied I did so, that in his eye 
 is something peculiar, common to all of his class. It 
 has seemed to me that, animated as it is when on the 
 mountain, or under the influence of surprise or excite- 
 ment, at other times when meeting him by chance in 
 common daily intercourse its expression is wanting, as 
 though the feelings that gave it life were slumbering. If 
 there be anything in this beyond mere fancy, I can well 
 account for the circumstance. A chamois-hunter on the 
 plain is like a sailor on shore, — he is surrounded by un- 
 congenial objects, and these and the incidents that exist 
 and take place about him are to him matters of little 
 interest : they in no wise awaken his sympathy. As the 
 seaman is ill at ease on land and wants to be afloat 
 again, so the hunter is impatient to get back to his 
 mountains. There he is at home, — in all that surrounds 
 him he feels an interest. But the flat land and its occu- 
 pations are to him tame and tedious ; and so he saunters 
 along, and the sparkle of his eye is dimmed by listless- 
 ness. Let however but a sound be heard which calls his 
 attention, and at once the eye is dilated ; it is wide open 
 and prominent, the lids drawn far back, and the pupil is 
 seen in a large surrounding space of white. The habit 
 of attentive watching, of ever-constant vigilance, the fre- 
 quent presence of danger and the narrow escapes from 
 risk — all these cause the eye to acquire a certain fixed- 
 ness of look, as if it were guarding against surprise. 
 That this is not mere fancy on my part is proved by a 
 circumstance which occurred to me while writing this. 
 
110 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 After having spent some weeks in the mountains I re- 
 turned direct to Munich, and the very first observation 
 a friend made on meeting me again was, that my eyes 
 had a different expression : " You have got," he said, " a 
 chamois-hunter's eyes." He had not, probably, remarked 
 the peculiarity in this class of men as I had done ; but 
 he saw something strange in my looks, and knowing 
 where I had been, at once attributed the appearance 
 which so struck him to my recent pursuits.* 
 
 I remember too, when once at the Konigs See, and 
 while at the house of the forester, waiting till the rain 
 ceased, an under-gamekeeper came into the room. He 
 had been out three days on the mountains and had just 
 returned. The man's look would have struck any one. 
 At that time all relating to mountain life was strange to 
 me, and the whole appearance of the new comer excited 
 my curiosity. He was tall, gaunt, and bony ; his brown 
 and sinewy knees were bare, and scratched and scarred ; 
 his beard was black and long, his hair shaggy, and 
 hunger was in his face ; the whole man looked as if he 
 had just escaped from the den of a wolf, where he had 
 been starved and in daily expectation of being eaten. 
 But it was his eyes — it was the wild staring fixedness of 
 his eyes — that kept mine gazing on him. The bent eagle- 
 nose, the high, fleshless cheek-bones, added to their 
 power. There was no fierceness in them, nor were they 
 greedy eyes ; but they were those of a man who had 
 
 * Not a week after penning these lines, I happened to be looking 
 through a volume of Hazlitt, and found the following remarks, which 
 at once reminded me of my own observations on the look of the cha- 
 mois-hunter. I was very pleased to find them, as they confirmed what 
 I had said. He is speaking of Eaphael : " His figures have always an 
 m-door look . . . and want that wild uncertainty of expression which 
 is connected with the accidents of nature and the changes of the ele- 
 ments." — The Round Table : On Gusto. 
 
KREUTH. Ill 
 
 been snatched from a horrible death, in whom the re- 
 collection was not yet effaced nor was ever likely to be. 
 They were always wide open : the whole creature seemed 
 vigilant, and awaiting at every moment to have to 
 wrestle with fate. But this was observable in the eyes 
 alone, not in the other features ; for the nostril was not 
 distended nor the lips clenched, as they must have been 
 to harmonize with the meaning that was in his eyes. I 
 thought I had seen the man before : when it suddenly 
 occurred to me that it was the head of the " Ugolino "* 
 I was staring at. 
 
 I entered into conversation with him, and he told me 
 that not long ago he had slipped on the ice and slidden 
 down a long way without being able to stop himself. He 
 was in expectation every moment of going to the bottom 
 of the abyss, where, even had he not been dashed to 
 pieces, he could never have got out again, when his foot 
 was caught and he went no further. His pole and 
 rifle flew down into the gulf. To go after them was 
 impossible ; for fields of ice were there, with large clefts 
 in them, and into one of these frightful crevices both had 
 doubtless fallen. 
 
 Had he told me that, Prometheus-like, he had been 
 chained to a glacier for a whole winter amid the icy world 
 of the mountain-top, exposed to the rains and tempests 
 and the dreary darkness, I could almost have believed 
 his words, so in unison were his features and his whole 
 appearance with such a tale. 
 
 I was glad to find that I should be able to go out in 
 company with Max Solacher, or Maxl as he was fami- 
 liarly called; for many friends had told me that with 
 him, being one of the best stalkers, there would be more 
 chance of success than with any one else. 
 
 * The Ugolino of Sir Joshua Reynolds. 
 
112 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 The next morning at five o' clock he came to the inn 
 to fetch me, and we sallied forth at once into the grey 
 dawn. After following the road for some distance we 
 turned aside and entered the forest ; and when the 
 light of the morning had come over the hill-tops and 
 penetrated into the hollows, and through the gloomy 
 boughs, it showed that even already the characteristics 
 of mountain scenery had begun. Beside the rugged 
 path a wild torrent was tumbling over blocks of stone, 
 that in some preceding spring had been loosened and 
 washed down from the higher ground by the rush of 
 a thousand streams. Some huge tree had been felled, 
 and in the deep part thrown across it as a bridge, the 
 branches hanging down in the water, and its trunk 
 mercilessly split and hacked. It was a region of wood, 
 where a whole tree would perhaps be taken to mend the 
 pathway, or mighty stems cut down and left to rot dur- 
 ing succeeding winters. On the hill-side great pines were 
 standing out against the sky, half-uprooted by the blast 
 that had descended upon them suddenly from above j and 
 others, scathed and shivered, were crushing with their 
 weight a young forest that had sprung up beneath their 
 shade. On looking upwards, on both sides and before 
 you was dark solemn foliage, and afar off perhaps and 
 high up a sharp line, beyond which was the welcome sky. 
 We were indeed in the mountains. 
 
 Continually ascending, we went on till we came to a 
 steep slope. Above us the trees were not so dense, and 
 we were able to see far from the spot where we stood. 
 We looked, and in silence. Presently, with his eyes still 
 fixed on some object above him, Max pulled out his tele- 
 scope and made a survey. 
 
 " There are chamois," he said. " I see one, but there 
 are others, I know." 
 
KREUTH. 113 
 
 The chamois he now pointed out to me I had seen some 
 minutes before ; but as it was a great way off, and quite 
 motionless, I had not recognized it. Indeed one is con- 
 stantly deceived ; for at a distance a chamois is but a 
 small black spot, and stones and bushes often assume the 
 appearance of the game ; it is only when you examine 
 them through your glass, that you see what they really 
 
 are. 
 
 " But how are we to get at them V 3 observed my com- 
 panion, looking round and examining the relative posi- 
 tion of the chamois and ourselves. It really was no easy 
 matter. They were some two or three thousand yards 
 from where we stood, and between us and them was a 
 very deep and precipitous ravine ; not rugged however, 
 but covered with a few trees and a scanty herbage. 
 
 " We must go back again," said he, " get down the 
 gully, and up the other side over the lahne. It is trou- 
 blesome work, but there is no other way of getting at 
 them. We must then stalk through the trees, and get 
 as near them as possible." So looking well at the place 
 where they stood and at the surrounding objects, we went 
 down the gully, along some projecting rocks, and up the 
 other side. Solacher constantly kept one point in his 
 eye, in order not to lose the direction of the spot we 
 were making for. At last he stopped to look about him, 
 and to determine with exactitude where the game might 
 be. Our plan was, to get round and above it ; we had 
 therefore to be cautious not to describe too small a circle 
 in our approach. Max now advanced stealthily, while I 
 remained behind ; and " craning " over a bit of rock he 
 espied them to the left. 
 
 " There they are !" he whispered ; " they have winded 
 us and are moving. Quick ! A little more forward, — 
 don't you see them ? There, by the stump of a tree V 
 
 i 
 
114 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 I only saw one, and that was more than half hid- 
 den by the stems; but as there was no time to lose 
 I fired. 
 
 " He's down !" cried Solacher ; and we ran forward 
 to get a second shot as the others should come into 
 sight. But they were too quick. We went to the one 
 I had shot, and found to my chagrin it was a kid. This 
 was vexatious, but it was the only one I saw, and be- 
 ing partly hidden, I had not, in the shade of the wood, 
 been able to distinguish it. "While we were cleaning it 
 there was a croaking and a rustling of wings in the 
 air. 
 
 " Ha ! there are the ravens/' said Solacher ; " hardly 
 has the rifle cracked, before those birds are on the spot. 
 Where they come from I can't tell ; for though not one 
 was to be seen before, as soon as anything is shot they 
 appear directly." 
 
 As my companion would have to carry the chamois 
 the whole day, I believe he was not sorry it was only a 
 kid ; for to him this was nothing, and he felt the differ- 
 ence no more than if an additional bullet or two had 
 been put into his rucksack. 
 
 We went up higher, and then kept along the side of 
 the mountain ; we presently crept forward, and looked 
 over into an immense chasm. Solacher drew back with 
 a start. " Chamois are there," he whispered; "but 
 they have heard us. W T hat a pity ! They are off— they 
 are moving," he said, again peeping over. " Ah, the 
 devil take you and your whistling !" he continued an- 
 grily, as one of the herd uttered the shrill long-drawn-out 
 sound that betokens fear. " There they go,— but slowly," 
 and the whole herd passed along the bottom of the stony 
 hollow. 
 
 It was a wild place, that hollow ! We stood on the 
 
KREUTH. 115 
 
 brink of it ; and before us, reaching np to the very sky- 
 line, was the rent in the mountain that frost or water, 
 or some other of the powerful agents by which Nature 
 works her changes, had made in its steep side. It was 
 like a stone- quarry, but of gigantic size, — wild, forlorn, 
 and desolate. 
 
 " There they go, but slowly," said Solacher, watching 
 the retreating herd. " Now they stop and graze. There's 
 one lying down, — the maledite brood !" 
 
 " Could we not get down to the right, and stalk up 
 round the mountain, and so meet them ?" I asked, not 
 knowing the ground. 
 
 " Yes, we might, but the wind is now coming upwards, 
 and they would be off: it is no good. If I had only 
 seen them directly I looked over, we might have crept 
 round and had a capital shot." 
 
 We sat down and watched them — the usual consola- 
 tion on such occasions ; and we pulled out and ate our 
 crust. From here we saw the massy Plau Berg, slightly 
 covered with snow. It is the first considerable mountain 
 between Tegernsee and the Tyrol, and rises like a strong 
 rampart above the narrow valley of Kreuth. 
 
 We now went downwards, and across a lawn-like 
 meadow, on which stood a hut. In a glade lower down 
 we soon after tracked a good stag ; ' c And he has been 
 here lately too," said my companion, distending his 
 nostrils and sniffing the tainted air. 
 
 As we were going homewards we discovered among 
 the trees a man with a rifle at his back. On approaching 
 nearer we found it was old Solacher, the uncle of Max 
 and brother of the old aunt at Baierisch Zell. 
 
 " He is seventy-two years old," my companion told 
 me ; " and he will still go up any mountain. He has no 
 breath at all !" by which he meant to say that he never 
 
 i 2 
 
116 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was out of breath, let the ascent he had to mount be 
 long as it might.* It was he who once had an affair 
 with a bear. When it was known that the animal was 
 in the mountains, a general turn-out took place and 
 the pursuit began. Old Solacher — young then however 
 — contrived to wound him, but the bear did not drop, 
 aud though he followed the red track for hours, he was 
 unable to come up with him again. He got away then, 
 but was shot four years after in the Tyrol. 
 
 The next morning I was up betimes ; but on looking 
 out of the window and finding the mountains covered 
 with mist, I turned in again. It afterwards cleared up, 
 and Max proposed we should set off in the afternoon 
 for a hut, where we could sleep, and go out the first 
 thing in the morning. "We shall then be close at 
 hand," he observed, "and can have a splendid stalk. 
 Where I intend to go is the best place we have, and 
 after the two drives reserved for the King, it is the one I 
 like most. We must take something with us, to cook 
 our schmarren — some meal and butter, and some bread. 
 We shall be warm enough in the hay." 
 
 " Well, when shall we start ?" 
 
 " Why, it is dark now by five o'clock, so it will be 
 better to leave at one." And having got our things 
 together, off we set, in good spirits and buoyant with 
 expectation. 
 
 * See Note on Poison-eating, at the end of the Volume. 
 
117 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE ALM HUTTE. 
 
 At one o'clock we set off. The snow was gradually dis- 
 appearing from the summit and sides of the Plau Berg, 
 and in place of the smooth, unbroken, equal surface, the 
 rugged dark rock showed itself in patches through the 
 glittering covering. 
 
 "It must be warmer up yonder than it is here," 
 observed Solacher. " The snow is creeping slowly away, 
 and will soon all be gone." 
 
 "Is there any stalking to be had there now?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " No, it is a hundred chances to one that we should 
 find anything. You see, being just on the frontier, the 
 Tyrolians come over the mountains ; and formerly even 
 they were constantly trying what they could get. How- 
 ever, on such a mountain as that the chamois will 
 hardly be exterminated. They have so many places 
 where they can maintain themselves against pursuit; 
 and be sure, long after every chamois is destroyed in 
 the neighbourhood, on the Plau Berg they will still be 
 found." 
 
 "Are any ugly places there ?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, some are ugly enough. But it is not abso- 
 lutely necessary to go where they are, with the exception 
 
118 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 of one, and that cannot well be avoided. You have to 
 step along a very steep and narrow ledge ; and then a 
 place is to be crossed, — you have to spring across it, — 
 which, if not sure-footed and free from giddiness, one 
 could hardly manage, for below it goes down a tremen- 
 dous depth. That is the only place you are absolutely 
 obliged to pass, and there you must go, for by no other 
 way is it possible to get out." 
 
 "There is a ridge, too, is there not, which is very 
 narrow, with a precipice on each side ?" * 
 
 " Yes, but that is not much : it is narrow, but if you 
 are only steady, you may walk across it easily." 
 
 " Not so easily though," I said ; " a friend of mine 
 walked along it, but after a few steps he was obliged to 
 sit down, and with his legs dangling on each side to 
 cross it astride. Did you ever meet any poachers on 
 the Plau Berg, Maxl ?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes," said he ; " I and two assistant-foresters were 
 on the mountains, and we saw seven men, Tyrolians, all 
 armed and looking for chamois. We called to them, 
 and off they ran. One of them however I overtook; 
 I kept his gun, hat, and powder-horn, and then let him 
 
 go." 
 
 " But as there were seven of them, I wonder they 
 made off." 
 
 " Oh," said he, laughing, " the Tyrolians are afraid 
 of the Bavarian bullets : they never hold out, but di- 
 rectly they espy one of us they take to their heels. 
 Some years since a Tyrolian was missed : he had come 
 over, it seems, and had been on the Plau Berg, but he 
 never returned. His friends came and searched for 
 him, and made every possible inquiry, but all in vain; 
 he was never heard of again. Well, since then the 
 Tyrolians have grown shy : they think perhaps that if 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 119 
 
 they come, they too may not find their way home 
 again." 
 
 The manner in which my friend Maxl told this story, 
 made me strongly suspect he knew very well why the 
 Tyrolian never went home again. Of course he vowed 
 that lie knew nothing of the matter, and it certainly is 
 possible he did not ; but there was an archness and a 
 gusto in the way he spoke of it, that made me feel 
 sure of the contrary. As the man's friends never found 
 him, there was certainly a possibility that he had fallen 
 over a precipice, and that the body had rolled down into 
 some deep impenetrable chasm. Such a mountain is of 
 immense extent ; the rents, and clefts, and hollows are 
 innumerable, and if the body had by chance slipped 
 under one of the thousand fragments of rock that are 
 lying about, this circumstance alone might be enough 
 to hide it from the eye of the most careful seeker. Long 
 after, perhaps some chance passer-by might stumble over 
 a few bleached bones, but no one would know whose 
 they were or aught of the dead man's story. 
 
 The case of the Tyrolian on the Plau Berg is by no 
 means a solitary one of the kind. Occasionally, too, 
 the forester's wife will wait and watch in vain for her 
 husband's return. It is not long since that the body 
 of one of the assistant-foresters of Berchtesgaden was 
 found upon the mountain : it had been drawn aside from 
 the path and flung among the latschen, which accounted 
 for its not being found until several months after he 
 had been shot. The poacher was evidently hidden from 
 view, and had allowed him to come along the path 
 within a yard or two of the muzzle of his rifle ; for the 
 dead man's clothes were still black and singed where 
 the ball had entered. It had passed through the middle 
 of his chest. 
 
120 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 In about two hours we arrived at the hut. It stood'' 
 on a pleasant pasturage, and facing it rose the moun- 
 tains partly covered with forest, while on one side a 
 high rock jutted abruptly up into the sky. Behind was 
 a gentle wooded slope ; thither we now went, and looked 
 toward the mountain opposite us. We examined every 
 part with the naked eye and with our glasses, but not a 
 creature was to be seen. We watched for more than an 
 hour ; and then turning toward the rock that rose above 
 the valley, presently saw a chamois grazing, now visible 
 and now disappearing among the herbage. Shortly after 
 we discovered another nearer the summit ; when, as it 
 was getting cold and dusk, we turned toward our hut. 
 
 " We won't disturb them," said Maxl, " for today we 
 could do nothing, and they will be there tomorrow for 
 certain : we shall then be able to get at them better, and 
 may make sure of a shot." 
 
 The hut where we intended to take up our lodging . 
 for the night was, thus late in the season (October 15), 
 of course deserted. The cows had gone down into the 
 valley, and with them the blithe dairymaids. But 
 when they leave their summer abode the door is not 
 locked ; a latch only keeps it from being blown open 
 by the wind; so that the hunter, should he be over- 
 taken by night or by a storm, can enter there and find 
 a comfortable shelter. We went up the steps, lifted the . 
 latch, and entered. Nothing could be neater than the 
 room : it was as clean and nicely arranged as if prepared 
 for a visitor. On one side was a raised hearth of stone, 
 about two feet and a half from the ground : it was large, 
 and necessarily so, for there in summer-time, in a huge 
 copper vessel suspended over the fire by a sort of crane 
 fixed in the Avail, the preparations for cheese-making 
 are carried on. The wall above the hearth was neatly 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 121 
 
 whitewashed, as well as the stones round the hearth 
 itself. Above it was a pile of dry thin laths for lighting 
 a fire, and in one corner a goodly stack of logs for fuel. 
 On a shelf near were some lucifer-matches and a horn 
 spoon; and there was a simple broom, fan-shaped and 
 made of heather, left as a hint for the sojourner there, 
 before he left, to make all as tidy as he had found it. • Max 
 went down a few steps in one corner of the room into 
 the cellar, having first lighted one of the long pieces of 
 resinous wood to serve as a flambeau. Below were the 
 utensils used by the little household during their resi- 
 dence on the mountain, — all bright and clean, and ar- 
 ranged in perfect order : large brown pans for the milk, 
 and smaller ones too, ranged beside each other like the 
 plates over a kitchen dresser ; wooden bowls and pails ; 
 all of which had been well scoured before being stored 
 away for the winter. We brought up such things as we 
 wanted, — some pans to make our schmarren, and a pail 
 to fetch fresh water in. Three other huts stood on the 
 meadow beside the one in which we were, and a rivulet 
 ran gurgling through the herbage, and might be heard 
 tumbling into a rude basin of stones on the other side 
 of a green hillock. Thither Maxl now went to fill the 
 water-pail. Had he been alone he would hardly have 
 gone even thus far without taking his rifle. It is well 
 to be prepared for every risk, and in such situations one 
 can never be safe against a surprise. Should a poacher 
 also come to the hut to pass the night, and the forester 
 be at that moment gone to the spring for water to cook 
 his supper, and his rifle left in the hut, not only would 
 he lose it, but being unarmed he would be entirely at 
 the other's mercy. As long as you have a rifle in your 
 hand, and a tree or a stone to stand behind, the odds 
 are as much in your favour as in that of your adversaries. 
 
122 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 While my companion was gone to the spring, I stood 
 at the door of the hut and looked out upon the scene 
 before me. It was getting dark, and the outlines of 
 the mountains opposite were already indistinct. A cold 
 gust came up from the valley, and in a moment after 
 huge ghost -like forms swept by, followed by others in 
 long succession ; grey trailing clouds passed solemnly on 
 over the meadow, and in a few seconds the whole space 
 between the mountains was filled with thick mist. It 
 is astonishing how quickly the landscape is sometimes 
 enveloped and shut out from view. The meadow was 
 hidden from sight, as well as all else except the nearer 
 hut, which loomed through the vapoury gloom. 
 
 We were both glad to be so comfortably housed, and 
 bolting the door set about making a fire. It was plea- 
 sant and cheering within, as soon as the blaze lighted 
 up the walls and roof, and the dry wood crackled and 
 flung round its sparks upon the hearth. Stowed away 
 in a secret place known only to himself, Solacher had a 
 frying-pan of his own in this hut ; for it seemed he often 
 made it his temporary home, as well when the dairy- 
 maids were gone into the vale as during their summer 
 sojourn here. The frying-pan was fetched, and he at 
 once set about the supper, each of us however having 
 first taken a long draught at the freshly-filled water-pail. 
 
 The rucksacks were opened, and their contents brought 
 forth. In Solacher's was the usual small bag of flour 
 and the wooden box w T ith butter, which the chamois - 
 hunter always carries with him ; and out of the midst 
 of the flour two eggs came to light, which he had put 
 in that safe place for me, in order that the schmarren 
 might be light and delicate. Being an epicure in his 
 way, he had also taken care to have a few apples with 
 him, to make his own mess the more savoury. I had some 
 
THE ALM IIUTTE. 123 
 
 white bread, the remains of a dried sausage, and a small 
 bottle of rum. We inspected our store, and I then blew 
 the fire into a blaze, while Maxl prepared the usual dish 
 of the hunter and mountaineer. It is made in this wise : 
 some of the flour was turned out into an earthen pan ; 
 a certain quantity of water with the yolk of one egg was 
 then added (the other being kept for tomorrow's break- 
 fast); and the whole having been well stirred, water 
 was poured in till it grew sufficiently thin. The frying- 
 pan, containing great lumps of butter, was now put on 
 the fire, and, when this boiled, the contents of the pan 
 were emptied into it. The cake was allowed to get brown 
 on one side, care being taken however that it did not 
 barn; it was then turned, and with an iron instrument 
 the whole was chopped up into pieces varying in size 
 from a filbert to a small walnut. An apple was sliced in, 
 some more butter added, all well stirred up together, 
 and when every little piece was nicely brown, it was 
 turned out smoking into the pan ready to be eaten. 
 
 Sitting on the raised ledge, with our feet inside and 
 towards the hearth, we ate our supper, and well pleased 
 was Maxl at the praise I bestowed upon his cookery. The 
 schmarren was really excellent : to make it well is said 
 not to be so easy as it appears, and without due at- 
 tention the cake becomes heavy and dough-like. A slice 
 of bread and a good draught of water completed the 
 repast. We had lighted one of the long dry resinous 
 strips of wood, and stuck it into the wall to serve as a 
 lamp while supping; but now, while sitting over the 
 embers, we from time to time flung a dry chip or two 
 upon them, and the flickering flame they made threw 
 around a sufficient light. The shutters of the windows 
 were well closed and fastened on the inside, — a very ne- 
 cessary precaution, for should a poacher chance to ap- 
 
124 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 proach a hut whence he saw a light gleaming through 
 the crevices, it would be an easy matter for him, as the 
 forester was sitting over his fire, to gratify revenge, and, 
 stealing quietly to the window, send a bullet through 
 his heart. It is one of the first things therefore on 
 such occasions to see that all is safe.* 
 
 As I sat there enjoying to the full all the comfort of 
 my situation, I could not but feel thankful to the dairy- 
 maids who had left the hut in so neat a state, and en- 
 abled us so easily to satisfy our wants. I said as much 
 to Maxl, but he did not seem to think it called for any 
 praise. " A fine thing indeed," exclaimed he, " if the 
 wenches were to go away and not leave all in order ! I 
 should like to catch them doing such a thing ! A good 
 rating they 'd. get for their laziness. No, all must be 
 cleaned up and put aside, that one may know where to 
 find what is wanted; and wood brought in and stacked, 
 so that a fire may be made directly. Suppose we had 
 come here and found nothing — no dry wood, no pans or 
 hay — we should not have spent a very comfortable even- 
 ing, I think!" 
 
 I was amused at MaxPs looking on all this as a right, 
 which the chamois-hunter, as lord of the creation, might 
 duly claim. The fact is, the young foresters when 
 out on the mountains in summer constantly repair to 
 some particular hut for a warm meal or a night's shel- 
 ter. They are welcome guests, for they bring with them 
 mirth and news of the great world and of what is going 
 
 * Not long before I was at Fischbachau one of tbe keepers was sitting 
 at table with his wife and her little baby in her arms, when a blunder- 
 buss loaded with slugs was fired through the window into the room. 
 The wall opposite still had the shot-marks scattered over it. Luckily 
 no one was Ixurt. And this summer (1851) one of the foresters near 
 Ratisbon had a gun fired into his room at night when Ins family were 
 around him : this time too all escaped. 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 125 
 
 on in the dale. And although perchance none of the 
 lasses is the sweetheart of the youth who is the most 
 frequent visitor at the hut, still the friendly intercourse 
 of many a summer and an interchange of little acts of 
 kindness will cause them to provide, with all a woman's 
 thoughtfulness, for the poor fellow's comfort when he 
 comes to spend a solitary night there in autumn, and 
 the hut is quite deserted ; so before leaving the moun- 
 tain pasturage they will set in order everything for the 
 friend and favourite, who is sure to visit it often when 
 they are gone. 
 
 There was a door in the room in which we were sitting 
 that led immediately into the cow-house, and above it 
 was the hay-loft. Over this door was written, " Catha- 
 rina Hess." I asked Solacher if that was the name of 
 the dairymaid. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " that is her name. She is the pret- 
 tiest girl on all the mountains round. Her sister Lisl is 
 a nice girl too ; such a pair you will not easily match." 
 
 " ; T is a pity they are not here now," I observed. 
 
 " Ay, if they were, what fun we would have ! They 
 should sing and jodeln, and we would make the old hut 
 ring with our merriment." 
 
 But as they were not there, to cheer us with the music 
 of their laughter and their voices, we flung some more 
 wood on the fire, and tried to make the place look bright 
 with the ruddy blaze. 
 
 " If I had but something to boil water in, Solacher, 
 we might have a glass of grog," said T ; " and that would 
 warm us well before going to bed." 
 
 "Grog — what is that? As to boiling some water, 
 that is easy enough ; we shall be sure to find something 
 in the cellar." Taking a firebrand he went below and 
 brought up a couple of pipkins, in one of which we set 
 
126 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the water on the embers to boil ; into the other I poured 
 some rum, and having sugar with me we soon had a hot 
 and fragrant beverage. 
 
 "What is it?" asked Maxl, as he sipped at the edge 
 of the pipkin . " what capital stuff ! Why, it 's like wine, 
 but it is too strong." And though it was far from being 
 anything like a norVester, I was obliged to add much 
 water before it suited his palate — so unvitiated by strong 
 drink was the taste of the hardy and frugal mountaineer. 
 
 We talked about Baierisch Zell, Max Solacher's home ; 
 and he related to me how his father during the war had 
 received a shot through the lungs, " close to the hill," 
 said he, " which you passed in going there." 
 
 "But how did it happen?" I asked. 
 
 " Why, you see, he and seventy-five more went out 
 against five hundred Tyrolians, who had come with carts to 
 plunder the village. The men of Baierisch Zell of course 
 took care to get behind the trees and rocks j and being 
 good shots, each one brought down his man. My father 
 had already killed three, when he himself was hit — per- 
 haps he had shot even more, but of those three he was 
 certain." 
 
 " It was a pity he was wounded so soon, for being so 
 cool and a good shot, he would have knocked over a 
 few more." 
 
 " I remember," he continued, " my father used in par- 
 ticular to tell us of one man, an immense fellow, who 
 kept on loading and firing away like the devil. He was 
 a good shot, and almost all his balls told. He was stand- 
 ing behind a pile of wood, quite protected. Well, my 
 father marked him, and thought to himself, ( I'll soon 
 stop you, my boy V So he kept his eye on him and 
 waited; and just as he leaned a little forward to fire 
 again, my father was too quick for him; in the same 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 127 
 
 second his rifle cracked, and the Tyrolian doubled up 
 together, bent forward, and fell. They were obliged to 
 retreat, and had to use the carts which they had brought 
 to fetch plunder, to carry off their own dead." 
 
 " And your father recovered ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, he lived a long time after that, quite well 
 and hearty." 
 
 " And how was it, Maxl, that your brother Henry got 
 wounded in the foot so badly ?" 
 
 " That the poachers did : those of Miesbach and Schlier 
 See are the worst ; they fire directly they see a forester, 
 no matter whether he attacks them or not. It was near 
 Schlier See that it happened. Henry came suddenly 
 upon five or six poachers, and immediately called to 
 them that he would stand aside and let them pass, with- 
 out attempting to stop them or to fire. And so he did j 
 but one of them, when he got near, fired and hit him in 
 the ankle. He fell directly, and the poachers went on 
 and left him there. With great difficulty he dragged 
 himself to the nearest Senn Hiitte, and the Sennerinnen 
 bandaged his foot and he was carried home." 
 
 "And what about Kreuth, is there much poaching 
 going on now ?" 
 
 " It was not long ago that Ignace, the son of my old 
 uncle, he whom we met yesterday as we were coming 
 home, had an adventure with some of them. It was just 
 on the hill where you shot the kid. He was going up the 
 mountain, and saw the footprints of several men in the 
 snow. He wondered who could have been there, so he 
 followed the track for some time, and presently observed 
 a fellow with a rifle in his hand, waiting and watching 
 for game. He drew nearer and looked well at him, but 
 still without knowing him. At last he asked him what 
 he was doing there, when up jumped the man, crying 
 
128 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 out, f You rascal of a forester, lay down your rifle, or 
 I '11 send a ball through your body/ " 
 
 "And did he?" 
 
 " Of course he did not," replied Max ; " Ignace is a 
 young fellow, only seventeen years old, but he sprang 
 behind a tree and levelled his rifle. The man ran off, 
 and Ignace vows that, if he had not, he would have shot 
 him on the spot." 
 
 And now we talked of old times, when game was plen- 
 tiful on the mountains, of the chamois that had been 
 shot, and by whom and where, and of those matters 
 which to some appear trifling, but which to the hunter 
 are full of interest. We chatted on so long and earnestly 
 that we let the fire get low, and our faces looked almost 
 spectral as the glowing embers threw a faint light upon 
 them. But we flung on more wood, and soon fanned the 
 heap into a cheerful blaze. 
 
 "Let us boil another pipkin-full of water, Maxl," 
 said I; "a little more of what you find so capital, and 
 then to bed." 
 
 He had still many a question to ask, for I had told 
 him about the herds of game in America, and it had set 
 his imagination on fire. How much he would like to go 
 there ! but then the water ! Water he did not like, and 
 he asked how long, in crossing, he would have to be 
 upon it. 
 
 " But what makes you dislike it ?" I inquired. 
 
 " Once, you know, I was stationed at the Konigs See, 
 and in going over the lake in winter when it was frozen 
 I slipped through a hole. I came up under the ice ; but 
 by a wonderful chance, after going down a second time I 
 rose at the hole again, and my comrade pulled me out. 
 Since then I have quite a horror of the water. I should 
 never have left the Konigs See but for that : however as 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 129 
 
 I had often to go on the lake I asked to be stationed 
 elsewhere, for that dread of the water I never could 
 overcome." 
 
 " You would of course rather be there than at Kreuth ?" 
 I asked. 
 
 "Certainly, much rather. There is no place like 
 Berchtesgaden — what mountains and difficult places ! 
 And there too we used to have a right merry life, so many 
 gentlemen came to shoot. Once/' he continued laughing, 
 " something curious happened to me, but though I was 
 sadly disappointed at the time, it amuses me now when I 
 think of it." 
 
 "What was it, Maxl? let us hear the story." 
 
 " Well," said he, " a certain Baron von C came 
 
 from Munich for some shooting. I don't know who 
 he was, but he was sent with a recommendation from 
 some one at court to the head-forester. I was to go 
 with him. The day before we went out, he told me 
 that if he missed the first chamois, he would give me a 
 hundred florins !" 
 
 " If he hit it, you mean," said I, interrupting him. 
 
 " No, no, if he missed, he said I was to have a hun- 
 dred florins, and if he hit, he would give me ten : I was 
 astonished, and asked if he was in earnest. ' Oh yes/ 
 he answered, ' quite so : if I miss the first shot, a hun- 
 dred florins are yours. ' Well, I thought, it is strange 
 enough, — but a hundred florins ! that 's a sum worth 
 having ; and I began considering how I could manage 
 to make him miss the first time he fired. All night 
 I lay awake thinking the matter over, but I could 
 not hit upon any plan whatever. Next day I was go- 
 ing up the mountain to show him his stand before 
 the drive began, when down below us in a gully I saw 
 some chamois. That 's just right, thought I ; now then 
 
130 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 for the hundred florins. So I told him to wait there, 
 while I went on to drive the chamois, to enable him 
 to have a shot at them. When I got to the head of 
 the ravine there lay a great piece of rock that I could 
 hardly move; but by leaning my back against the 
 block I at last succeeded, and over I sent it into the 
 gully below. You may think what a noise it made ! 
 Down it dashed, tearing and crashing, and leaping 
 from rock to rock, into the very midst of the chamois. 
 They were frightened out of their senses, and off they 
 went as fast as they could bound. This was just what 
 I wanted, for I knew that my gentleman was so hot he 
 would fire directly he saw them, whether far or near. 
 And I was right ; bang ! went his rifle not a second 
 after. Now, thought I, the hundred florins are safe; 
 he has missed for certain. When I got back to him I 
 asked if he had hit or missed. He had not missed, he 
 thought. This however we would ascertain on coming 
 back, for to stop then was not possible, as we should have 
 reached the stand only after the drive had begun. I 
 was very pleased all the time, being sure he had not hit 
 him. On our way down I went to look after the chamois ; 
 and sure enough, there he lay, quite dead. The Baron 
 gave me the ten florins as he had promised, but the hun- 
 dred which I had calculated on having I did not get/' 
 
 Our cheerful fire, the warm beverage, and the merry 
 stories we had to tell each other, made the long evening 
 pass away quickly enough. 
 
 "It is a pity the maids have left no cheese here," 
 said Max, who, like myself, was getting hungry again ; 
 " they would if I had told them. They would leave any- 
 thing if they thought it would be of service— cheese, 
 salt, in short whatever I chose to ask for." 
 
 There was something very pleasing in these little acts 
 
THE ALM HUTTE. 131 
 
 of kindness, — this thoughtfulness of another's wants, 
 when there should be no one to minister to them but 
 himself. But indeed there is much good-heartedness in 
 these people ; and I never left the mountains and my 
 trusty friends the foresters, to move again among the 
 conventional forms of town society, without a regret for 
 their many gracious services, rendered always with the 
 best of all politeness — that of a willing heart. 
 
 " Now, Maxl, it is time for bed ; empty the pipkin 
 and then let us turn into the hay. But we will first 
 see how the weather looks." And I opened the door 
 of the hut. Without was darkness as profound as that 
 which must have weighed upon the world when all was 
 yet chaos : not a star was in the sky. I never yet 
 looked upon such darkness : before and around me was 
 one mass of gloom. The gurgling of the rivulet was 
 heard as it crossed the meadow; a low moaning wind 
 moved among the rocks. I shut the door quickly, and 
 Maxl, as my chamberlain, kindling a piece of pine, pre- 
 pared to light me to bed. Having bolted the door, my 
 companion gave me my rifle. " It is better to take 
 it with you," said he ; ' c one can't tell what may happen ; 
 and at all events it is safer than to leave it down here." 
 I scrambled into the loft, whilst Max held up the fla- 
 ming brand at arm's length that I might see to arrange 
 my bed. The bright red flame flung a wild glare over 
 my strange chamber ; the beams of the roof that were 
 nearest caught the light, and the bed of hay where I 
 stood was illumined by the blaze. But further back 
 were shadows huddled together in deep impenetrable 
 corners, as if they had all fled there on the approach 
 of the lurid light. Max now joined me, and with our 
 rifles beside us, and buried in the fragrant hay, we 
 soon fell asleep. 
 
132 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 AN UNLUCKY DAY. 
 
 If not accustomed to such things, you find it rather 
 strange, on awaking in the night, to hear — almost to 
 feel, so near it is to you — the continued patter of the 
 rain- drops on the shingle roof not many inches above 
 your cheek. As I turned in my warm bed, and wound 
 myself still deeper into the dense fragrant mass that 
 composed it, I heard the gentle falling of the rain just 
 above my face, and grumbling inwardly at the unfa- 
 vourable morrow it foretokened, again fell fast asleep. 
 
 I should have been much better pleased had it 
 come down in a good shower, rattling on the shingles 
 as though about to shake them all to pieces, instead 
 of that dull, monotonous, sluggish drizzle, which might 
 continue any number of hours. The moment of half- 
 waking consciousness was just long enough for the dis- 
 contented thought. 
 
 When I next woke it was at the sound of the quar- 
 ters which Solacher's repeater was chiming beside me. 
 Five and three-quarters — it's time to be off! So kick- 
 ing away the heap of hay with which each of us was 
 so comfortably covered, we crept down into the hut. 
 Unbolting the door, to let in the light, we put all in 
 order, replaced everything as we had found it, and 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 133 
 
 sweeping the floor made the place as neat as it was 
 on our arrival the night before. It had ceased raining, 
 but the sky and mountain-tops wore signs of no good 
 promise. 
 
 We went to the rock where the two chamois had been 
 the preceding evening. At the moment of reaching the 
 summit the chamois sprang away in front of us, stopped 
 at a distance, whistled, and then were off again. They 
 had winded us as we were coming up, and had retreated 
 before the apprehended danger long before we could ap- 
 proach them. It was an unfortunate beginning, for we 
 had looked on those two chamois as our own. " It 's all 
 my fault," said Max, vexed and angry ; " I never was 
 here yet but I stalked up the other side j and last night, 
 as I lay thinking it over, I made up my mind to go the 
 same way as before, and yet I took the opposite one. I 
 don't know why I did so ; I never went on that side be- 
 fore. If we had gone more to the right we should hav T e 
 got above them, and had a shot for certain. Himmi ! 
 Donner wetter ! Der Teufi !" he exclaimed, as he stopped 
 a moment and reflected on the matter, and on the chance 
 which had been thrown away. 
 
 Below us thick mists were rolling, so that it was im- 
 possible to see anything. Presently however a sunbeam 
 fell here and there on the peaks of the distant mountains; 
 and, as a sweet smiling face has the power of dissipating 
 tears or sulkiness, anon the whole snowy range was glow- 
 ing in the morning light. The fog dispersed, the sky 
 became blue, and all looked bright and cheerful. We 
 walked on, and came to the brow of a hill from which 
 we could overlook a large space, partly bare and partly 
 covered with low stunted shrubs. It was a long while 
 before we saw anything, but at last Max perceived five 
 chamois at a distance browsing among the latschen. He 
 
134 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 pointed out to me the spot, and exactly described where 
 I was to look for them ; but in spite of all his explana- 
 tions and my endeavours to find them, I was unable to 
 make out one of the dark specks which he said were 
 chamois. We now went after them, keeping just below 
 and on the opposite side of the ridge, and advancing far 
 beyond the place where they stood, came round upon 
 them in front. On our way we fell in with a solitary 
 chamois. 
 
 "Is it one of them, think you?" I whispered to So- 
 lacher. 
 
 " I think not," he answered ; and luckily we succeeded 
 in passing without his disturbing the others. There is 
 nothing more vexatious, when stalking, than to come 
 thus suddenly upon some single animal, causing it to 
 start off and alarm the very buck or red-deer that you 
 might have got- within reach of in a moment or two 
 more. But this time no harm was clone. Solacher went 
 first, creeping along on tiptoe over the grass, with his 
 hat off and his neck stretched out to catch a glimpse of 
 the game we were approaching. Quickly lowering his 
 head, and bending together as if to make himself invi- 
 sible, while his whole body was alive with excitement, he 
 motioned me to advance. I crept forward : the chamois 
 were already on the watch, and gazing, somewhat alarmed, 
 towards the place where we were hidden. Another step, 
 and I was before them : they bounded off, but I selected 
 one, and as it moved away I fired. Maxl looked at me, 
 first in astonishment, and then with an expression of dis- 
 satisfaction. 
 
 "Why, what's the matter with your rifle ?" he asked : 
 " the powder must be damp, or you have not the full 
 charge : it hardly made any report at all." 
 
 I was as surprised as he. It had indeed made hardly 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 135 
 
 more noise than a pop-gun, instead of the usual roar 
 that caused the hills to reverberate. 
 
 " I don't know the reason," said I, greatly vexed at 
 the mishap, and not a little angry at his displeasure : 
 " such a thing never happened to me before." 
 
 " If you go on so, you won't shoot much," said Maxl, 
 growing more and more angry at the misadventure, and 
 evidently longing, had he dared, to give me a good scold- 
 ing for what he conceived was owing to my carelessness. 
 " Why, the bullet did not go a quarter of the distance 
 to the chamois : I would lay a wager it fell not a dozen 
 yards from where we are. You cannot have had half 
 enough powder, or your rifle would never have gone off 
 in such a manner." And with his usually merry face 
 overcast he walked on in silence. 
 
 After having missed a shot a change comes over every- 
 thing. You are no longer light-hearted as you were 
 before, when expectation made you buoyant; you feel 
 discontented with yourself, and, enacting in your mind 
 the whole occurrence over again, wonder how it could 
 possibly have turned out so unfortunately. You are not 
 only dissatisfied with yourself, but dissatisfied with all 
 about you. Nothing gives you pleasure; you care for 
 nothing : one single thought alone occupies you, and 
 that is, " If I could only have one more shot at him ! he 
 should not escape a second time." And all those things 
 that at other times are looked at with delight now afford 
 you none : you hardly cast a glance at the barrier of snow 
 yonder, high up in the sky ; the sunshine does not glad- 
 den you ; and in a sort of desperation you seek comfort 
 by looking at and following the track of the game you 
 have just missed. I do not see much sense in this, 
 though I have often done it, and have hung over the 
 footsteps in the soft earth or in the snow, and examined 
 
136 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the size and depth of the impression, as though by so 
 doing I could conjure up the animal and bring it back 
 again. 
 
 It was now too late in the morning for any chance of 
 a successful stalk ; we therefore returned to the hut and 
 cooked some schmarren for breakfast. As we sat over 
 the fire with the dish between us, eating our meal in 
 silence, I could not but think how great the contrast be- 
 tween the present moment and the cheerful evening of 
 yesterday. Then how merry we were ! now both were 
 dissatisfied and spoke little. We swept up the hearth 
 and went on our way. 
 
 In the afternoon, on our way homewards, we came to 
 a ridge that overlooked the broad side of the mountain. 
 It was a most desolate scene : the wood had been cleared 
 away, and felled trees were lying scattered in all direc- 
 tions, just as they had fallen where the axe of the wood- 
 cutter had laid them low, and the stumps that remained in 
 the ground were sticking out on every side. The surface 
 was broken, and torn up by rain, and by the great stems 
 which had been dragged downwards. A log-hut some 
 few feet high might be seen a long way off: it rather 
 added to the dreariness and melancholy, for there was 
 no sign of life in or near that human habitation. Not a 
 sound was heard ; nothing stirred above the whole sur- 
 face of that sad place. The grey of evening spread over 
 the sky ; the very atmosphere wore the same monotonous 
 dull hue. It was oppressively still and very dreary ; and 
 I was glad, after long looking round in vain to catch 
 sight of some living thing, when Maxl proposed to de- 
 scend into the valley. 
 
 " Schlier See must lie yonder," said I, pointing north- 
 ward ; " it must be somewhere in that direction." 
 
 " Yes," said Max, " it is not very far off. A pretty set 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 137 
 
 they are there ! the poachers of Schlier See and of Hund- 
 ham, near Fischbachau, are the most daring of any : 
 they would as soon shoot a forester as look at him. And 
 how the rascals served Probst once ! You know Probst, 
 don't you ? he is a capital sportsman, and as courageous 
 as a lion. Did I never tell you what happened to him 
 near Schlier See ?" 
 
 " No, what was it ?" 
 
 fS Why, one day he was on the mountain, — it was on 
 the Wilder Fell Alp, — and as he was looking about for 
 chamois he saw two men with rifles, also on the look- 
 out for game : they were not far off, and presently they 
 went into a hut. He waited for a long time, till he knew 
 they had made a fire, and would be busy cooking : it was 
 perhaps three or four hours before he saw smoke rising 
 from the roof, but as soon as he did down he went. He 
 knocked open the door, and called to the men to come 
 out and lay down their rifles ; but no one stirred. — all 
 was still. Probst then rushed into the hut, and, seizing 
 the first fellow he saw, caught him by the throat; at 
 the same moment the other poachers came upon him 
 from behind and pulled him down backwards ; they then 
 beat him unmercifully, took away his rifle, watch, and 
 hat, and, binding his hands and feet together, left him 
 there on the ground. The Sennerinnen were all gone 
 down into the valley, so he might have lain there long 
 enough before any one came near the hut, and have died 
 of hunger and cold. Well, after lying there all that night 
 and the next day, and after trying all he could to get 
 loose, at last on the second day towards evening he was 
 able to free his hands, and with his teeth to undo the 
 cords that bound them, and weak, stiff, and exhausted, he 
 set off homewards. It was late at night when he reached 
 his cottage ; but, ill as he was for a long time afterwards, 
 
138 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 he thought himself very lucky to have escaped with his 
 life." 
 
 It is hardly possible to conceive a more terrible situa- 
 tion : the prospect of death, the solitude of the mountain, 
 the pains of hunger and cold during the long dreary 
 night, as he lay bound hand and foot, the thoughts of 
 home, and many other thoughts, — it must indeed have 
 been a state of mental agony. It seems to me that the 
 possibility of being saved, poor as the chance was, — for 
 who was likely to pass over the mountain ? — must have 
 added to his torment. The constant expectation, the 
 hope from hour to hour, still unrealized and yet clung 
 to with desperate tenacity, — all this, I think, was calcu- 
 lated to make his sufferings greater than if there had 
 been no hope. With what intense longing, with what 
 an acute sense, must he have listened for a sound ! And 
 through the night, as he lay looking up to the stars, how 
 must he have yearned for the morning, and have been 
 solaced when at last he saw it stealing upwards over the 
 sky !* 
 
 But although the poachers always took signal ven- 
 geance on the gamekeepers whenever they got them 
 into their power, on one occasion they refrained from ill- 
 treatment; it is true, however, in this case the person 
 whom they met was not a forester : it was the young 
 Count D , then quite a youth, and who, being passion- 
 ately fond of the chase, was always out on the mountains, 
 sometimes with the foresters, sometimes alone. He had 
 one day given a rendezvous to Max Solacher, and was al- 
 ready on the mountain near the place of meeting, when 
 he heard a shot. He fancied it was Max, who on his way 
 had fired at a vulture or some bird, and took no notice 
 of the circumstance. Soon after he went toward a spot 
 
 * Probst has since married Maxl's eldest sister. 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 139 
 
 where he thought he might find Max, and coming to a 
 kind of " saddle " in the mountain, looked over. His dog 
 had been for some minutes very restless, and thinking 
 it was game he had scented, he reproved him silently by 
 a sign with his hand. But in peering below, instead of 
 chamois he saw a hat, and then another and another; 
 several poachers were there, close beneath him, making 
 their arrangements for the day's operations. He was so 
 near that it is a wonder they did not see his face. Be- 
 hind him all was bare, with only a single latschen where 
 he might conceal himself. He slid back as noiselessly 
 as possible ; and when some yards away from the ridge 
 he cocked his rifle, and passing through a ravine went 
 up the side of a mountain opposite. Here he was quite 
 exposed to their view, and they might easily have seen 
 him, which indeed was the very thing he wished ; for he 
 knew that if they perceived him they would be sure to 
 watch his movements, and wait to see in what direction 
 he went before setting off themselves, and he hoped in 
 the meantime Solacher might come. He went slowly up 
 the path, sitting down occasionally, as if wholly uncon- 
 scious of their neighbourhood. It seems, however, they 
 did not observe him. The young Count then made a cir- 
 cuit, and reached a spot among some rocks, whence he 
 could see the men as they came up out of the hollow. 
 The path they would then have to take crossed an open 
 piece of ground, with hardly a bush upon it, so that they 
 would be quite exposed, whilst he was sheltered by the 
 blocks of stone. Presently he saw their heads appearing, 
 and soon after they came on, one behind the other. He 
 had meanwhile double-shotted his gun, and was now in 
 the act of raising his rifle and calling to the foremost to 
 lay down his weapon, when a voice from the latschen 
 cried out, " Drop your rifle, you fellow of a Count, or it 
 
140 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 will be the worse for you ! " Quick as lightning the 
 other men turned round on hearing these words, and 
 every muzzle was pointed to the spot where the youth 
 was hidden. He of course did as he was bidden; and 
 the men, not without plenty of abuse, went cautiously 
 on their way, one of them always keeping ready to fire 
 in case he should move or attempt to send a bullet after 
 them. 
 
 It was evident that the man behind the latschen must 
 have been there already when the Count took his station 
 among the rocks, having been stationed as sentinel in 
 case of alarm. The poachers knew the youth, which ac- 
 counts for their letting him escape so easily : had Max 
 Solacher been in his place, he would hardly have lived 
 to tell the tale. 
 
 The men had not been long out of sight when the 
 Count heard a shot; he imagined it was from Maxl's 
 rifle, and that, on coming up, he had met the poachers 
 and killed one. 
 
 But he was mistaken : Solacher, as he went along, had 
 merely fired at some animal below him. Hardly had he 
 done so when six men, the same mentioned above, rushed 
 out of a hut on an Aim lower down, and looked about 
 scared and astonished. But they could not discover 
 whence the shot proceeded, and this bewildered them all 
 the more. In order to be safe from a surprise they went 
 to the middle of a large bare spot, without shelter of any 
 kind, where grew a solitary tree, and beneath this they 
 seated themselves. Here they knew they were secure, 
 as no one would approach thus unprotected within shot, 
 and the surrounding rocks were too far off for a game- 
 keeper, if lurking there, to do them any harm. So they 
 waited till it grew dark, and Maxl all the time lay above 
 watching them. At dusk he stole away, and hastened 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 141 
 
 off to a path where he thought they would pass on their 
 way down to the valley. From the spot where he had 
 been watching them were two paths only which it was 
 possible for them to take ; there was no other way of 
 getting down the mountain. He chose the one which 
 he thought the most probable, and waited in silence be- 
 side the path, well concealed, intending when they came 
 to fire both barrels into the midst of them. He staid 
 until eleven, when he heard at a distance the sound of 
 their voices, by which he knew they had taken the other 
 path. 
 
 Evening was closing in, and we hastened our steps. 
 The light bounding motion of Solacher as he sprang down 
 the mountain was really admirable. Over all the ine- 
 qualities, stones, holes, or stumps of trees, he leaped like 
 a roe : leaning on his long pole he jumped over every- 
 thing that came in his way, or swung himself down where 
 the broken ground caused a sudden fall in the descent; 
 no chamois could leap more lightly. He would stop every 
 now and then, and look round to see if I was near, and 
 then bound forwards, and again stand and wait ; for I 
 was tired and lagged behind, which I w r as not wont to 
 do. But after such a day as this had been, and when 
 you have missed one or two shots, the limbs seem to 
 have lost their usual elasticity, and you plod along more 
 wearily than at another time, when the fatigue has been 
 twice as great, but the sport and shooting good. The 
 path was however so bad that it was not possible to go 
 very quickly j it was dark too, which made it still less 
 easy. Sometimes the road was formed by the stems of 
 trees laid side by side, now rendered slippery by water 
 and long use. In one place, while going down-hill, my 
 foot slipped between the stems, one of which crossed my 
 shin about half-way between the ankle and the knee. It 
 
142 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was with no small difficulty I prevented myself from 
 falling forwards ; had I done so, the shinbone must ine- 
 vitably have snapped. There is no end to the mishaps 
 one is exposed to in the mountains, even under favour- 
 able circumstances ; hence the care the hunter always 
 takes to reach the valley while it is light; for where 
 the path is narrow, or the descent precipitous, it would 
 sometimes be an awkward thing to be overtaken by the 
 night. 
 
 Long before we reached the village it was quite dark. 
 The several foresters were at the inn that evening, and 
 there was laughter, music, and merriment ; gay as it was, 
 yet to me, somehow or other, the evening before in the 
 Senn Hutte seemed much more pleasant and cheerful, 
 — the thing was, yesterday I had not missed a chamois. 
 
 Kobell, in one of his poems, has well represented this 
 state of mind. He has taken a little incident of every- 
 day life, and made of it a complete picture. It is a 
 Teniers scene, if you will ; but it is a genuine touch of 
 Nature nevertheless. 
 
 Station. 
 
 Father 's so cross and grumpy, 
 
 He keeps on scold, scold, scold ; 
 Just now he beat poor Trouncer, 
 
 That is so good and old : 
 There's nothing right, no nothing; 
 
 All in the house is wrong. 
 That Dobbin 's lame since Monday, 
 
 Sure that won't vex him long ; 
 The after-math 's all in now, 
 
 So he may well be spared. 
 What can then be the matter ? 
 
 To ask, if I but dared ! 
 
AN UNLUCKY DAY. 143 
 
 " He comes ! Be still, ye children ! " 
 
 The children all keep close, 
 And still as mice, and wonder 
 
 What makes him so morose. 
 The old man cleaned his rifle, 
 
 Then shoved it as it lay ; 
 Lolled in the chimney corner, 
 
 And drove his dog away. 
 
 'T is very late already ; 
 
 At last he falls asleep, 
 When on tiptoe the youngest 
 
 Into the room does creep, 
 And whispers to the others, 
 
 " I 've found it out, good luck ! 
 'T is not about old Dobbin, 
 
 He has missed a chamois buck /" 
 
144 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE BISS. 
 
 On arriving at Kreuth we heard that the King had an- 
 nounced his intention of going out shooting there in a 
 few days. It was therefore useless to remain any longer ; 
 for, until the royal hunt had taken place, all the assis- 
 tant-foresters would be busy in making preparations, and 
 there would be none to accompany me to the mountains. 
 It may be asked, how can such an event occupy so many 
 persons for days beforehand ? In order to ensure a good 
 day's sport, the outlying game is collected as much as 
 possible, and made to move forwards into the neighbour- 
 hood where the royal party are to hunt. For this pur- 
 pose the young gamekeepers pass along the places where 
 the chamois have their haunts, and, by occasionally roll- 
 ing a stone down the crags into the graben* below, dis- 
 turb the game and cause them to bear away for ground 
 more within reach of the approaching operations. This 
 is not a task soon done, or easy of accomplishment : from 
 one mountain to another — though when viewed from 
 
 * Graben. Literally translated, " a ditch, or trench," but in the high- 
 lands it means the rifts in the rocks on the sides of a mountain, and is 
 used indiscriminately whether speaking of one that is five or five hundred 
 feet deep. Sometimes the deep ones are also called "Clam," as " Schwarz- 
 bach Clam," etc. 
 
THE RISS. 145 
 
 below they do not seem far apart — is an intervening 
 space, which it may take a good half day to get over. 
 
 On such occasions the foresters do not go down into 
 the valley at nightfall, but pass several days and nights 
 on the mountains. They must be on the watch too for 
 poachers, and see that none are about, scaring the chamois 
 and sending them scampering away from their accustomed 
 places ; for when disturbed the game is off at once, and 
 does not return again for several days. 
 
 At Tegernsee an anticipated day's sport was frustrated 
 in this manner. I was to have gone out on the Peissen- 
 berg, where there was every chance of being able to get 
 a shot, when the foresters came in with the intelligence 
 that poachers had been there : reports of their rifles had 
 been heard in that direction, and it was vain therefore 
 for me to think of stalking with any prospect of success. 
 Once before, when the King had intended to shoot there, 
 the same thing occurred. The head-forester had sent 
 some of the under-gamekeepers to watch on the moun- 
 tain, with orders to remain out till the appointed day : 
 on account of the lawless state of the country at that 
 time (1849), he sent a gendarme to. accompany them, 
 thinking that the presence of a police-officer would over- 
 awe the marauders, should any be met with. As might 
 have been foretold, he was wrong in his calculation; 
 for* the power which such an individual exercises is a 
 moral one, quite independent of his constable's staff, or, 
 as in the present instance, of his bayonet and side-arms. 
 Obedience to him is ceded out of respect to the law, 
 which happened just at that time to be as devoid of dig- 
 nity as power. Even in the plain the laws had ceased 
 to be respected; it was something to excite a smile 
 therefore thus to see stationed, high up on the moun- 
 tain-top, out of the world as it were, and in presence of 
 
 L 
 
146 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 wild nature only, where courage and physical strength 
 alone availed anything, one " dressed in a little brief au- 
 thority," expecting to curb rough and reckless natures. 
 While on the look-out the gamekeepers and gendarme 
 were surprised by thirty poachers, each armed with a 
 rifle, who at once ordered them to descend and leave 
 them to drive the game according to their pleasure. 
 "Where the numbers presented such odds, opposition 
 would have been ridiculous ; the foresters and their com- 
 panion therefore had no alternative but to return home, 
 and announce that the intended hunt must be postponed. 
 
 These grand hunts in the mountains are very interest- 
 ing, on account of the immense quantity and variety of 
 game that is often seen, besides the opportunities af- 
 forded of observing the habits and movements of the 
 various animals when influenced by fear, surprise, or be- 
 wilderment. At early morning the keepers and their 
 scouts are at the appointed places on the mountains, and 
 at a certain time — at the hour when it is calculated the 
 several sportsmen have reached their stations — they are 
 all on the move. Here and there a stone is let drop ; 
 further on a young mountaineer will pass along the per- 
 pendicular descent, holding on by the trusty latschen, in 
 order to drive out the chamois, and also to reach a spot 
 inaccessible in any other way. 
 
 On such a day perilous places are passed. Each ^ne 
 takes an interest in the work, anxious that the day's sport 
 should be satisfactory ; and as the chamois love to lurk 
 in the wildest retreats, and nooks guarded by precipices, 
 if the men do their work well they are sure to be led 
 along some dangerous passes. None of course is will- 
 ing to lag behind or avoid the peril, but, trusting to 
 his steady foot and unreeling brain, each dares whatever 
 may come in his way. Thus led on by an adventurous 
 
THE RISS. 147 
 
 feeling, a hunt of this kind hardly ever passes without 
 an accident of some sort happening to the men employed. 
 Occasionally too the mists -will rise suddenly, and spread 
 their impenetrable covering over the whole mountain- 
 range. They lie upon the air like a solid thing, and then 
 to move even is indeed perilous : a single step, and the 
 beater may tread, not on the firm ground, but on yield- 
 ing cloud, and toppling over go sinking through an ocean 
 of vapour to the craggy bottom. 
 
 About such matters I heard much from my guide as 
 we walked on towards the Kiss ; for as soon as I found 
 there was nothing more to be done at Kreuth, I packed 
 a few things in my rucksack, and driving to Glass Hut- 
 ten, took thence a bye-path leading into the valley of the 
 Isar. The peasant who accompanied me was an intel- 
 ligent fellow, and knew many a story about those merry 
 times when the mountains were fuller of game than now. 
 And Prince Lowenstein ! how often had he been out with 
 him when he hunted there, and what sport they had ! 
 He talked about the gentlemen who used to join the 
 shooting parties, and was pleased to find that I knew 
 most of them. He had, it seems, been employed as 
 beater, and knew the mountains well, and every Wand 
 and difficult place. And still" he kept on recounting 
 about the past, as one does who has a yearning after re- 
 membered joys; at moments cheerily and with bursts 
 of pleasure, and then with somewhat of sadness in think- 
 ing that such days would never come again. 
 
 I was all the while admiring his nimbleness, as he 
 sped on before me over the broken ground. There was 
 an elasticity of step and an evenness in his pace that 
 never varied up hill or down, across the stony bed of a 
 torrent or over the smooth sward. He wore the usual 
 short leathern breeches, and as I looked at his red-brown 
 
148 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 legs I well understood how, in former times, the English 
 gave the name they did to their northern neighbours as 
 a distinctive appellation ; and this led me to think how 
 in Scotland the whole country used to be roused by just 
 such messengers as he who was now dashing along be- 
 fore me, — a fellow with the least possible clothing, with 
 little flesh, but tendons like whipcord, who knew the 
 passes and short-cuts over the mountains, and could 
 breast the steepest without stopping to take breath. I 
 now comprehended how in an incredibly short space of 
 time all the fighting-men might be called together, — 
 how 
 
 " Each valley, each sequestered glen, 
 Mustered its little horde of men," — 
 
 when messengers swift of foot were thus sent out to 
 spread the alarm in every direction, causing district after 
 district to burst into a blaze; as though the burning 
 brand that was borne along and passed from one fleet 
 runner to the other had the power to fire men's hearts 
 and to kindle enthusiasm. Indeed it was Malise him- 
 self who was before me, hastening on with the words of 
 Roderick still ringing in his ears : 
 
 " The muster-place be Lanric Mead — 
 Instant the time — speed, Malise, speed."* 
 
 We presently came upon the high-road, and were at 
 once at the Fall. A large house, singularly neat and 
 clean-looking, with cow-house and barn adjoining, all 
 indicative of substantial prosperity, is the dwelling of 
 an under-forester. He was out when we arrived, which 
 1 regretted, for I had heard much of a deed of his that 
 gave proof of his resolute intrepidity : it was as follows. 
 
 One evening, rather late, Rietsch happened to look 
 
 * The Lady of the Lake : The Gathering. 
 
THE RISS. 149 
 
 out-of-doors to see what weather it was ; and as he cast 
 his eyes round toward the mountains, what should he 
 espy but a light high up in the direction of some Aim 
 Hiitten ! It was dark, and he could not see the huts, 
 but he knew exactly where they stood. The Senne- 
 rinnen had come down to the valley some weeks before, 
 and, as none of the under-gamekeepers were out that 
 evening, he was sure the light could only be caused by 
 poachers who were making their fire. Rietsch was not 
 long determining what to do. Taking with him one of 
 his assistants who happened to be at home, they started 
 off for the mountain : there was a path all the way up, 
 so that, although it was night, they reached it easily ; 
 besides they knew the road well, and had a lantern with 
 them. On arriving at the hut, they waited till all was 
 quiet ; no more smoke rose from the roof, by which they 
 knew that the fire was out and the men had lain down to 
 sleep. They still waited, when presently Rietsch with a 
 large stone dashed open the door, and both rushed in 
 together. Startled and confused, and waking up sud- 
 denly out of their first sleep, for a moment the poachers 
 did not know what to do, but directly after they instinc- 
 tively reached out their hands for their rifles hanging- 
 near. In their flurry they could not get their weapons 
 off the pegs ; nor did Rietsch and his companion give 
 them much time to do so, but charging down upon the 
 band with the muzzles of their guns, they soon over- 
 powered them. They seized their rifles directly, and the 
 men surrendered, for unarmed they could do nothing. 
 There were three of them, and they begged hard to be 
 released, making the most solemn promises for their fu- 
 ture good -behaviour ; but it was in vain : the next morn- 
 ing at daybreak Rietsch marched his prisoners down to 
 the head-forester's house. 
 
150 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 Such events as these give a zest to the Jager's life : 
 they afford him the highest excitement, and he prefers, 
 I am sure, a moderate number of poachers to having 
 none at all. Would a sailor so love a sea-life were there 
 no danger of tempest and wreck ? It is the perils of 
 the deep that work the charm. It was the saying of a 
 young gamekeeper — one whom the poachers had not 
 spared, for he had been so beaten by them that he was 
 nearly killed — "Without poachers a Jager's life were 
 nothing \ 33 
 
 In going along we met one of the keepers, who wished 
 us good-day as he passed ; my companions told me that 
 a few years ago this man had shot a poacher whom he 
 met on the mountain, adding, " The ball struck him 
 in the very middle of his forehead." He spoke of the 
 circumstance as though it were a target at which his 
 comrade had aimed. 
 
 From the Fall to the Vorder Riss the character of the 
 scenery is profound sadness. At last the road leads 
 through a pine- wood — almost black, so dark its colour ; 
 when suddenly in the distance are signs of human habi- 
 tation, of care and culture, and in another moment the 
 house of the head-forester appears. 
 
 Opposite rise the Karwendel mountains, where the 
 Isar has its source, and on the right the summit of 
 the Zug Spitz is seen. It is a lonely spot, but the 
 snowy peaks impart grandeur to all within sight of 
 them, and in their sharp outline there is no monotony. 
 Nor does the desolateness of the high mountains im- 
 part melancholy, as it is in keeping with the wildness; 
 the vastness of the forms around fills the mind ; their 
 grandeur however does not overwhelm, but elevates it, 
 and leaves no room for anything like fear or sadness. 
 One feeling only you are unable to escape — it creeps 
 
THE RISS. 151 
 
 upon and holds you like an inevitable fate, and you can- 
 not shake it off, — a sense of the awful stillness amidst 
 -which you are. 
 
 As the forester was not at home, nothing could be 
 decided on. I looked about me and chatted with the 
 under-gamekeepers, one of whom had just brought home 
 the good chamois I saw hanging from the paling on my 
 arrival ; among them too was a Solacher, brother to my 
 friend Max and of the girls at Baierisch Zell, so with 
 him I made special acquaintance. 
 
 " You must have a good depth of snow here in winter," 
 I observed : " there is not much chance of getting out 
 except with snow-shoes, I suppose." 
 
 " No, indeed," was the answer : " I have myself seen 
 the snow thus high," pointing to a finger-post which 
 was much taller than himself. "And you know in the 
 Hinter Riss, if any one dies in winter, the peasants can- 
 not even get out to bury the body." 
 " What do they do then ?" 
 
 1 ' They lay the corpse up in the loft under the roof, and 
 it freezes as hard as a rock and remains quite unchanged. 
 When the thaw comes it is carried to the churchyard 
 and buried." 
 
 And there were antlers to be looked at, of stags shot 
 that season, — the last indeed but the day before,— and 
 questions enough to ask about the game, and the places 
 where the stags were most plentiful. Here, as every- 
 where, the game had been greatly thinned ; but chamois 
 were still in the mountains, and on the cold mornings 
 during the rutting season the low hoarse bellowing of 
 the stags might be heard reverberating across the valley. 
 The right of chase here had belonged until lately to 
 His Serene Highness Prince Leiningen, and nothing 
 could be in finer order than this whole forest while in 
 
152 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 his hands : all was done not only with princely magni- 
 ficence, but with skill and even taste, and the arrange- 
 ments were admirably adapted for a thorough enjoy- 
 ment of the chase. Up the steep wooded sides of the 
 mountains narrow zigzag paths were cut in various 
 directions, to enable the stalkers to move along more 
 stealthily when looking out for the stag. On the differ- 
 ent mountains snug hunting-lodges were built, where the 
 Prince and his friends would stay for weeks together in 
 the shooting season, thus avoiding the fatigue of de- 
 scending to the valley when each day's sport was ended : 
 from these lodges to the valley a mule-path was made, 
 by which each morning fresh provisions were brought 
 up. With his usual liberality he would allow a party to 
 take up their abode and stalk on one mountain, while 
 he remained on another opposite, and of an evening the 
 result of the day's sport was telegraphed across. 
 
 The road hence leads on to the Hinter Riss, lying in 
 the Tyrolese territory. The Scharfreuter, upwards of 
 7000 feet high, forms here the barrier which divides the 
 Tyrol from Bavaria ; and beyond this again the Graben- 
 kahr lifts its massy shoulders 9000 feet from where you 
 stand. In the Hinter Riss all is wilder; the moun- 
 tains are less wooded and more craggy ; the dark green 
 of the pines gives way to the grey of the rocks, and 
 sharper lines and more abrupt forms are seen against 
 the sky. 
 
 On the morrow the forester returned, and he was kind 
 enough to propose that I should go out the same after- 
 noon, and try if I could see a chamois towards sunset, 
 when they emerge into the more open places. At three 
 o'clock therefore I and Xavier Solacher started. We 
 crossed the Isar, and were at once on the Grass Berg, 
 which rises immediately over the river. Though steep, 
 
THE RISS. 
 
 153 
 
 the narrow pathway cut in the side made the ascent easy- 
 enough ; and as we looked upwards, or cast a glance al- 
 most straight down on the boisterous torrent, the value 
 of that little path was felt at once : similar ones were to 
 be found crossing and diverging from each other on all 
 sides, leading to the ledge of rocks or to some sheltered 
 nook, which could not otherwise have been approached 
 noiselessly. 
 
 Above us occasionally rose masses of bare rock, and 
 at their base was often such a green plot of herbage as 
 the chamois love to resort to at evening. Once we came 
 to a gully in the mountain- side, whence rose a confused 
 hum of waters, and a better place for a chamois could 
 hardly be found. Xavier told me he usually met one 
 there, yet now we scanned every part in vain. 
 
 We were nearing a turn in the path; Xavier was a step 
 or two in front. I heard something move on one side of 
 me, and a little in advance of where we stood. In order 
 that the slightest sound might not be heard, I stretched 
 out my pole to touch Xavier on the shoulder, that he 
 might stop, or at least move carefully ; but he rounded 
 the corner without being aware that I had heard some- 
 thing. Hardly had he done so when he started back, 
 and bending down, pointed to the spot whence I had 
 heard the gentle rustling, while I quickly moved forwards 
 to get a shot. A two-year-old buck was standing on the 
 edge of the steep, but before I could level my rifle he 
 was dashing downward among the bushes, to pass over 
 to the opposite side. At once I saw three together ; for 
 a moment one stood at gazo, and at the same instant I 
 fired. 
 
 " You have hit him \" cried Xavier : " he dropped at 
 once : now then, let us go and fetch him." So climbing 
 down the ravine across which I fired (called Speien Kas 
 
154 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 im Korst Graben), and up the other side, we found the 
 chamois hanging by his bent horns to a branch trailing 
 near the ground. We cleaned him, the carrion crows 
 croaking above us, and then turned homewards. 
 
 " I wonder you did not hear the chamois, Xavier," I 
 said, as we went down the hill. " It is a pity you did 
 not, for then we might have had the two-year-old instead ; 
 not that it much matters though." 
 
 " I don't hear as well as I did/' he answered. " I 
 was at the great festival at Munich this year, and shot 
 in the shooting-match : the thousands of shots that were 
 fired have almost deafened me j and though I now hear 
 better, I have still a buzzing in my ears." 
 
 " Did you get a prize ?" 
 
 " I believe I shall, but it is not settled yet. Most 
 likely the second. Out of two hundred shots eight only 
 missed the bull's eye, and of these five were fired at the 
 running stag.""* 
 
 " But, Xavier, if you don't get a prize with such 
 practice as that, who could possibly hope for one ?" 
 
 a Oh, there were many who shot better than I did. 
 The first prize my brother Joseph will perhaps get." 
 
 I inquired about the game he had shot, and he told 
 me that last year thirty-six stags had fallen to his rifle. 
 This will give an idea of the abundance of game that 
 formerly was on the mountains. He added, that one 
 morning, when out early, he had counted seventy-five 
 red-deer and a hundred and fifty chamois as he went 
 
 * This is a figure of a stag made of wood, and put on wheels running 
 in a gi-oove ; on the shoulder is a target, with a red heart painted on it. 
 At 125 yards from the spot where you stand are green bushes. The 
 stag is drawn back out of sight, and at a given signal he runs by, and 
 in crossing the open space between the bushes the target is fired at. As 
 the animal moves along it has quite the effect of a real stag passing 
 through the forest. 
 
THE R1SS. 155 
 
 along ; once at Tegernsee he had seen a hundred and 
 seventy-five chamois together ; and the average number 
 of warrantable stags shot in each district every season 
 was twenty-four. 
 
 The quantity in other parts must have been immense. 
 A friend of mine, who was lately on a visit to Prince 
 Lamberg in Styria, told me what the Prince himself 
 related to him : that since the revolution not less than 
 ten thousand head of game have, according to his com- 
 putation, been stolen from his domain, consisting of red- 
 deer, chamois, and roe-deer. To the English reader 
 this seems hardly credible, but from the number known 
 to have been there formerly, and what are now left, it is 
 certainly not an over-estimate.* 
 
 These are exciting stories for the sportsman ; they stir 
 up all his latent longings, and something very like envy 
 creeps into his heart as he listens to them. I have 
 always thought how natural it is that the Indian should 
 furnish his heaven with the rarest hunting-grounds. 
 
 The forester came out to meet us as we approached 
 the house : he had heard my shot, and was curious to 
 know the result. That evening we had a consultation 
 about the proceedings of the morrow, and it was agreed 
 I should try my luck on the Krammets Berg, as the 
 surest place of meeting chamois. 
 
 " Yonder," said he, pointing toward the mountains in 
 front of the house, — " yonder, below the ridge, are broad 
 bare places, where in a morning you are almost sure of 
 seeing something. Should nothing be there," he con- 
 
 * To give a proof that it is not so, I may state that the keepers 
 found every year eight hundred pair of antlers, which the stags had shed. 
 As the number not found is always considerable, some notion may be 
 formed, from this circumstance alone, of the quantity of red-deer which 
 must have been there. 
 
156 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 tinued, speaking to Solacher, " then stalk up to the 
 ridge, and so on to the Clam. In this way you will 
 have chances enough, for chamois are always about." 
 
 The Krammets Berg was the best mountain of all, and 
 I was very grateful to the forester for his kindness in 
 allowing me a day's sport there. 
 
157 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 A day's sport on the krammets berg. 
 
 By half-past three the next morning I was downstairs, 
 and while breakfasting, Solacher was busy with his 
 frying-pan cooking the usual meal of schmarren. We 
 were soon off. The stars were shining brightly, yet as 
 we passed along the pine-wood I rather followed my 
 companion by the sound of his voice and his footsteps 
 than by the aid of sight. By the time we got to the 
 foot of the Krammets Berg however the darkness was 
 waning, and one by one the stars disappeared. The 
 strange faint dimness, similar to that which hovers over 
 the earth during an eclipse, began to spread ; the gloom 
 rolled back, and presently red tongues of brightness 
 announced that day was at hand. The Zug Spitz first 
 saw its coming, and flushed in growing refulgence over 
 the still night-bound world. As the day streamed down 
 its sides, the mists and vapours receded, and the moun- 
 tain-tops came forth, rising from out the cloudy ocean 
 below us as from the midst of the waters on the third 
 day of creation. Soon the whole chain of the Tyrolian 
 Alps was uncovered, and lay beaming before us in the 
 first glad flush of the morning. 
 
 Above us, in the more immediate neighbourhood, the 
 forms of things now grew more distinct. It was no wild 
 
158 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 spot nor much broken : here and there the latschen 
 trailed along, sometimes in dense clumps and sometimes 
 singly. In looking to the left amongst fragments of 
 rock we saw a splendid buck : he was leisurely nibbling 
 the buds of the green branches he found there, quite 
 unconscious of our presence. Between us and him was 
 a broad deep fissure, and all the intervening space was 
 bare, so that to get near him unobserved was almost 
 impossible. While looking at his fair proportions, and 
 wishing that it were practicable to get even a long shot 
 at him, he put an end to our hopes and speculations, by 
 moving slowly away. Before doing so he turned his 
 head in the direction where we stood, and lifting it high 
 in the air gazed for a moment, and directly after was 
 among the latschen. We saw him again at intervals, as 
 he bore away to the opposite side of the mountain. It 
 was very tantalizing, for it was a chance if we should see 
 so good a buck that day. The older bucks are generally 
 alone : they keep too in solitary nooks and inaccessible 
 places ; and if at early morning they are with the herd, 
 they leave it betimes to stray and feed alone. 
 
 " Look ! there are chamois \" said Xavier, pointing to 
 the crest of the mountain a considerable distance to the 
 right of where we were ascending. "Don't you see 
 them ? — yonder, right up against the sky." 
 
 On the right were several black forms moving about, 
 — now vanishing, then re-appearing. As we got higher 
 we saw them quite distinctly even without the glass ; and 
 it was a pretty sight to watch them as they disported 
 themselves, leaping and bounding over the ground. 
 When a stag is thus seen in bold relief against the blue 
 background no sight can be grander : his majestic form 
 appears of a portentous size, and as he tosses his antlers 
 in the air they seem to shake the sky. 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 159 
 
 " We must keep away to the left, or they will see 
 us," said Xavier. "There are many together, and no 
 doubt more are lower down, although we don't see them 
 from here : those above will soon be moving downwards. 
 It is lucky we were off in such good time this morning j 
 this is just the right moment for them." 
 
 " There will hardly be a buck among them, I fear : 
 you can't make one out, can you?" 
 
 " No, as yet those I see are all does ; but there may 
 be one perhaps losver down among the latschen." 
 
 We now kept to the left, and passed over the shoulder 
 of the hill, so that our heads might not be seen by them 
 as we ascended in a line parallel with the spot where they 
 stood. The latschen through which we crept were thick, 
 and it was difficult to get along. Once on the ridge, we 
 still remained on the other side, and so advanced, just 
 keeping our heads below the sky-line. To do this is 
 often not easy ; for the face of a mountain on the north- 
 ern and southern side is not only quite different, but 
 the change begins from the very crest ; on one side the 
 surface being smooth and grassy, and on the other an 
 abrupt and precipitous descent, with a ledge perhaps so 
 narrow as scarcely to afford a footing. This ledge too 
 is not flat, but steeply sloping ; and if snow be lying on 
 it, the difficulty and danger are pretty nearly on a par. 
 
 On we went, hardly daring to raise our heads, lest the 
 chamois, which we knew must now be near, should see 
 and be startled by our forms. Suddenly Xavier, who 
 was a step or two in advance, dropped to the earth ; I 
 knew what that meant, quite as well as when, a second 
 afterwards, he said, " There they are !" pointing to a 
 deep rent or gash in the mountain's side. This yawning 
 chasm, or clam, as such are called,* began just below 
 
 * The name of this one was the Kothl Clam, on the Stahl Joch. 
 
160 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the summit of the mountain, leaving the ridge unscathed. 
 In this clam three chamois were feeding : they had not 
 yet perceived us. I cocked my rifle and stole forwards, 
 while Xavier watched behind. They were moving along 
 one of those narrow ledges, on the face of the rock 
 formed by the projecting strata, and as I advanced some 
 acute sense told them danger was near, for they lifted 
 their heads and listened. One began to retreat; I fired, 
 and saw the ball had told. The others sprang forward, 
 but a second shot brought another to a stand. Neither 
 fell at once, but both were disabled : each one went some 
 distance along a ledge of rocks, choosing, as they always 
 do when wounded, the most inaccessible places. 
 
 I wanted to go down along the edge of the clam and, 
 firing across it, finish at once the two wounded animals ; 
 but this Xavier opposed. 
 
 " No," said he, " leave them for awhile : it is much 
 better. They are both in a bad condition, and by leaving 
 them undisturbed they will get much worse. They won't 
 go away from the spot, and perhaps presently we shall 
 find them dead. If you go after them now, they will 
 make every effort to get off, and as we have no dog with 
 us it might not be an easy matter to track them through 
 the latschen." 
 
 " By getting down yonder," I replied, " I might cer- 
 tainly be able to have a shot and finish them at once ; 
 true it is far, but I would sit down to take a steady aim. 
 As to hitting them, I am quite sure about that." 
 
 " 'Tis further than you think," he replied ; " besides 
 if we leave them at once we can go after the others. 
 These three are not the chamois we saw first." 
 
 " But they will have heard the shots, and are no doubt 
 off by this time." 
 
 " No, they won't have heard them, for they are over 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 161 
 
 the shoulder of the mountain, aud lower down. Now 
 then, let us go." 
 
 I confess I did not like Xavier's plan, for it was most 
 painful to me to leave the chamois there, both badly 
 wounded, to suffer until we came back. I honestly avow 
 I am not one of those excessively humane persons who 
 find cruelty in the chase. To send a bail through a stag 
 or roebuck, and so take his life at once, does not give me 
 a pang, for I do not deem it cruel ; although whenever 
 I stand beside an animal whose life I have just taken, 
 a sudden emotion within always keeps me silent. The 
 taking life, the destroying that which only God can give, 
 seems a so daring deed ; and, contradictory as it may 
 appear for a hunter to say so, my first feeling, as I look 
 at the heap before me, which but now was such a thing 
 for wonder, is to be astounded at what my hand has done. 
 
 For be it remembered that it is not in killing his 
 quarry that the hunter's delight consists, but in the ex- 
 citement of the pursuit, in the varying chances, in the 
 u hope deferred," and above all in that crowning moment 
 when whispering to himself; " Now he is mine I"* Then 
 
 * In these verses from ' The Ballad of the Eoyal Hunt in the New 
 Forest,' some of these pleasurable moments have beenreferred to. 
 
 " Oh, that's delight to be in the greenwood, 
 When all is solemnly still, 
 And there's hardly a breeze to move the leaves 
 Atop of the wooded hill ; 
 
 " And watch with expectant and longing ear 
 For the merest coming sound ; 
 And, breathless, at last hear a rustling step 
 Move stealthily o'er the ground ; 
 
 " And then to behold, with exulting eye, 
 The creature with antlered crest 
 Emerge from a thicket, whose leafy boughs 
 Give way 'fore his broad, brown chest ; 
 
 M 
 
162 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 is the real climax : in that short exquisite second before 
 the death, — before quite all has been obtained, — when 
 the prize, the reward of all your toil and risk, is surely- 
 won, but not yet possessed, — that is the moment of the 
 highest joy. You fire, — he falls, and you are well pleased ; 
 but the sensation is tame compared to the subtle, qui- 
 vering intensity of what you felt before. 
 
 No true lover of the chase can he be, who estimates 
 his pleasure only by the number he has killed : c The 
 Noble Arte* teaches another lesson. 
 
 Few things are more painful to the sportsman than 
 when, by some mischance or want of skill, he causes an 
 animal unnecessary suffering. Unfortunately the very 
 circumstance I am always so anxious to avoid was after- 
 wards to happen with one of these chamois ; the saddest 
 to witness that ever occurred to me in my hunting ex- 
 periences. 
 
 Giving way to my companion I left the clam, and 
 going along the ridge above it, we crept softly down the 
 mountain-side, so as to get on a line level with the spot 
 where the chamois was standing. The latschen were 
 scattered about everywhere pretty thickly; and it was 
 as difficult to get through the stubborn branches with- 
 out their rustling or rebounding, as it was to see the 
 chamois, even when within shot of them. At last we 
 reached a spot where we could look upon a glade, as it 
 
 " And watch how with caution he cometh forth, 
 And how in his pride of height 
 He walketh erect o'er the sunlit sward, 
 Encircled in golden light. 
 
 " And behold him then stand before you there, 
 In that still forest glade alone, 
 Not a bow-shot's length from your own right hand, 
 And to feel he is all your ovonP 
 
 Verse, by Charles Boner. 
 
were, among the bushes j and here they passed or paused 
 a moment or two as they chased each other : it was a 
 merry company. We lay flat on the ground, with our 
 chins in a bush, and watched them. 
 
 " I dont see a buck; do you, Xavier?" said I. 
 
 " No, I hardly think there is one. It is almost too 
 late now. But a doe is there," he continued, with his + 
 eye still to his glass, " with curious horns : one is upright, 
 and the other grows forwards straight out of her fore- 
 head.* Look," pointing with his glass, " don't you see that 
 one to the right, half standing on a fragment of rock ? — 
 that is the one. It is a long shot, but you would hit it." 
 
 I looked and saw the curious growth, and wished to 
 possess the trophy. But then too I longed for a buck — 
 to get a fair shot at a buck — and still I hoped there 
 might be one among the herd, and that I might see him 
 before he made for the latschen. Thus was I divided 
 in my intentions ; and hesitation, whether in stalking 
 or in the affairs of life, is sure to lead to no desirable 
 result. While half resolving to make sure of the fine 
 doe before me, the whole herd began to move. They 
 must have got wind of us, for, gazing round, they were 
 all out of sight in a moment. We went upwards again, 
 and along the side of the mountain. 
 
 " Hush \" cried Xavier, " there's a chamois quite 
 alone." 
 
 "Where? Is it a buck?" 
 
 " Yes, but make haste — it has heard us." 
 
 " Here, your rifle !" said I, holding out my hand to 
 take his, the sights of which were very much finer than 
 
 * Strangely enough I saw these very horns again eight years later 
 hanging up in the collection of his Serene Highness the Duke of Saxe 
 Coburg-Gotha, when on a visit to Eeinhardtsbrunn in 1857. Their 
 peculiar growth struck me instantly, and on inquiring I learnt that the 
 doe had really been shot on the mountain where I once had seen her. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 mine ; and as the chamois was far off, — a hundred and 
 eighty yards for certain, I in this case preferred his to 
 my own. 
 
 " Does it shoot high ?" I asked, sitting down and rest- 
 ing my left elbow on my knee to take a steadier aim. 
 
 "No, where you aim there the bullet strikes; but 
 hold it a little forward, for the wind is now coming up 
 from below." 
 
 ft As I have it now, the ball would graze his breast," 
 I said, about to fire. 
 
 " That's right : you will hit him in the middle of the 
 shoulder." 
 
 Bang ! went the rifle. " He has got the ball for 
 certain, no shot could go off better." 
 
 " You have not touched him," said Xavier, who had 
 been watching the result through his glass : " the ball 
 passed just before his shoulder : I saw it strike the bank 
 behind him." 
 
 " Confound it, that's the effect of allowing for the 
 wind ! But for that I must have hit in the best place. 
 Nothing on earth can fire truer than your rifle." 
 
 " Yes, I know it ; but being so far, and as the wind 
 is coming up from the valley, I thought it safer to make 
 an allowance for the draught." 
 
 There was no use in being irritated ; besides Xavier 
 was so good-tempered and willing a fellow, that it would 
 have been difficult for me to have continued angry long, 
 had I been inclined. We. kept along the ridge until 
 we came to a descent : here we sat down to reconnoitre, 
 and with our glasses examined the ground below. We 
 soon espied a buck, as usual alone : he kept on the move 
 for some time, always holding a downward course, and 
 at last, to our great joy, lay down among some scattered 
 latschen. 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 165 
 
 " Now, then, Xavier, will you try for him V 
 
 " Of course I will : he is certainly a good way off, and 
 the ground is bad enough for stalking, but it is worth 
 a trial at all events/' 
 
 We noted well where the chamois lay, for though we 
 could see the spot plainly from our eminence, we should 
 soon lose sight of it on getting lower. It was to the left 
 of a stony channel that the water had torn in the side 
 of the mountain ; this therefore, and a pine about two 
 hundred yards further off, were taken as landmarks. 
 One more look, to be quite sure of the point to be 
 gained, and we went down the steep. Broken as the 
 surface was, I could not but think how admirably we 
 both crept along. Not a stone rolled ; at each step the 
 heavy-nailed sole came upon the ground like a paw of 
 velvet ; neither of us made use of his pole, lest it might 
 clink against the rock and cause a sound. Not once did 
 we slip ; and when the ground was so uneven that we 
 had to step lower than usual, each steadied himself with 
 his hand, and then the descending foot was dropped 
 gently to the ground. A woman's step in a sick cham- 
 ber is not more lovingly gentle than was that of us two 
 iron-shod male creatures. 
 
 We halted. Xavier made signs that he thought the 
 buck must be yonder. Here were the stones the water 
 had washed down, and there stood the tree. True, the 
 place appeared quite different now to what it did from 
 above, but still on looking round we felt sure this was 
 the spot. We moved towards the latschen, and peered 
 downwards into the space below, but no buck was there ; 
 he must have gone away as we were coming down. As 
 a proof that we had not disturbed him, but had done 
 our work most cautiously, two does were lying not far 
 off, just below us on a patch of green : had the buck 
 
166 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 been disturbed by us, he would, in dashing off, surely 
 have caused them to move away also. 
 
 " Well, Xavier, now for the clam ! How far may it 
 be from here ?" 
 
 " It will take us two good hours to get there : we 
 have come a great way down, you see, and the clam is 
 on the ridge." 
 
 " Is there no water near here V 
 
 " Not a drop : do you want to drink ?" 
 
 " Yes, my mouth is as dry as these stones. Shall we 
 find no spring as we go along ?" 
 
 " No, the only water is down yonder. It is not very 
 near, but if you like I will run and fetch you some." 
 
 (C No, no," said I, " let us go upwards ; we have no 
 time to lose." 
 
 The day was fine and the sun shining, but the heat, 
 though oppressive in getting up the steep, would have 
 been nothing if I could only have assuaged my thirst, 
 which became almost intolerable. There was however 
 no help for it but to go on ; some hours more and we 
 might perhaps be able to obtain drink. 
 
 " How far is it now ?" I asked, breaking silence, for I 
 had been chary of my breath and was choking. 
 
 " We have an hour's walk still," answered Xavier ; 
 and we went on again in silence. 
 
 Just before we reached the clam I stumbled on a 
 puddle. The water, which was dirty enough, had col- 
 lected in a hole in the mud about as large as both my 
 hands. 
 
 "Ah, there's water!" I exclaimed, about to stoop 
 and take a draught. 
 
 " You surely will not drink that," said Xavier, in a 
 tone and with a look that seemed to say I was going to 
 commit an abomination. His manner was such that I 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 167 
 
 confess to the weakness of not doing as I wished and 
 drinking of the pool. 
 
 Thirst is one of the severest trials to which the hunter 
 in the mountains is exposed. To hunger he may get 
 accustomed — as indeed he generally is obliged — but 
 thirst ivill be assuaged, that must be satisfied. Meat is 
 the worst thing he can take with him, for it increases 
 his drought to an unbearable degree. Schmarren is 
 found so admirable, not only for the facility with which 
 the ingredients can be carried and the meal prepared, 
 but also on account of its being very nourishing and not 
 exciting thirst. The fatter the food the better; a roll 
 with the crumb scooped out and a lump of butter put in 
 its place, is as good a thing as any to take in your ruck- 
 sack. 
 
 At last we reached the clam. We saw one of the cha- 
 mois only on a projecting rock, beyond which it could 
 not go. I determined now to do what I had before 
 wished — to get on a line with the animal and give it 
 one last shot. With this intention I therefore crept 
 down along the edge of the clam, keeping myself as 
 much hidden by the latschen as possible, in order not to 
 cause the chamois to move. On coming nearer I saw 
 that Xavier was right ; it was really further across than 
 I had thought. However the chamois must be had, and 
 the only way to get the animal was to despatch it first. 
 To climb further being impossible, I sat down where I 
 was; and having been pleased with the precision of 
 Xavier's rifle, I told him to give it me again, promising 
 that this time the chamois should drop dead on the spot. 
 
 " Mind, 'tis downhill," he said, " therefore aim low. 
 Besides there is a strong current of wind coming up the 
 clam, and it is well to allow for that." 
 
 In the last remark there was, I thought, some truth ; 
 
168 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 for the rent in the mountain-side was as a funnel for the 
 wind, which at this hour of the day would of course be 
 from the valley upwards. So I took a deliberate aim 
 just below the shoulder, at the top of the right fore-leg ; 
 according to my calculation the bullet should have lodged 
 in the very best spot on the shoulder. 
 
 " You have broken his fore-leg, — high up close to the 
 body ! " said Xavier, who was watching for the shot 
 through his glass. 
 
 I was so vexed that I could have hurled the rifle into 
 the depth below me ; not that it had failed in its duty, 
 for nothing could have surpassed it in precision, having 
 struck the animal on the exact spot at which I aimed, 
 but that I should be prolonging the creature's sufferings 
 — this was what incensed me ; and venting my anger on 
 Xavier, who was in no way to blame, I said, "This is 
 the second time I have missed by following your advice." 
 
 The chamois had moved so as to be out of shot ; 
 I therefore told Xavier I would go into the clam, ma- 
 nage to reach the chamois, and fetch it down. 
 
 " Stay here," he answered : " I will go across and 
 fetch it." 
 
 " No, I shall go ; but you can go too if you like," I 
 replied. 
 
 "Indeed you had better stay," said Xavier; "you 
 don't know what it is : if you get into the clam, you 
 will hardly come out again." 
 
 "Nonsense, Xavier! why, look you — first down yonder 
 ledge, and then to the rock. It is not very easy, but it 
 may be managed. And once in the clam, we can climb 
 up the other side somehow or other. Now then, come ! 
 I want to put an end to that poor beast's suffering." 
 
 " You had better not go," said Xavier, gravely, and 
 without moving a step : "you don't know what it is, I 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 169 
 
 assure you. None of the gentlemen who have been out 
 stalking here ever went in. Indeed you had better not, 
 — you cannot tell what it is till you are in it." 
 
 " Have you been there?" I asked. 
 
 " Yes, but it is an ugly place." 
 
 " Well then, come ;" and I cautiously moved toward 
 the spot I had before indicated, as the only place where 
 it was possible to get down into the chasm. I saw that 
 Xavier did not at all like the expedition, and felt uncom- 
 fortable — on my account, — but he said nothing. At last 
 we were in the bed of the clam, and a w r ild spot it was, 
 — much deeper too than I had believed, and wider; and 
 jagged rocks, now that I stood beside them, were grown 
 to twice the size they had seemed before. There was no 
 verdure anywhere, — all was sharp, bleak, grey stone. It 
 was an uncomfortable feeling to look up at the blue sky, 
 and to feel yourself in an abyss of rock, with no visible 
 outlet by which to regain the living world ; for here was 
 no vestige even of life. And what a stillness ! 
 
 To get up the rocks where the chamois lay was indeed 
 not so easy as I thought. Though none of them were 
 high, some were almost perpendicular, and every little 
 projection sharp as a needle ; but, what was worse than 
 all, each piece of stone that might have served to hold 
 by, or as a support to rest the foot on, crumbled away 
 beneath a moderate pressure ; so that if you placed your 
 toe or the side of your foot on such a little projection — 
 hardly broader perhaps than the face of your watch, but 
 still sufficient, if firm, to help you upwards — just when 
 you thought it might be trusted, and your whole weight 
 leaned upon the ledge, it would suddenly break like a 
 dry stick ; and if you happened to be some way up, you 
 came slipping down again, tearing your knees, while 
 your hands clutched at the sharp points to save yourself 
 
170 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 from rolling to the bottom. To the bottom however 
 you were sure to go, and the less the distance it was off 
 the better. Presently we got up again, Xavier in advance, 
 and soon after he was above me on a narrow ledge, and 
 sprang thence to another small crag opposite. 
 
 The space to be cleared was nothing ; but it required 
 great nicety in landing properly on the crag, and in stop- 
 ping the instant your feet rested on it, in order not to 
 go over the other side. This pinnacle of rock was very 
 narrow, and all below sharp and pointed. Xavier, with 
 his rifle well up behind his back, and the pole in his 
 right hand, was over in a second, and stood as firm and 
 upright on his lofty narrow footing as though he had 
 but stepped across. I doubted whether I could manage 
 the jump : the opposite side was where the danger lay, 
 for if I made the leap with only a little too much im- 
 petus, I should not be able to stop myself, and over I 
 must go. 
 
 " Is there no other way, Xavier, of reaching where 
 you now are, but by jumping over ?" 
 
 "No," said he, examining the place, "you cannot 
 cross except by jumping; it is not wide." 
 
 " No, but the other side — that's the thing : it is deep 
 down, is it not ?" 
 
 " Why yes, rather deep ; but come, you can do it." 
 " I feel I cannot, so will not try," I replied, and began 
 to look for some other way. The cleft itself, across which 
 Xavier sprang, was only about twelve or fourteen feet 
 deep ; I was at the bottom of it, and while standing be- 
 tween the two rocks I thought I might manage to climb 
 upwards, with my back against one wall and my feet or 
 knees against the other, as a sweep passes up a perpen- 
 dicular flue, to which this place had a great resemblance. 
 My heavy rifle inconvenienced me, but still I contrived 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 171 
 
 to ascend. I was nearing the top of my chimney, when 
 the chamois, seeing Xavier approach, leaped down into 
 the chasm below, so that we both had onr trouble for no- 
 thing. Coming down the chimney, it not being narrow 
 enough, I found to be more difficult work than get- 
 ting up. 
 
 The chamois was now some distance lower than our- 
 selves ; before going after it therefore we looked for the 
 slot of the one that had made off. The traces of blood 
 on the rocks showed it had taken a direction that led 
 out of the clam. Higher up was a much worse place 
 than where we had just been. 
 
 ff It is very difficult to get out yonder," said Xavier. 
 " The chamois has gone there, and has probably stolen 
 away among the latschen." 
 
 " Have you ever been out that way ?" 
 
 " Yes, once," he answered : " I was up here one day, 
 so 1 thought I would see if there was a way out or not ; 
 -'tis a terrible place, I assure you." 
 
 There was a broad, slanting surface of crumbling rock 
 where we now stood, like an immense table, one end of 
 which was lifted very high. It seemed as if this must 
 lead out of the clam, or at least to a good height up its 
 side ; on this therefore I advanced cautiously. The slope 
 did not end on the ground, but about twenty-five or thirty 
 feet from it, and then fell abruptly to the jagged rocks 
 below. The plane was so inclined that to walk there was 
 hardly possible. Every now and then the brittle surface 
 would crack off : however, difficult as it was, and in spite 
 of a slip or two, I managed to proceed. At last I was 
 obliged to go on all fours. Some minutes after I began 
 to slip backward. The stone crumbled away as it came 
 in contact with my thickly-nailed shoes, which I tried 
 to dig into the rock, and thus stop my descent. I strove 
 
172 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 to seize on every little inequality, regardless of the sharp 
 edges : but as my fingers, bent convulsively like talons, 
 scraped the stone, it crumbled off as though it had been 
 baked clay, tearing the skin like ribbons from my fingers, 
 and cutting into the flesh. Having let go my pole, I 
 heard it slipping down behind me, its iron point clang- 
 ing as it went ; and then it flew over the ledge, bound- 
 ing into the depth below : in a moment I must follow it, 
 for with all my endeavours I was unable to stop myself. 
 I knew the brink must be near, and expected each second 
 to feel my feet in the air. Xavier, who by some means 
 or other had got higher, looked round when he heard my 
 stick rebounding from the rocks, and saw my position. 
 To help was impossible, — indeed he might himself slip, 
 and in another moment come down upon me. He looked 
 and said nothing, awaiting the result of the next second 
 in silence. 
 
 I had made up my mind to go over the brink, and 
 thought all was lost, when suddenly one foot, as it still 
 kept trying to hold by something, was stopped by a little 
 inequality, arresting me in my descent. I was very 
 thankful, but still feared the piece of rock against which 
 my foot leaned might crumble like the rest, and let me 
 slip further. Hardly venturing to move, lest the mo- 
 tion might break it off, I gently turned my head to 
 see how near I was to the brink : my foot had stopped 
 not a couple of inches from the edge of the rock, — but 
 thus much further, and I should have gone backwards 
 over it. The depth of the fall was not enough to have 
 killed me, but quite sufficient to break a leg or arm and 
 a rib or two. Slowly and with the utmost caution I 
 lifted my rifle higher behind my back, and, hardly ven- 
 turing even to do so, drew one knee up and then the 
 other, and again crawled forwards. 
 
-:>.-: 
 
 
 j« 
 
 *>W-> -•-''■■" 
 
 r 
 
 ■ .1 - 
 
 
 
 Comp .y.Th.Korschelt , 
 
 Gedr.V Jul .Adam in " 
 
 A oraben 
 
 Lith.T F.HoKe. 
 
a day's sport on the krammets berg. 173 
 
 " Be careful," said Xavier, now for the first time 
 breaking silence, seeing the danger was past; and he 
 went on. 
 
 He presently called to me not to come further, to 
 stand aside and look out for stones ; and directly after 
 one came leaping down and whizzing through the air. 
 I went toward a wall of rock that rose upright beside 
 the inclined plane above referred to, and hardly had I 
 reached it when larger fragments of rock came leaping 
 by me into the chasm below : they passed close before 
 my face, and then for the first time I comprehended the 
 terrific force of such missiles, and the havoc they are 
 capable of causing in mountain warfare. They were 
 pieces of rock that Xavier had detached in climbing up- 
 wards, and the impetus with which they came whizzing 
 by made them bound back with renewed force from 
 every object in their way, and shoot out far beyond the 
 brink before they fell. They then swept on, out of sight, 
 while the clam re-echoed with their rolling ; but deep 
 and oppressive as was the stillness of that yawning place, 
 the silence thus broken had something discordant, some- 
 thing unearthly in it, and I was almost glad when the 
 sounds died away in some distant hollow.* 
 
 At length I saw Xavier making his way back again. 
 The chamois was not to be seen. We followed its traces 
 some distance, first however binding up my torn fingers, 
 in order not to confound the drops of blood falling from 
 them with that of the chamois : we saw that it had got 
 out of the clam, and was doubtless among the latschen. 
 Without a dog we could then do nothing, for by this 
 time the chamois had probably ceased to bleed ; and to 
 follow it by the slot alone on the hard ground, crossed 
 
 * The drawing facing this page is not a sketch of the clam in ques- 
 tion, but there is much resemblance between the two. — C. B. 
 
174 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and recrossed by that of others which had passed there 
 lately, would be impossible. 
 
 I forgot to say that, when slipping downwards, I had, 
 in order to stop my descent, convulsively clutched at a 
 piece of rock with my right hand, hoping to save myself. 
 It came away like the rest ; yet it caused a momentary 
 strain on my shoulder, and seemed to jerk it out of the 
 socket. For a second or two the arm fell helpless. I 
 had now time to examine the limb, and finding I could 
 lift my arm concluded all was right, and trusted that the 
 pain would cease by the time we got home. 
 
 We now clambered down to the chamois : all was so 
 jagged and broken that there was not a place broad 
 enough to stand upon which was not sharp and cutting. 
 At last how r ever we reached him, and glad enough I was 
 to know the poor animal was out of suffering. 
 
 On looking round for a convenient spot whither we 
 might drag the chamois, in order to clean it before put- 
 ting it in the rucksack, I espied drops of water dripping 
 from a crevice. " Water ! water ! Xavier," I cried with 
 as much delight as when Cortes first beheld the sea from 
 a peak on Darien. A cup which we had with us was 
 quickly fixed so as to receive the precious oozing fluid, 
 and then, with the addition of a little rum from my flask, 
 what a delicious draught did it afford ! 
 
 " Here, Xavier, drink ! Was there ever such water ! 
 How icy cold, and clear I" We sat down and ate a 
 crust of bread, while fresh drops were w r elling into the 
 cup, which we had propped up with stones. How ex- 
 quisite was our repast ! and how strange all the features, 
 deep down in that stony place, telling of a power which 
 made you feel a crushing sense of helplessness ! 
 
 The water came out of the solid rock drop by drop in 
 a marvellous manner, as though Moses' rod had touched 
 
a day's sport on the kuammets berg. 175 
 
 the stone and made it yield us nourishment. It was very 
 like that ancient miracle ; indeed I have many a time 
 thought that miracles still often happen to us, only our 
 thankless hearts fail to recognize them. 
 
 How strong and quickened we felt by our meal ! and 
 Xavier relished the smack of rum in the cup of water as 
 much as his brother had done in the hut near Kreuth 
 over our evening fire. 
 
 " I will look after the chamois tomorrow, with the 
 dog/' said Xavier : " there is no fear of our losing him, 
 he is badly wounded, and is, I dare say, not far off. But 
 now we must think of going homeward, for we have a 
 long distance to walk and it soon gets dark. Let me 
 see, where is the best way out V 3 he continued, examining 
 the steep rock : "up yonder I think we can manage it :" 
 and lifting the chamois on his back he at once set off. 
 But to get up a smooth rock with a dead weight of fifty 
 pounds at your back is not so easy ; holding my pole 
 therefore for him to step on, and disencumbering him 
 of his rifle, which I handed up to him afterwards, he 
 mounted the rocks, and we were soon out of the clam 
 and on the green mountain -side. Now then home- 
 wards ! 
 
 In a few hours' time we saw the forester's house 
 among the trees, and as we came nearer — yes, surely it 
 was no delusion — green arches erected over the road 
 that led thither ; the doorway too was festively adorned 
 with green wreaths, and all looked gay enough. We 
 soon learned that the King had arrived j and the whole 
 house was in a bustle of preparation, getting the rooms 
 in order, preparing dinner, etc. etc. All were busied 
 sufficiently without having an extra visitor ; so I deter- 
 mined to go on to the Fall that same night, and the next 
 morning walk to Hohenburg, a castle formerly the resi- 
 
176 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 dence of his Highness Prince Leiningen, but now belong- 
 ing to an acquaintance of mine. I therefore bade Xavier 
 promise he would not fail to look after the chamois on 
 the morrow, and, taking a glass of ale and a mouthful 
 of bread, once more slung rucksack and rifle over my 
 back and set off. 
 
 There was no time to lose ; the evening was drawing 
 in apace, and I had several miles before me. It was 
 quite dark before I entered the warm room of Rietsclr's 
 house. Although I had that day been on foot for near 
 seventeen hours, I cannot say I was desperately tired, — 
 such is the invigorating effect of the mountain air. 
 
177 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FALL. TO HOHENBURG AND KKEUTH. 
 
 Comfortably smoking his pipe, I found Rietsch sit- 
 ting over a tankard of ale with a companion. With- 
 out asking his name I knew at once it must be Hohen- 
 adel. Before starting for the mountains a friend had 
 said to me, "If you go to Glass Hiitten, mind you 
 see Hohenadel ; he is an Ur-menseh " — a primeval man. 
 And in truth many such are not to be found. He is very 
 tall, broad-chested, sinewy-armed, and his muscular legs 
 seem as though they could support a world ; he certainly 
 would stand more upright beneath the load than Atlas 
 is always represented as doing. And yet, despite his 
 height and evident strength, there is nothing clumsy 
 or even heavy in the appearance of the man. His face 
 wears a good-humoured expression, and gives the assur- 
 ance that he is as peaceably inclined as though he had 
 no advantage over his fellows. Woe betide him how- 
 ever whom he finds, rifle in hand, encroaching on his do- 
 main ! Hohenadel is under-forester to his Royal High- 
 ness Prince Charles of Bavaria, and has before now 
 carried down from the mountains a warrantable stag on 
 his shoulders. Those who know anything about such 
 matters, the weight of the animal, and the difficulty of 
 stepping thus laden down a rugged steep, will understand 
 
 N 
 
178 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the arduousness of the task. His knees trembled, it is 
 true, beneath the weight ; he bore heavily on his staff, 
 and was obliged to rest from time to time; but — he 
 brought it down, and alone. 
 
 As I sat over my supper, chatting with him about the 
 chase, I asked how many stags he had shot in his life, 
 and how many chamois. 
 
 " Oh," said he, " of stags I kept no account, but cha- 
 mois I know exactly ;" and he named a number which, 
 no longer remembering it with exactness, I would rather 
 not indicate at all. I could not but smile at the little 
 estimation in which he held the noble red-deer, when 
 put in comparison with his favourite chamois. 
 
 " A chamois I" he continued, — " ah, that is a different 
 thing altogether ; there is nothing equal to a chamois. 
 I have heard a great talk of hunting wild animals in 
 America, and I don't know where besides, but after all 
 it can't be as fine sport as in our mountains. For what 
 creature is there like a chamois ? As many as I have 
 shot in my time, there's no trouble, no risk that I should 
 think too great to get a shot at one. And what a pleasure 
 it is to watch them !" 
 
 I intended to start early the next morning for 
 Hohenburg, and to spend a day or two there; and 
 Rietsch wanted me to return in about a fortnight, 
 kindly promising that if I did so I should shoot a good 
 buck. 
 
 " By that time the rutting season will have begun, 
 and the old bucks be on the move; they will come 
 out of their lurking-places, and we shall be sure to 
 get a shot. Only come," he said, " and if you were to 
 shoot a good buck in my circuit I should be right well 
 pleased, — only come." 
 
 Tempting as the proposal was, I was obliged to resist- 
 
TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 179 
 
 having arranged to return to Kreuth, if anything was to 
 be done there, to go out again on the mountains, and 
 then to visit the worthy old forester at Fischbachau. 
 By daybreak the next morning I set off, and in an hour 
 or two reached Hohenburg, rising a little over the pic- 
 turesque village of L'anggries. Never before, I think, 
 - did I so appreciate the " creature comforts " of this 
 life as now. After the detestably bad inn at Kreuth, 
 the broad, lofty corridors, the large cheerful bedroom 
 looking out upon the lawn, the neat arrangements, the 
 nicely served breakfast, and the observant attendance, 
 — mindful of everything, forgetting nothing, — all was so 
 delicious a change, that it seemed to me as if until that 
 morning I had never understood what such things were 
 worth. How did all that I had hitherto looked on as 
 mere common comforts now appear luxuries fit only for 
 a Sardanapalus ! 
 
 My Sybarite reflections were suddenly put a stop to 
 by observing, in the mirror opposite, a projection on my 
 right shoulder which was not on the left one, and a 
 nearer examination really showed that one of the bones 
 which met at the shoulder-joint was out of its socket. It 
 was this which had pained me so when slipping down the 
 rock in the Rothel Clam, and the sudden helplessness of 
 the arm was now accounted for. Little could be done 
 however, and I left it as it was. 
 
 After some pleasant days passed at Hohenburg, I 
 took a guide to show me the path through the woods 
 to Kreuth. It poured with rain during the whole day. 
 
 " Just there," said my guide, a tall fellow who had 
 been a cuirassier, " a year or two ago I killed a good 
 stag. It was winter, and the snow lay very deep every- 
 where. We were coming up early, as usual, to bring 
 the wood down into the valley, and saw him stuck 
 
 n 2 
 
180 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 fast in a snowdrift which was over his hannches. I 
 got near him, and knocked him on the head with my 
 hatchet." 
 
 " But you might have helped him out, which would 
 have been much better." 
 
 " He was half-frozen/' he answered, " and quite ex- 
 hausted with struggling : he would not have got over it 
 if I had." 
 
 " And what did you do with him ? Did you take him 
 to the forester ? " 
 
 " No, we kept him ; we divided him between us and 
 took him home." 
 
 "What! you kept him!" 
 
 " Oh, at that time a stag was not so much thought of 
 as now. • However it was the first and last time I ever 
 took one, though I might often have done so. Yonder, 
 you see," he continued, pointing to a little declivity, 
 " was the place where they regularly crossed from one 
 wood to the other — one might have had a shot there any 
 morning ; and in passing the hollow way as usual, that 
 stag fell into the deepest part and could not go further. 
 In winter-time, up here in the woods, ; tis hard work to 
 get along, I assure you."* 
 
 * When the winters are severe, a great amount of game is sure to 
 perish. It is not hunger only that they have to contend against : the 
 deep snow is also quite as frequently fatal to them. In attempting to 
 cross it their slender limbs sink through the slightly-encrusted surface, 
 and, utterly unable to extricate themselves, they are at last frozen to 
 death or overwhelmed by a fresh fall of snow. In the winter of 1854- 
 55 the following red-deer and chamois died from the above causes. This 
 neighbourhood, be it observed, abounded in deer, it being one of the pre- 
 serves of the present King of Bavaria. In district Oberammergau, 30 
 good stags, 100 old hinds. In district Buching, 13 good stags, 20 old 
 hinds, 64 calves, 9 chamois, 20 roes. In another chase the remains of 
 30 head of game were found in the spring. Chamois being so much 
 less heavy than a stag are less liable to immersion in the snowdrifts ; 
 
TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 181 
 
 " Have you much to do iu the forest in winter ?" T 
 asked. 
 
 " Yes," he said, " when there's snow, and it is hard 
 enough to bear, we bring down the wood that we cut 
 in the preceding months, which it would be impossi- 
 ble to do at any other time ; for there are no roads up 
 here, and the paths are so stony that no cart could 
 move over them. But as soon as we can make a Bahn 
 (a smooth hard surface on the snow) we load the wood 
 on sledges, and so bring it down the mountain." 
 
 " J Tis hard work, is it not ?" I asked. 
 
 " Ay, and dangerous too," he said : " such a load of 
 wood is heavy, and on the smooth snow comes down 
 with a rush : if you slip or fall, or cannot stop your- 
 self, and the sledge goes over your leg, it is broken in 
 a moment : some accidents are always happening." 
 
 " But in summer it must be a right pleasant life, out 
 in the forest all day long, and living on the mountain. 
 You stay up there the whole week, do you not ?" 
 
 " Pleasant enough it is," he said, " but 'tis hard work ; 
 and in felling the trees, seldom a summer passes with- 
 out one or other of us being hurt, — a foot or an arm 
 crushed by the stems as they fall, or something of the 
 sort." 
 
 " And how are you paid ?" I asked. 
 
 " That depends : sometimes thirty-six, sometimes forty- 
 two kreutzers a-day* But 'tis a long day from four 
 
 they moreover manage matters very skilfully when crossing such beds 
 not yet hardened by frost. They spread their hoofs as far apart as pos- 
 sible, thus providing themselves for the nonce with a pair of natural 
 snow-shoes ; they often too will bend back their haunches so much 
 that the whole of the hind legs up to the knee rests flat on the snow. 
 
 * Is. or Is. 2d. a day. But at present (1851) the six-pound loaf of 
 excellent bread costs 24 kreutzers, or Sd. English. In the spring it was 
 so low as 4c?., and for a short time even it cost 12 kreutzers, or Z%d. 
 
182 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 o' clock till dark. We begin at three, for it is light then 
 in summer ; and by the time we reach our hut in the 
 evening, what with the air and the work, we are glad 
 enough to cook our supper and lie down to sleep." 
 
 " And you have nothing but your schmarren," I said, 
 — " schmarren and water ?V 
 
 " Nothing but schmarren ; always schmarren and 
 good fresh water. If we had beer or anything else but 
 water we should not get on at all for thirst. On a Sa- 
 turday night, when we come down to the valley, and then 
 on the Sunday, we drink a can of beer or so, but the 
 whole week through not a drop. But the water we get 
 is capital." 
 
 "And on Sunday I suppose you have meat for 
 dinner." 
 
 " Meat !" he exclaimed, quite astonished ; " why none 
 of us ever touches meat from one year's end to another, 
 except may-be at the village wake and at Christmas." 
 
 " And how much fresh butter does a man want in a 
 week — five pounds?" 
 
 " Why yes, about five pounds I think ; that is as much 
 as would go into my wooden box, which I take with me 
 every Monday morning, and by Saturday evening it is 
 nearly or quite empty. For you see by about six or seven 
 o'clock in a morning we are glad of our breakfast, so we 
 make a fire and cook some schmarren ; at eleven we have 
 our dinner ; and then about four we eat something again, 
 and before we go to bed the frying-pan is on the coals 
 once more. All that, you know, takes a good piece of 
 butter every day." 
 
 The huts which these woodcutters inhabit during 
 their summer stay on the mountain are log-huts of 
 the roughest construction. Such buildings are just high 
 enough to stand upright in, — indeed sometimes it is not 
 
TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 183 
 
 possible for a tall man to do so ; but this is not necessary, 
 for when in the hut they are either sitting round the 
 stone hearth in the centre of the dwelling, cooking and 
 eating their meal, or else lying down on their bed of dry 
 leaves and straw. As there is no chimney in the roof, 
 nor any opening beside the door or window, all within 
 becomes in time quite black, as though the great logs 
 were charred by the flame. Yet in a storm, or at dusk, 
 the sight of such a poor place of shelter is greeted with 
 a heartier welcome than we ever bestowed on the most 
 luxurious hotel : its low door, as we push it open and see 
 the cheering blaze, seems then the portal of a palace. 
 
 The dwellings in the mountainous parts of Bavaria are 
 also very different from those of the flat country : they 
 somewhat resemble the cottages of Switzerland, and, in 
 the same manner, harmonize remarkably with the sce- 
 nery amid which they are placed. So much indeed is 
 this the case, that for their particular style of architec- 
 ture the mountains seem a necessary background; the 
 two belong together : indeed the mountains are here as 
 necessary to complete their character, as the landscape 
 background is indispensable to the figures in the Peter 
 Martyr of Titian. 
 
 Put any other building of brick or stone in these val- 
 leys, and the discord, so to speak, will be immediately 
 felt. As it is, the eye finds the gently-sloping lines of 
 the low roof — so low indeed that all its surface is discern- 
 ible — again repeated in the bolder outlines rising up into 
 the sky : there seems an affinity between them, and there 
 is just enough connection to make them component parts 
 of a well-ordered whole. 
 
 The same feeling which guides a painter in the com- 
 position of his picture, which urges the removal of uncon- 
 genial forms, which strives after unity by the harmonious 
 
184 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 blending of the parts, — an intuitive sense of the beauti- 
 ful, in short, which when put in action becomes Art — this 
 feeling it is, which, unconsciously to himself, has guided 
 the mountaineer in the construction of his picturesque 
 dwelling. 
 
 Unpretending, simple as they are, even with all their 
 rustic adornings, they never fail to be admired by the 
 stranger. The pleasing effect they produce on every be- 
 holder arises, in no small degree, from their displaying 
 no disparity between end and means : on the contrary, a 
 sense of perfect purpose is experienced as you look at 
 them ; both the forms and the construction seem to have 
 sprung naturally from the material employed. And they 
 did so : their arrangement was dictated by the various 
 wants and habits of the peasant, and by the climate of 
 the country ; their construction was in accordance with 
 the material used, and adapted to the simple tools, me- 
 chanical contrivances, and particular architectural know- 
 ledge, which the self-taught peasant had at his disposal 
 in building his dwelling. Growing up in this way, — 
 taking a form according to the man's necessities, — not 
 hiding, but rather displaying, the homely material which 
 nature had provided for it, — such a building could not 
 fail of being impressed with a decided character. There 
 is no endeavour to conceal the simple woodwork, or to 
 make it appear of some more valuable stuff than it 
 really is ; nor, above all, are forms or a construction at- 
 tempted, characteristic of, and legitimately belonging to, 
 some other material. The house always looks what it 
 is, the house of a peasant built of wood, fetched perhaps 
 from the neighbouring forest ; nor does it pretend to be 
 anything more. 
 
 With the ornamental part of these buildings it is the 
 same. Here " ornament " is no extraneous thing, but be- 
 
TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 185 
 
 longs exclusively to, and springs naturally from, this style 
 of architecture. Hence the circumstance that these build- 
 ings have a peculiar and decided expression, as much and 
 exclusively their own as that which marks the Greek, 
 Moresque, or Pointed style of architecture. The protru- 
 ding beams naturally suggest a rounding off into a more 
 pleasing form ; in the far-projecting water-spout is an op- 
 portunity for carving some animal's head and throat; and 
 where the converging lines of the gable meet, they are 
 allowed to run on, and crossing each other to present an 
 additional occasion for the introduction of some charac- 
 teristic decoration. 
 
 Colouring too is often used ; the shutters of the lower 
 windows will be pranked with a bright centrepiece, while 
 the balcony and the carved design that gives such a finish 
 to the projecting gable, will wear perhaps a more sober 
 brown. 
 
 There is a great variety in these houses, yet every orna- 
 ment, however rude in execution, is always appropriate 
 to, and in harmony with, the dwelling it is intended to 
 adorn. The style of ornament too is always dictated by 
 the material in which it is to be executed. 
 
 It is not a little remarkable that these houses are con- 
 structed according to the most scientific rules. Neces- 
 sity has here proved an excellent teacher : the parts are 
 put together with a mechanical knowledge which, as I 
 have learned from an experienced architect, is not to be 
 improved on. Within they are dry and warm ; they have 
 an air of comfort too, and in passing one of them you 
 think it must be pleasant to dwell there, and snug and 
 freundlich within ; and even should you not see a bright 
 winsome face at the window, the forehead and brown 
 braided hair shaded by the brim of the green hat, with a 
 golden tassel pendent from it dancing in the sun, — still, 
 
186 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 without such inducement, you feel that you would much 
 like to enter there*. 
 
 My guide now pointed to a high peak on our right : 
 " A year or two ago/' said he, " a peasant was lost up 
 there: he went out on the mountain, and never came 
 back." 
 
 " Out poaching, I suppose — eh ? " 
 
 " Yes, he was out with his rifle, and alone. For three 
 whole days his friends — a band of them — scoured the 
 mountain in search of him, but could find nothing. They 
 knew he had gone there, because he said he intended 
 doing so ; besides, the last time he had been seen alive 
 was by a boy who met him on the way; but with all 
 their trouble they discovered nothing. 
 
 " And what did they think had become of him ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, no doubt he was shot, and the body hidden some- 
 where. A mountain, to be sure, is a large thing ; yet if 
 he had slipped down anywhere, some trace of him would 
 surely have been found, for every part was searched day 
 after day, and I know not how many there were out look- 
 ing for him. They were in a great rage, suspecting he 
 had been shot ; and if they could have had the slightest 
 proof of this against any of the gamekeepers, they would 
 have taken a terrible revenge." 
 
 At last we saw Kreuth below us, while crossing the 
 
 * Should the reader of these remarks be curious to know the cost of 
 such buildings, it is to be computed thus : one florin per square foot 
 contained in each story, and half as much for the construction of the 
 roof. Thu3 a cottage forty feet long by thirty broad, and one story high, 
 would cost as follows : — 40 x 30 = 1200 florins for the ground-floor; the 
 same for the first story, 2400 florins ; which, with 600 for the roof, makes 
 3000 florins, or £250 for the whole building. For tins sum it could be 
 built with a certain finish and with all the decoration usually found in 
 such cottages. The foundations are always of stone. 
 
TO IIOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 187 
 
 oozy meadows on the hill-side ; and, soaking as we both 
 were, the smoke that crept lazily upwards through the 
 misty rain from the chimney of the inn was a welcome 
 and cheerful sight. I had a warMi meal set before my 
 guide ; and as the days were now short, and it was im- 
 portant he should reach home before it grew dark, he 
 soon set off on his way back. My first visit was to the 
 forester's house, where I learned that Max Solacher had 
 shot a good stag the day before, and was now out on 
 the mountain looking after poachers. Shots had been 
 heard, it seems, in the direction where we had been 
 lately, and Maxl was off at once after the invaders. 
 Woe betide him who comes within reach of his rifle, 
 and alone ! 
 
 The stag was one of twelve, and had he been shot 
 earlier would have been a splendid prize. But now, his 
 lank shrunken sides made me doubly regret the necessity 
 of thus killing everything, whether in or out of season. 
 
 On Monday it rained ; on Tuesday I went out again 
 with Max, but could not get a shot. It was afternoon, 
 and we were going slowly upwards, when close above us 
 we saw five men, each with a rifle at his back. Down 
 we dropped behind a block of stone, to watch them. 
 They were going along one behind the other on a. narrow 
 path, and talking loudly. 
 
 " Do you know them ? " I asked Max, who was ex- 
 amining them attentively. 
 
 " Three of them I know, but I cannot make out who 
 the two others are. Let us go on, and see what they in- 
 tend to do." 
 
 We proceeded accordingly, — at first, on account of the 
 unbroken surface of the ground, keeping below and pa- 
 rallel with them, but afterwards following in their very 
 footsteps. Sometimes we waited to let them pass on, and 
 
188 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 only when they were a considerable distance in advance 
 did we rise up from behind a low bush where we had been 
 lying, and go after them again. Once, on coming to a 
 ridge, we lost sight of them. Before us was a vast hollow, 
 broken here and there, and partly filled with high lat- 
 schen. We sat down, and peered around for them in 
 vain. Yet they had passed there, for we distinctly made 
 out their trail upon the ground. Presently an unusual 
 sound rose on the air, and came floating up from the dark 
 hollow — it was their voices ; and we now saw them going 
 up the other side, where they all sat down, while one 
 took out a glass and examined the slopes above which we 
 were sitting. 
 
 " He is looking at us," said I to Solacher. 
 
 " No, he could not distinguish us where we are ; be- 
 sides the others are talking and laughing," he continued, 
 still looking through his glass, " and if he had perceived 
 us they would all be looking this way." 
 
 When they moved we rose and followed, till at last 
 they stopped at a hut built on a clearing of the moun- 
 tain : just below them lay a tree, blown down by the 
 wind ; behind this we took up our position, so near that 
 we could almost hear what they said. 
 
 " I see !" said Maxl, " they intend stopping there to- 
 night, to be ready betimes tomorrow morning. Ha, ha \" 
 he exclaimed, "the door is locked and they can't find 
 the key." The men were evidently hunting for some- 
 thing in all directions. Some climbed up and searched 
 beneath the eaves, while another felt in holes and corners 
 where the missing object was likely to be. At last it was 
 found, and they all disappeared within the hut. 
 
 The right of chase in that neighbourhood, Max told 
 me, belonged to the parish within which the men dwelt ; 
 there was however little doubt they would not be very 
 
TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 189 
 
 scrupulous about overstepping their boundary, if a chance 
 of getting something presented itself. 
 
 From our covert we had a full view of the hut : the 
 men had cooked their supper, and came out and sat 
 under a tree to enjoy themselves : one went and fetched 
 a pitcher of water, and set it down in the midst of them. 
 Maxl all this while was abusing them between his teeth 
 to his heart's content, and muttering all sorts of male- 
 dictions upon their heads. This however was not so 
 much for what he then saw, as on account of what in 
 imagination he saw them doing on the morrow ; he knew 
 very well that they would not stand on much ceremony 
 about boundary-lines and limits ; and even should they 
 not shoot any of his game, their very presence disturbed 
 the chamois, and perhaps drove them over to the adjacent 
 territory, and once there they became lawful booty. 
 
 A constant warfare is unceasingly carried on between 
 these two classes of men; their reciprocal hate never 
 slumbers, any more than their ingenuity in devising plans 
 of vengeance against each other. Seven years ago a 
 keeper whose game had suffered considerably from re- 
 peated depredations, and who had been unable, in spite 
 of all his endeavours, to overtake the marauders, hit 
 upon the following contrivance to work them injury. He 
 knew that when they were out on the mountain they 
 generally took shelter in a certain hut, where they made 
 a fire and cooked their meal. He therefore procured a 
 bomb, filled it with powder, and buried it in the hearth 
 a little way below the surface. He hoped that by the 
 time their schmarren was cooked, and the men were 
 sitting round the fire enjoying its warmth, the glowing 
 embers would have ignited the combustible mass and 
 caused it to explode : cowering as he knew they would 
 be round the blaze, he rightly judged the effects would 
 
190 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 be tremendous. The forester was disappointed however ; 
 the men came and kindled their fire as usual above the 
 spot where the bomb was hidden, but from some cause 
 or other, from being too deep perhaps, no explosion took 
 place. 
 
 " I '11 take good care they shall not get much here, at 
 least," said Max; and cocking his rifle, both barrels 
 thundered one after the other, and broke for some mi- 
 nutes the quiet of the still evening scene. " If any game 
 is on my side of the mountain, it will be off now," said 
 he ; " and if they want a chamois they must go on their 
 own ground. But look how astonished they all are at 
 hearing a shot so near them [" And then, after waiting a 
 few minutes to see what they would do, we went leisurely 
 downwards to the valley. 
 
 W,. 
 
191 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 BAIEBISCH ZELL. 
 
 On leaving Kreuth I started once more for Fischbachau, 
 and it was with sincere pleasure I looked forward to 
 finding myself again the guest of the worthy forester. 
 I should also be glad to pay the Solachers a visit, and 
 tell them I had met their brother ; to pass again a plea- 
 sant evening m their comfortable dwelling, and see once 
 more that sweetest picture of maidenhood, the gentle and 
 blushing Marie. 
 
 From Berger I heard that the chamois had re-ap- 
 peared ; he had seen several during my absence, and had 
 besides tracked a good stag near the spot where we had 
 met the deer on the first day of our going out. He felt 
 sure we should be able to get a shot or two, and this 
 assurance made me all the more anxiously long for the 
 rain to cease and the weather to clear up. But still it 
 kept pouring down, and the whole of Saturday and Sun- 
 day not even a glimpse of blue sky was to be obtained. 
 On Monday afternoon all changed; the thin vapoury 
 mist which had filled the atmosphere was swept away ; 
 in the direction of the plain glimpses of brightness were 
 discernible, and soon the crests of the mountains showed 
 themselves with sharp outline in the now clear air. All 
 wore a cheerful aspect, and buoyant with hope I set off 
 
192 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 for Baierisch Zell, intending to pass the night at the So- 
 lachers' cottage, in order to be out betimes the following 
 morning. 
 
 When thus setting out for the chase after a long im- 
 prisonment, a delicious feeling of gladness, an elasticity 
 of heart and limb, possesses the whole being : it is an 
 exquisite sensation. Your nature feels the sweet influ- 
 ences as much as the external nature around you. The 
 refreshing, softening rain, that has filled every valley 
 with a humming sound, makes your heart leap like 
 those rivulets; the blue sky above you seems to have 
 pervaded your mind with its serene colouring, just as it 
 reflects itself in the glittering landscape, still trembling 
 with rain-drops, and sheds over it a peculiar azure bright- 
 ness. Expectation is rife, and as you chat with your com- 
 panion while stepping lightly along, pleasantest thoughts 
 rise with the hopeful excitement ; for as to the chances 
 which you feel sure are before you, why you would not 
 cede them for a kingdom. Every trifle contributes to 
 your delight : it is a pleasure even to be so well shod, 
 and to defy the water and the pointed stones ; you exult 
 in your strength, and in the feeling of independence 
 which that, and a firm heart, and your good rifle give 
 you. The very obstacles you meet on your path pro- 
 duce a pleasurable sense of power to overcome them. 
 The smell of the moistened earth, and the gum-like ex- 
 halations of the pine-forest, are more grateful to you 
 than all the odours of Araby the Blest. 
 
 As we went along, I asked Berger about the elder of 
 the brothers Solacher, and how he was so badly wounded 
 by the poachers. I knew he had been disabled by them, 
 but all the attendant circumstances I had never heard, 
 or had forgotten them. 
 
 " That happened," said Berger, " about an hour's walk 
 
BAIERISCH ZELL. 193 
 
 from Schlier See. A great number of the foresters had 
 
 had a rendezvous, to watch for poachers. I don't know 
 
 how many there were, but from all the neighbouring 
 
 forests some came — from Tegernsee and Baierisch Zell, 
 
 Schlier See, Kreuth, and Fallep. There were altogether 
 
 fifteen Jager. They had already been out three days, 
 
 and it came on very bad weather, with pouring rain. It 
 
 was useless staying out any longer, so they separated to 
 
 go home. The others had gone some distance, when 
 
 Joseph Solacher and an assistant-forester who was with 
 
 him heard a shot. They both ran forwards as fast as they 
 
 could to where the report came from, and said, f There 
 
 are those rascally Kranzberger boys* shooting again ! but 
 
 we have caught them now, and they shall repent it/ 
 
 The Kranzberger boys were two youths who lived in a 
 
 hut not far off, and who, it was known, used whenever 
 
 an opportunity offered to carry on poaching in a small 
 
 way. Well, as I said, Joseph, and Bauer, who was with 
 
 him — you know Bauer, don't you? a fine handsome 
 
 young fellow as you would wish to see — he and Joseph 
 
 ran forward, and when they came to the brow of the hill 
 
 they heard some one loading a rifle, ramming the ball 
 
 into the barrel, and a moment after saw before them, 
 
 about eighty or ninety yards off, the two fellows standing 
 
 over a roe they had shot. It was a little green spot, 
 
 with a tree or two on it, and not too far, — just a good 
 
 shot from where Joseph stood. But he did not want to 
 
 fire at them ; he thought he would take away their guns, 
 
 and give the young fellows a sound thrashing, and then 
 
 send them about their business. So, as I said, he did 
 
 * In the mountains the word "boy" ("Bube," or in the dialect "Bua,") 
 does not always imply one in the age of boyhood, but is used when 
 speaking of young men generally, as Burns does the word " lads," which 
 is equivalent to it. 
 
194 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 not fire, but went round, to be able to get nearer before 
 he sprang forward to lay bold of them ; for by going 
 round the little mound where they stood he could steal 
 close up to them unperceived. They must have heard 
 something however: for at the moment that Joseph 
 showed himself and was going towards them, one of the 
 poachers — for Joseph now saw it was not the boys, 
 as he thought, but two men — snatched up his rifle to 
 fire." 
 
 " They must have been quite close to each other, were 
 they not?" 
 
 " To be sure they were, quite close ; perhaps eight or 
 at most ten yards apart. If Joseph had not felt sure 
 that it was the Kranzberger boys he would have been 
 more cautious, you know, and not have exposed himself; 
 but he thought for certain it was they. He had gone 
 round, on purpose to get quite close up to them before 
 seizing them. Well, directly he saw the man level his 
 rifle at him, there was nothing left him, unprepared as 
 he was, but to spring behind a tree which was close by. 
 Just as he did so the poacher fired. Joseph gave a turn, 
 but he thought the ball had hit the stock of his gun, 
 which he still had at his back, and it was that which 
 caused the shock he felt ; and he was going to lay hold 
 of his rifle, in readiness lest one of the fellows should ap- 
 proach, when he found he could not move his arm. It 
 hung down quite helpless like a dead thing, and then only 
 he discovered that he had been shot. At the moment 
 he had not felt it at all. Turning to Bauer he said, f My 
 God, Bauer, they have hit me I* Both stood behind the 
 tree for a while, but Joseph naturally could do nothing 
 with his shattered arm. At last he said to Bauer that 
 the pain was so great he could not bear it any longer, and 
 that come what might he must go. The others heard all 
 
BAIERISCH ZELL. 195 
 
 he said, for you know they were quite close, behind ano- 
 ther tree at most seven yards off. Bauer told him to go, 
 and he would watch the others ; and if one of them moved 
 forward to fire, he would let fly at him the same moment. 
 Joseph went off, and they did not attempt to shoot at 
 him. As he went along he ate a mouthful of gunpowder, 
 and got safe home at last." 
 
 " And what did Bauer do afterwards ?" 
 
 "He kept where he was behind the tree, with his rifle 
 raised the whole time, ready to take advantage of the 
 least movement of the poachers which should present 
 never so small a mark to aim at. Once he thought, 
 if he took great care and was very steady, he might 
 hit one. He only saw a part of his head : he fired, and 
 shot the poacher's cap off. The bullet just grazed the 
 tree in passing, so little did the man's head project be- 
 yond it ; but Bauer thought he might manage to hit him, 
 and, you see, he very nearly did so." 
 
 " Well, but how did the affair end ?" 
 
 " Oh, there they remained opposite each other till it 
 grew dark, and then they went off: for in the dark, 
 you know, neither could see to fire at the other in 
 going away. The next day they found the roebuck and 
 the cap lying on the ground, and saw where the bullet 
 had grazed the tree. Joseph's arm was shattered above 
 the elbow, and it is the greatest wonder that he did not 
 lose it entirely. He cannot use it much, but it is better 
 than having none. It is stiff and very weak ; but being 
 the right arm, he can still shoot with a rifle, which he is 
 very glad of." 
 
 At the Solachcrs' all were at home, and Joseph the 
 elder brother too, who had returned from Munich, where 
 he had been when I was last at his cottage. He had got 
 a prize — the first if I remember rightly— consisting of a 
 
 o 2 
 
196 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 most splendid flag, besides a sum of about £6. The 
 flag was of blue silk, with the royal arms embroidered 
 in relief in the centre, and bordered with silver fringe 
 and tassels. It was a trophy that any one might have 
 been proud to carry off. 
 
 Though the severe fracture of Joseph's arm had been 
 cured, so as to enable him still to fire at a target, it 
 had caused a lameness in that side of the body, and 
 the right leg was weak and palsied. He had received 
 a pension for his services, and now lived with his 
 sisters and aunt on the little estate, which, though 
 small, was his own. The girls all welcomed me with the 
 kindest greeting, and right pleased was I to be again 
 among them. 
 
BAIERISCH ZELL. 197 
 
 Mok. 
 
 It may be well to give some account of the way in which the shots are 
 reckoned at these shooting-matches. The target is eighteen inches in 
 diameter ; the bull's-eye six. This latter however is marked with three 
 circles, equidistant from each other. A shot in the innermost circle 
 counts four, in the next three, and so on ; while any out of the btul's- 
 eye is not counted at all. The very centre of the target is marked by a 
 small copper pin, and only those whose balls have touched this can have 
 a chance of a prize. When the shots of two or more persons are of such 
 equal pretensions as to make it difficult to decide on the priority of their 
 claims, a fresh target is set up, and a single shot fired by each is the 
 ordeal they have to undergo.* The usual distance at such matches is 
 125 yards ; and the length of the barrel of the rifle is not to exceed 30£ 
 inches in length, nor are the bullets to be fewer in number than twenty - 
 four to the pound. It was good shooting therefore of Xavier Solacher to 
 hit the bull's-eye 192 times out of 200 shots, and of these eight which 
 he missed more than the half were fired at a moving target. 
 
 As each shot is fired, the hole in the target is stopped with a wooden 
 plug, having a number on it. This number is then entered in a book, and 
 opposite it a 1, 2, 3, or 4, according as the ball was in one of these rings. 
 On a second paper, which each person who takes part in the match has 
 in his pocket, is also inscribed the number of the ring. When all is over, 
 and after the prizes are awarded, the stakes are divided, as well as the 
 money paid for the shots ; for I should have remarked that the stakes 
 enable you only to a limited number of shots, and all above that number 
 must be paid for extra, generally six kreutzers, or twopence each. The 
 
 * At a shooting-match at Partenkirchen I saw a young forester strike 
 the point, di'illing a hole through the very centre of the target. But as 
 there was another who had as good a shot to show, he determined to 
 decide at once who was to be conqueror, and had a fresh target put up 
 for that purpose. He fired, and his bullet again cut a hole in the centre 
 of the inner ring, and this time so exactly in the middle as if it had 
 been marked out with a pair of compasses. The other was less fortunate. 
 There was of course some chance in thus firing two such shots in succes- 
 
198 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 whole sum thus obtained is added together, and also the number of cir- 
 cles entered in the book ; one is divided by the other, and the result 
 shows how much can be given for each ring on the target. Thus, if I 
 fire a hundred shots, and hit the bull's-eye seventy times, sometimes in 
 the third or fourth circle, so that I count altogether one hundred and 
 seventy rings, and if on inspecting the money in hand it is found there 
 is enough to pay 10 krs. for each ring, I should get for my seventy shots 
 30 fls. 40 krs., or something more than £2. 10s. 
 
 To add to the gaiety of the festival, the targets are so constructed that 
 when the head of the pin in the centre is struck a cannon goes off, and 
 the figure of a Tyrolese, or perhaps a pair of flags, suddenly rise up 
 from behind. The marker at the target has generally some fantastic 
 costume, and when you have hit the very centre he plays all sorts of 
 antics, as if for joy ; and while bringing the target to the umpires, dances 
 and shouts exultingly, knowing that he will receive a small present from 
 the lucky marksman. Altogether it is a merry scene. 
 
 
199 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 We were up and ready long before dawn, and Nanny 
 with her accustomed kindness had prepared my break- 
 fast, and stood by and chatted with me while I drank 
 the excellent coffee which was her making, well pleased 
 that I found all so good. It always caused me pleasure 
 to see her bright intelligent face, and the patois in which 
 she spoke gave, to me at least, an additional charm to 
 her lively, sensible talk.* 
 
 " Joseph is going with you today," she said, " he will 
 like to accompany you if you have no objection." 
 
 " Of course not ; I shall be very glad to have him. 
 Who would not like to have a Solacher with him on the 
 mountain V And so she thought too in her heart, I 
 know j for though the last part of her sentence was added 
 for politeness, she no doubt deemed — and was quite right 
 in doing so — that the gain and the honour were entirely 
 on my side. It always pleased me to see the love and 
 pride with which these girls invariably spoke of their 
 brothers. There was all the sister's affection, all the 
 genuine woman's pride, in being able to talk of them 
 as their brothers. It was a theme they never tired of 
 
 * "A sort of Doric dialect,'' as Humphrey Clinker says of the Scotch, 
 " which gives an idea of amiable simplicity." 
 
200 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 listening to, although they never began it ; but if you 
 spoke of them, their countenances betokened satisfac- 
 tion, and they would say perhaps, " Yes, all the gentle- 
 men like to go out with Maxl f or, " Xavier is a good 
 boy, and a good hunter too : he 's a sure shot, and has 
 won a prize this year at the great shooting-match." And 
 when Joseph brought home his richly-embroidered flag, 
 they were more pleased and prouder of it than if he 
 had bought each of them a bright kerchief or a boddice 
 worked with silver. 
 
 " Nanny," said I, " you promised me a flower for my 
 hat, and you have not given me one yet." 
 
 ' ' Ah, ah ! because you cannot get one of the younger 
 sister you come to me; is not that it?" she said archly. 
 
 " No indeed, my good girl, it is not so. It would, I 
 know, be useless for me to ask Marie to give me a flower, 
 though there is some one else, I think, who would not 
 ask in vain." 
 
 " Well, V 11 see if I have one," she said ; and giving 
 her my green hat, she went to her own room, and soon 
 returned with a bright flower stuck jauntily beside the 
 tuft of hair from the throat of a stag and the downy 
 feathers that were already there — decorations in which 
 the mountaineer takes no little pride. 
 
 Joseph, Berger, and myself now started, taking our 
 way through the meadows and long wooded slopes, all 
 dark, and solemn, and indistinct, despite the innume- 
 rable stars. We went towards the Miesing, and soon 
 after daybreak were already a good distance up the 
 mountain. Nothing was to be seen save a doe with her 
 kid. We crossed a field of snow, and Berger, creeping 
 forward to the ridge that overlooked a profound depth, 
 started back suddenly, exclaiming in a whisper, " There 
 are chamois !" They had seen him however, and were 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 201 
 
 already on the move. I ran forward to meet them, and 
 as they came on but slowly, to get ahead of them was 
 not difficult ; then lying down at full length, with my 
 left arm resting on the ground, and the rifle pointing 
 almost perpendicularly downwards over the rocks, I took 
 a steady aim. I was in no hurry, in no fever of excite- 
 ment, but qi$te calm ; and, though the shot was a long 
 one, feeling quite confident in my rifle, and certain I 
 should hit the mark. I knew perfectly well that, firing 
 downwards, I ought to aim low; and yet, instead of 
 doing so, by some strange unaccountable perversity I 
 aimed high ; and purposely so, conscious all the while of 
 what I was about. I fired, and the ball went just over 
 the animal's back. There was no excuse for having 
 missed ; it was all owing to my own stupidity, and this 
 only made the matter more vexatious and provoking. 
 After the shot they turned back, and we counted eight 
 as they passed along far below us. With our glasses we 
 discerned a buck and a doe a great distance off: we de- 
 termined to try our chance of approaching them, and 
 looked for a place where we might get down the rocky 
 steep. Good practice it was too, coming down that 
 Handsheimer Eipel Spitz ! Joseph, on account of the 
 weakness of his right arm, was carefully searching for a 
 spot where, under such circumstances, he could manage 
 best. Berger and myself tried elsewhere, and began to 
 move carefully over the ridge. At first sight this seemed 
 hardly possible, so abrupt was the descent. Snow too 
 was lying here and there, making the little projections 
 on which it rested a very slippery, unsure footing, and 
 there was nothing to hold by, no support save the iron- 
 shod pole which we carried with us. 
 
 To come down the rocks is always more difficult than 
 to climb up them. As you invariably descend with your 
 
202 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 back to the steep, and consequently looking forwards and 
 below yon, the terrible depth is all the time before your 
 eyes : in mounting this is not the case ; and though, if 
 you are so unwise as to think about it, you know there 
 is a precipice at your back, it is however unseen. Care- 
 fully and steadily then down you go, your feet forwards, 
 your body sloping back, and your trusty^ pole grasped 
 with both hands, and firmly planted behind you.* Every 
 coming step must be decided on beforehand. " There," 
 you say, " the right foot can be placed, and on that point 
 the left : yonder grows a solitary latschen ; if I reach it 
 I may then hold on and let myself down to the bit of 
 rock below, and once there the rest will be somewhat 
 easier." Now, your companion, who is below you — and 
 two can always get on better in the mountains than one 
 — drives the point of his pole into a crevice, and holds it 
 horizontally for you to step upon ; or you plant yours 
 upright, and keeping it so, he holds by it while letting 
 himself down over a slope of rock, whose surface is so 
 smooth and steep that not even a cat could pass there ; 
 and when he is down he returns you the same good office, 
 as, lying on your back with your feet in his hands, you 
 slide slowly downward till you have found a footing. 
 
 Joseph was at a distance, among the thick branches 
 of some latschen, and by their help he got on famously. 
 We crept silently to a sharp rocky ridge, and looked 
 over. 
 
 " They are still there ! " whispered Joseph ; " now 
 which is the best way of getting near them ? That buck 
 is worth having." 
 
 After reconnoitring the ground, it was arranged that 
 
 * In going up lull you always have it before you. If the ascent is so 
 steep as to oblige you to take a zigzag course, you plant it beside you 
 about on a level with your hips, the upper part pointing outwards ; 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 203 
 
 Berger should remain where he was, while Joseph and 
 myself passed along the ridge, keeping our heads just 
 below the sky-line, and go on thus till we reached some 
 latschcn ; then creeping quietly through these, advance 
 as near as possible to where the buck lay at rest, and 
 fire. We reached the first latschen, and still the chamois 
 remained where they were, as Berger signalled to us. 
 Joseph went first, winding himself through the stubborn 
 branches with all haste ; for when we had gone half-way 
 a huge volume of mist rose suddenly from the valley, 
 and we saw it, in thick folds, advancing with threaten- 
 ing speed. Once over that stony spot where the chamois 
 were, and he knew they would be snatched from our 
 sight; therefore it was that he made such precipitate 
 haste, causing him to be less cautious than he would 
 otherwise have been. The elastic branches, instead of 
 being put gently, almost lovingly, aside, rustled as he 
 pressed through them, and the chamois heard it. 
 
 "Be quick I" he said, " or we shall be too late; the 
 mist is sweeping on fast." 
 
 And just as we reached the edge of the latschen, the 
 vast form, indistinct in outline, but of gigantic stature, 
 trailed past. The chamois were already gone, and we 
 afterwards saw the buck some hundred yards before us, 
 making for the fastnesses where he knew none could 
 follow him. He walked slowly, stopping every few paces 
 to look back, and then uttering a shrill whistle went on 
 again. 
 
 Right trusty friends as the latschen always prove to 
 the chamois-hunter in his need, equally troublesome are 
 they on other occasions. To pass a thick growth of them 
 is an arduous business. You have no ground to tread 
 
 while your body, resting with all its weight upon it, inclines inwards to- 
 ward the mountain. 
 
204 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 on, so thickly are their creeping stems interwoven ; and 
 if you place your foot on their branches, it slides down, 
 and they spring up with a jerk, knocking you probably 
 off your balance. But it is not your body only you must 
 contrive to wind through them ; the long pole in your 
 hand and the rifle at your back must also accompany 
 you, and every twig then seems a hand and fingers 
 grasping and pulling them back. But when your work 
 is to be done quietly, you groan inwardly at every step 
 you take. Indeed the caution which, in this respect, it 
 is necessary to observe, adds immeasurably to your diffi- 
 culty. If you dared trample across the loose debris at 
 will, you would find the passage much easier ; and if you 
 were not obliged to bend yourself into deformity, to 
 achieve some yards of open space over which you dare, 
 on no account whatever, look like the biped that you 
 are, you would cover the ground in half the time, and 
 every muscle would ache much less. 
 
 In going home that evening a beautiful appearance 
 presented itself. The valley in front of us, where Baier- 
 isch Zell lay, was filled with a mystic radiance, and no 
 one saw whence it came. For it did not hover over one 
 part only, as shed by a foreign influence, but it was in 
 the air, and emanated from it ; it was the very air itself, 
 which by some wonderful transfusion had become softened 
 light. But as everywhere else it was dark, whence came 
 the halo-like brightness that filled all the vale ? It was 
 as though angels had descended there, leaving behind 
 them those faint traces of their glory long after they 
 were gone. 
 
 It was only the moon. Though she had not yet risen 
 on us, from the other side of the mountain she was shin- 
 ing on the valley through a dip in the hills. Presently 
 however, high, high up to our right, a white brilliancy was 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 205 
 
 seen coming on over the ridge. But no round orb swam 
 into sight : great spokes of silver came instead, and frost- 
 work, and fringe, and bars of light, — strange shapes we 
 had never seen before. The moon had got behind the 
 dark green branches of a latschen, and was shining 
 through it. Berger stopped to admire and wonder : I 
 thought of Moses and the burning bush. 
 
 The next day we were out again, and opposite the 
 Roth Wand espied thirteen chamois. The herd was on 
 the side of the mountain, where, by some ancient phe- 
 nomenon, all had been laid waste, and covered from top 
 to bottom with loose rolling stones. There was no bush, 
 no prominence, behind shelter of which it was possible 
 to advance on them ; the whole broad expanse was no- 
 thing but dreary barren rubble. Ay, there they were, 
 and here were we; but how get at them? It was ar- 
 ranged that Berger and I should go back, and passing 
 up the shoulder of the mountain reach the summit ; and 
 then, keeping just beneath the ridge, make the best of 
 our way to a certain gap, towards which, when disturbed, 
 it was thought they would bear. So Joseph thought. 
 Berger said they would go further on, and cross the' 
 ridge at another spot ; but being the younger he gave 
 way, and we both started off for our appointed station. 
 Joseph staid behind, and it was agreed that in two hours 
 he might show himself, so as to make the game move; 
 for in about this time, it was thought, we might get to 
 the top. We walked fast and did our best. 
 
 As seen from below, a mountain-ridge presents gaps 
 seemingly not of great size ; but when you stand close 
 to them they wear a different aspect. Torn, broken, 
 crumbling, the sides overhang a gulf. Up one of 
 these we climbed. The blocks of stone were loose, 
 and as I clung to some of them standing but a little 
 
206 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 out of the perpendicular — so steep was the place in 
 parts — I could feel that a vigorous pull would bring 
 them down upon me, — an unpleasant sensation where 
 there is a fair depth below, into which you would 
 inevitably roll ! Once, when halfway up, a stone on 
 which my hand was laid gave way. I was already falling 
 back, — I knew I was lost, and in that second of time 
 thoughts came crowding on my mind as though each 
 would have a hearing in the one moment which was left, 
 and after which it would be too late. I remember quite 
 well my sensations ; that I clenched my teeth, held my 
 breath, and that one word — the last as I thought, es- 
 caped me. It was a moment of horror. I felt that the 
 shadow thrown by the wing of the Angel of Death was 
 over me. My hands were still outstretched before me, 
 involuntarily trying to clutch somewhat, and grasping 
 only the air ; when my striving fingers felt something 
 touch them, and convulsively seizing it, held on with 
 the locked grip of despair. It was the slender stem of 
 a sapling latschen ; it did not snap, nor did its roots give 
 way, and to that young thing I owed my life. 
 
 After a like escape it seems a blessed privilege to 
 breathe the sweet air in safety ; yet having, as it may 
 be said, already tasted of death, you hardly know for the 
 first instant or two if it is quite in character to breathe 
 or not. You look round you on the earth and sky, as 
 as a man looks on a cherished thing that he thought 
 utterly lost, but now has found again ; and you seem to 
 love all better than before, and much more tenderly. 
 You feel very thankful, and you carry that feeling in 
 your heart, till you see the chamois ; and then another 
 thought possesses you, — " Shall I be able to get a shot ?" 
 I do not mean to say that the feeling of gratitude does 
 not return — it would indeed be very sad if it did not — 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 207 
 
 when you go over the whole occurrence once more, as 
 you will be sure often to do ; but the truth is that the 
 physical exertion, the excitement, and the necessary cau- 
 tion, prevent your dwelling long on anything save the 
 present moment : that is all -engrossing. 
 
 Once on the ridge, it was necessary to be very careful 
 lest the chamois should see our forms against the sky ; 
 but with snow on the ledge, and that ledge sloping out- 
 wards, I found it rather unpleasant walking, for close 
 beside it the crags went down precipitously full a thou- 
 sand feet or more. 
 
 But the chamois must have seen us, and are moving ; 
 they are making for the gap to which Berger predicted 
 they would go. We rush forwards, to try to head them, 
 but it is too far. They pass, and are among the preci- 
 pices of the other side before we can get there. 
 
 Thus we had spent the better part of our day in try- 
 ing to approach them, and were unable to fire a shot. 
 Going downwards now was a quick affair. The loose 
 stones give way beneath your weight, and slide forwards, 
 carrying you with them twenty feet or more perhaps at 
 a time ; and in this manner, leaning back on your pole, 
 with your heels dug into the rubble, you are soon at the 
 bottom. We were only thirty minutes thus sliding down. 
 We went home by the Gems Wand. We saw two 
 fine bucks below us in a green valley, but far as they 
 were they scented our approach. 
 
 When in the evening we gave the forester an account 
 of our doings, on telling him about this latter herd 
 which we had tried to get near, he said we might perhaps 
 have been more successful if we had stuck a stick up 
 among the stones, and placed on it a hat or handker- 
 chief.* u Many a time," said he, " have I done so when 
 
 * In Catlin's work on America there is a print of an Indian who has 
 
208 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 out alone, and wishing to attract their attention in one 
 particular direction, while I got round near them in an- 
 other. There is no animal more curious than a chamois; 
 if he sees something he has not observed before, he looks 
 and looks to make out what it is. They will stare at 
 and examine a thing for hours in this way ; and they 
 are then so busy with the novelty they see, that they do 
 not look about with their usual watchfulness. I think 
 if you had done so they would not have observed you." 
 
 The mention of the Gems Wand reminds me of a cir- 
 cumstance that once occurred near there ; and, being 
 very characteristic, I relate the story as it was told to 
 me a short time ago, by a friend who knew the par- 
 ticulars well. These were his words : — 
 
 " It was to the young forester's assistant, K — , that 
 the adventure happened. He was going along the ridge 
 of the mountain — the Geidauer Eibel Spitz it is called 
 — and looking down, what should he see but twenty- 
 three men standing by the hut. There is a single hut 
 there, you know, on a green aim at the foot of steep 
 wild rocks. Well, he looked at them a long time, and 
 watched what they did, and thought and thought, c If I 
 could only get a shot at one of them — only at one V 
 And so he kept on thinking how it would be possible to 
 manage, and did not go away from the place, but ob- 
 served them through his glass, until at last they began 
 to move. There is a little path that leads from the hut 
 right over the Eibel Spitz, and he saw that they were 
 coming up, one behind the other ; so he lay still among 
 the latschen, and waited till they approached. By-and- 
 
 adopted the same plan. He is lying in the grass near a stick, on 
 which a cloth is fluttering ; while approaching within shot is a herd of 
 antelopes, following one behind the other, and looking at the novelty 
 with countenances expressive of wonder and curiosity. 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 209 
 
 by — perhaps it was three-quarters of an hour, or may be 
 an hour after — he heard their voices. Presently he saw 
 them winding up the path that led towards him. He 
 allowed them to advance till they were about eighty 
 yards distant, and then let fly at the foremost : he hit 
 him right in the middle of the breast, and the man 
 dropped down on the spot, stone dead. When they 
 heard the shot, they all stopped, and ran back some dis- 
 tance, and grasped their rifles. They were exceedingly 
 astonished, for they saw no one, and could not tell where 
 the shot came from. K — , as he lay among the latschen, 
 could hear them talking together, and deliberating what 
 they should do. Some were for going back, when one 
 of them said, it was a shame to think of going away 
 without knowing more about the matter. If even there 
 were six or seven foresters there, why should they mind ? 
 there were twenty-three of them, and it would be a cow- 
 ardly thing to turn back for a mere handful of men. 
 Come what might, he said, he would go on, and as to 
 the others they might follow if they liked. So with rifle 
 in hand all ready to fire, on he went alone, straight to- 
 ward the place where K — was lying concealed. He let 
 him come on to about sixty paces, and fired : the shot 
 turned the fellow quite round on one side ; he stopped 
 short and then fell, and when the others saw this they 
 all turned, and were off as fast as they could go. K — 
 now crept down the mountain among the latschen on the 
 opposite side, keeping in the bushes, and passing through 
 the woods so that nobody might see him. I don't know 
 how it was, but when he came down by the Gems Wand, 
 instead of going the way he always did, he took the path 
 that led to Baierisch Zell. It leads, you know, over the 
 mountain stream, and there is a very narrow path along 
 it, and across it is a bridge — you passed it when you 
 
 Y 
 
210 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 came down from the Roth Wand on your road to the 
 Solachers'. Well, when he came here he stopped to 
 load his gun ; while he was doing so — it was dusk 
 already — he thought, as there was no knowing what 
 might happen, he would load one barrel with shot : so 
 in one barrel he put a ball, and a handful of shot in 
 the other. He then sat down among the bushes to 
 watch if any one came, for he fancied it was not un- 
 likely that the fellows he had met on the mountain 
 might take that path downward, and if so, they would 
 then have to cross the narrow plank, and as they came 
 on he might give them another welcoming. He had 
 sat about an hour when he heard voices ; they came 
 nearer, and presently he saw men across the water, and 
 could just make out that they all were armed. That's 
 right, he thought, they are the same; and when near, 
 just as they were all crowded together, about to cross 
 the bridge, he fired his shot-barrel into the midst of 
 them. You may suppose their consternation, after hav- 
 ing had two of their comrades shot on the mountain 
 without seeing who it was that fired, now in the dark- 
 ness to have the same thing happen once more. K — 
 went leisurely through the bushes, and walked quietly 
 home j but they were terrified almost out of their senses, 
 and did not know what to do, for they never thought 
 themselves safe, and could not tell if another shot might 
 not come peppering in among them a moment after." 
 
 "Did he kill one with the last shot?" I asked. 
 
 " No ; he said he heard quite well the shot falling 
 among them after he fired. He hit one only in the 
 breast; of course he wounded him badly, but the man 
 recovered/' 
 
 " And the two he shot on the mountain ? " 
 
 " One only was dead — the first he fired at ; he fell di- 
 
ON THE MOUNTAIN. 211 
 
 rectly, and never moved after. The other he hit in the 
 shoulder, and broke his arm, so that it was obliged to be 
 taken off. At first he thought he had killed two, for 
 the ball knocked both over at once; but K — , you 
 know, after the second shot, made off as fast as he could, 
 for he could not tell what the others might do, and hav- 
 ing: fired both barrels he could not defend himself. But 
 only think what odds — one against three- and- twenty ! 
 He must have been a brave fellow, must he not ? " 
 
 " I suppose they never kneAV who it was fired at them ? 
 Of course K — never said a word." 
 
 "Not a syllable: no, they never found it out. The 
 fellow who was shot was the son of a rich peasant near 
 Schlier See, — the only son too. The same night that 
 it happened his parents heard some one knocking at the 
 window, and a man, in a voice quite unknown to them, 
 said that if they would go up to the Geidauer Eibel Spitz 
 they would find their son ; and next day they went, and 
 there thev found him, sure enough, lying dead." 
 
212 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MEETING WITH POACHERS. 
 
 All-Souls Day being a great holiday we remained at 
 home, and I strolled out across the meadow to enjoy 
 the morning. I went into the churchyard to look at the 
 graves, each one adorned, as well as might be, according 
 to the means or taste of those who brought their offer- 
 ings. Some were bordered with rows of red berries, ga- 
 thered in the hedgerows, with a cross of the same in the 
 centre of the mound ; while others had wreaths of ever- 
 greens, and a device made out of the cones of the fir. They 
 were indeed very simple ; but they were the offerings of 
 affection, and showed that those who had now another 
 home were not forgotten, and in my eyes therefore they 
 looked beautiful. How touching is the gift of a little 
 child, even on account of its poor worth — so incommen- 
 surate with the great amount of love it is meant to be a 
 token of! 
 
 The forester had marked out a plan for us for the 
 following day, and accordingly we started early, having 
 rather a long way to go. We soon left the road, and 
 took a short cut across the meadows. We had not gone 
 many steps before we came upon the traces of men's foot- 
 steps, which were discernible on the dewy grass. We 
 looked, and looked again : there was no mistaking them. 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 213 
 
 " They are quite fresh," observed Berger ; " they can- 
 not have passed here long :" and we distinctly made out 
 the trail of five men. " When we come to the road," he 
 continued, " we shall be able to see which way they have 
 taken ; but I have no doubt they are gone up the moun- 
 tain. Today is a sort of a holiday, and the rascals always 
 choose such days, as they think we are at home, and that 
 consequently they are safe. They are from Hundham, I 
 know it for certain, for they come from that direction,— 
 the worst set in the whole neighbourhood." This village 
 was notorious for its poachers, and not one of them but 
 would as soon send a bullet through a gamekeeper as a 
 roebuck. 
 
 On reaching the road we found by the footsteps that 
 the men had entered the wood with which the slope was 
 covered. 
 
 " Just as I thought ! " exclaimed Berger ; " they have 
 gone up exactly where we are going ; there is little chance 
 now of our seeing anything today. Confound the rascals ! 
 there's a day's sport spoiled ! " 
 
 We made out that some others had taken a different 
 direction, and that they had not all kept together. As 
 we went up the hill Berger said : "It is well to have your 
 rifle ready : look if all is in order, and it will be better 
 to put back the stoplock ; for there's no knowing what 
 may happen." 
 
 In going up the Heissen Platten we found the track 
 of a deer in the moss and on the soft ground ; and on 
 nearer examination I saw it was quite fresh, and that the 
 animal must have passed there but a very short time be- 
 fore. We followed it for some distance, but the men 
 had no doubt scared it away, and there was not much 
 likelihood of meeting it again. Berger was behind, and 
 while waiting for him I leaned on my staff and looked 
 
214 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 at the ridge of the mountain before me, high up in the 
 sky ; while doing so I thought I saw something move. 
 Although far away, it yet was on the sky-line, where 
 every object is more easily discerned. I looked steadily, 
 and now was sure I had not been mistaken. It could 
 not be a chamois, I said to myself, it was too large for 
 that, — and a stag ? — it might be, but I thought not ; the 
 movements were not like those of a stag. Keeping my 
 eyes steadily fixed on the object, I put my hand into my 
 rucksack behind me and pulled out my glass. The figure 
 was now clear enough j it was a man who was walking 
 along the ridge, with a rifle at his back. I whistled to 
 Berger : he answered, and a moment or two after joined 
 me. "Look up there," I said, giving him my glass; 
 " there goes one of the fellows we tracked just now. Do 
 you see him? just to the right of that latschen; now he 
 is hidden — there — now he comes again ! " 
 
 "I see him," said Berger; " that's one of them for 
 certain." 
 
 " Now I'll tell you what, Berger," said I ; f ' I would 
 rather get that fellow than the best chamois buck that 
 was ever shot in these mountains. If we could but get 
 him, and bring him down to the forester's house ! Come, 
 let us be after him : which is the best way?" 
 
 "There is no use in trying, I assure you," said he; 
 " you see yourself what a distance he is off. Why, by 
 the time we reached that ridge he might be far away on 
 the other side, across the valley and up on the other 
 mountain. I should like to catch him well enough, you 
 may be sure, if only it were possible. It would take us 
 some hours to reach the ridge where he is." 
 
 "I know that, but we may make the attempt. To 
 take that fellow's rifle from him, and bring him down in 
 triumph — by Jove ! it would be the best day's sport I 
 ever had in my life." 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 215 
 
 But Berger still protested against the experiment, con- 
 tending that it was perfectly useless to try. So we went 
 on, keeping away to our right — to the right of the spot 
 too where I had seen the poacher. The whole time my 
 thoughts were occupied with the man, and I was still 
 longing to make him prisoner. We had mounted a long 
 rough path among the latschen, and could now overlook 
 the scene. Further on to the right the mountain ridge 
 made a sweep, and there the rocks were torn, jagged, 
 and everywhere steep precipices. It was a wild, frightful 
 place. Far below was a chasm, but nowhere ought else 
 but loose and rolling stones. Around us was quite a 
 wood of latschen, and above was the continuation of that 
 ridge where I had first seen the man. As we moved along 
 I suddenly stopped, and touched Berger, who was before 
 me, with my pole, that he might do the same. He looked 
 round, but my finger on my lips caused him to keep si- 
 lence. I listened for some time, but the stillness was 
 unbroken by any sound. " 
 
 " What was it V 3 whispered Berger. 
 
 " Did you not hear something ?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 ' ( Well, but / did. Just above us a pebble rolled down ; 
 it was as if it had been displaced by some one's foot- 
 steps." However all was now still, and we proceeded 
 onwards. 
 
 We had reached the ridge of the mountain, and Ber- 
 ger sat down to look over into the space below and try 
 if chamois were to be seen. I chose a place a little be- 
 hind him and somewhat higher. By chance I turned 
 my head to the right, and there to my astonishment I 
 saw, not thirty yards off, the same figure that I had ob- 
 served before with my glass. I ducked my head in a 
 second, and pressing down Berger's shoulders behind a 
 
216 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 latschen, pointed in the direction of the poacher. We 
 lay on the ground and watched him, first with the naked 
 eye and afterwards with our glass. He was a young 
 peasant, of about twenty : he carried a bran-new single- 
 barrelled rifle, and the usual rucksack was at his back. 
 
 " We have him now, Berger ! " I whispered. 
 
 He nodded his head, while his eyes sparkled with ex- 
 pectation. We let him proceed on his path, and when 
 he was behind a piece of rising ground, rose up and stole 
 along after him : then we again lay down pretty close to 
 him. How both laughed, as we saw him looking care- 
 lessly about, unconscious of danger j while all the time 
 we could have struck him with a bullet when and where 
 we chose ! 
 
 " Hush ! now then, don't laugh/' said Berger : " as 
 soon as we get near enough we'll rush upon him. Have 
 you all ready ? " 
 
 "Yes, yes; both barrels are cocked, and my pole — 
 that I shall leave here in the latschen ; give me yours, 
 I '11 put them together." 
 
 " But don't fire, — promise me that. You will not 
 fire ? " he asked. 
 
 " No, no, don't be alarmed j I won't fire : if however 
 I see him attempt to raise his rifle, then down he goes." 
 
 " Very well then," he said : " now come on." 
 
 We moved along with all speed in order to get close 
 up to him, a block of stone lying right between us ; when 
 we reached it he was only a few steps in advance. 
 Berger turned his head to see if I was ready : I nodded, 
 and at the same moment he sprung towards the poacher, 
 I being close behind him. u Down with your rifle, you 
 rascal ! Lay down your rifle ! " In rushing upon him 
 however his foot slipped, and thus he lost a second, and 
 the fellow just eluded his grasp. Had a mountain been 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 217 
 
 hurled down from above, he could not have been more 
 startled ; and no wonder : he thought himself alone, and 
 suddenly his solitude is disturbed by two armed men, ri- 
 sing seemingly out of the earth and springing upon him. 
 " Kreutz ! Himmel ! Donner Wetter ! Himmel Sa- 
 crament!" he screamed with fright and terror, and 
 dashed at a bound behind a bush not a dozen paces from 
 where we stood. 
 
 "Lay down your rifle, or by Heaven I'll fire!" I 
 cried, raising my rifle to my shoulder and moving to- 
 ward the bush, though in reality it was so thick I could 
 not see any part of him. He knew his advantage, and 
 cowering close did not speak or move. With the ex- 
 ception of the bush where the poacher lay hidden, all 
 around was bare as the palm of my hand. My whole 
 person was exposed had he liked to fire, and I was close 
 to him. But there was no bravery in this ; for the danger 
 and folly of standing thus unprotected never once oc- 
 curred to me. When it did, I slowly changed my posi- 
 tion. I saw Berger a few paces further back, partly pro- 
 tected by the brow of the mountain, and this reminded 
 me of what I ought to do. I therefore retreated some 
 steps, keeping my front towards the bush and my rifle 
 ready. I had just reached the ridge, when from the am- 
 phitheatre of rock — from that horrid abyss of crag and 
 precipice — loud shouts were heard : they broke strangely 
 upon the silence, and at the moment I did not compre- 
 hend what they were. 
 
 " The others are coming !" cried Berger ; " there are 
 seven of them — they have seen us — quick, into the lats- 
 chen ! — follow me \" 
 
 I looked at the bush and felt sorry to leave it with- 
 out driving the game from its hiding-place ; but Berger 
 quickened me, by bidding me come along, for there was 
 
218 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 not a moment to be lost. And indeed the wild cries 
 from the band grew louder with each shout. The 
 mountain was steep, and we were soon among the lats- 
 chen, keeping our heads low that they might not betray 
 our whereabouts, or serve as a mark for their rifles. The 
 men's cries grew now quite distinct — " Down with the 
 rascally Jager ! — the villains — down with them I" and 
 every instant brought the voices nearer. 
 
 " Quicker, for Heaven's sake, quicker! they are coming 
 on fast ! " cried Berger, who was far in advance, but who 
 now stopped to wait for me; "what keeps you so long?" 
 The thing was, in moving through the latschen, a branch 
 had caught the leathern strap by which I slung the rifle 
 at my back, and the metal fastening had snapped. So 
 now I was obliged to carry it in my hand, which was 
 very inconvenient. 
 
 " Down with the rascals ! " was again ringing behind 
 me — " Fire at the villains ! " but though they said this 
 I do not think they saw us, or they would not have 
 spared their balls. The latschen were thick and high, 
 and a branch of one whirled off my hat, and whisked it 
 away over the tops of the next bushes. To leave that 
 behind as a trophy for the men of Hundham would 
 never do; besides I remembered there was the flower 
 in it that Nancy had stuck there the day before. This 
 determined me ; so I stopped and went after my hat : 
 I reached it at last. The fellows were near now, and 
 never ceased their cries. We were at length out of the 
 latschen, — a reason the more for making all speed. 
 Berger ran on, and I close behind. He made for a spot, 
 down which he intended to pass ; we reached it. ( ' Good 
 God!" he cried ; "it is a Wand (a precipice) ; we can't 
 get down ! " Further on there was no outlet, no way to 
 escape; we were therefore obliged to go back again. 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 219 
 
 We reached some rocks : they were not much less steep 
 than those where we had been before, but Berger dashed 
 down them, now rolling, now sliding, now holding on 
 as he best could. Just above that place was an open 
 S pot^ — no bush or rock, nothing but bare stones. I 
 looked below, to see how I was to manage it, for the 
 descent was nearly straight. Halfway down a solitary 
 latschen grew out of the rocks on one side, and I calcu- 
 lated that if I could catch that in passing, and hold by it, 
 I should be all right. I was just stooping to descend, when 
 one of the poachers sent a bullet after me, to quicken 
 me in my resolve ; it luckily fell short. Berger turned, 
 and looked up to see if I was hit. While standing on 
 that bare spot, I no doubt presented too good a mark to 
 let the opportunity pass unimproved. But this so en- 
 raged me, that, had I not been already scrambling down- 
 wards, I should have turned and sent a bullet back in 
 reply j for the young fellow being foremost, it was he, I 
 imagined, who had fired, — he whom I had let pass un- 
 scatned, though I could have taken his life twenty times 
 had I so willed. It was racking work, racing down that 
 steep over the broken ground : every instant T expected 
 another shot to be sent after us : my mouth was parched, 
 my chest was heaving, and as soon as we reached a wood 
 I declared I would run no further. We sat down there- 
 fore behind a tree, where we were safe enough ; for if 
 the men approached we should be sure to see them first, 
 and we both agreed, if they did come, this time to fire. 
 Each of us had two shots, and these would be quite 
 enough to stop their advance. But all was still, and 
 having rested we walked slowly homewards. 
 
 " I was right you see, Berger/' I said, as we went 
 along; "it was a stone I heard rolling; the man was just 
 above us at the time, and dislodged it as he passed." 
 
220 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Yes, he went along the ridge to drive the game for 
 the others, who were among the rocks; they were the 
 same we tracked across the meadows this morning ; I 
 was sure they were bound for the mountain." 
 
 It was really very extraordinary that the whole affair 
 turned out as it did. The poacher must have passed 
 the spot on the ridge where we sat down, but a minute 
 before our arrival. Had we by chance spoken in coming 
 up he would have heard us, and would very likely have 
 let fly at one or the other. If too we had got there one 
 half minute sooner, we must have met face to face. It 
 is to this moment a matter of surprise to me that the 
 man did not hear our steps ; for we were close to each 
 other, and neither Berger nor myself took any pains to 
 step lightly. But not suspecting danger, and walking 
 slowly on in a sort of reverie, his ear must have been 
 less alive than ordinarily to a passing sound. Though 
 the path he had taken along the mountain- top was much 
 shorter than ours, he had proceeded very leisurely, which 
 accounted for our reaching the same point at almost the 
 very same moment of time. 
 
 " We won't return the usual way," said Berger ; " let 
 us go round by the fields, where we shall be sure to meet 
 no one." 
 
 "Why?" I asked. 
 
 " Only look what a state we are in ! how your clothes 
 are torn, and mine too ! If any person were to meet us, 
 they would be sure to suspect something had happened, 
 by our coming from the mountain thus early. We have 
 no pole either, — a stick of some sort we must have ; wait 
 a moment and I '11 cut one for each of us. There," he 
 continued, after trimming a couple he had procured from 
 a fence, " there, that J s better than nothing in our hands : 
 I would not be seen in this plight for anything j it is bad 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 221 
 
 enough to have had to retreat before those rascals, but 
 for it to be known, and for the people to know who it 
 was and to talk of it, that 's enough to drive one wild." 
 
 We came to a stream, and passing through it bare- 
 footed, sat down on the bank to mend our things. 
 Needle and thread we had none ; so I divided the twist 
 of a piece of string, and making holes in the torn gar- 
 ment with the point of my knife, in this wise tied up the 
 rents. I could not help laughing at our droll figures 
 while thus employed ; but Berger looked grave, and I 
 saw that anger was devouring him. 
 
 " Here Berger, drink !" said I, handing him the lea- 
 ther covering which, when it rained, I strapped over my 
 gun-lock, and in which, for want of anything better, I 
 had fetched water and mixed with some rum from my 
 flask ; but he refused it, saying, " I can't drink, nor eat 
 either : something is here that seems to lace my chest to- 
 gether, and there is a gnawing at my stomach, as though 
 a wolf were inside. Those rascals ! For a jager to be 
 obliged to run before such fellows ! If only they don't 
 find our sticks, — that would be a triumph for them ! " 
 
 There was no consoling him. " Had I been alone," 
 he continued, " those rascals should not be able to say 
 they made me run : they have something to brag about 
 now." 
 
 " But Berger," I replied, " why did you do so then ? 
 I followed your directions implicitly, and left you to de- 
 cide what was to be done. I don't think you can com- 
 plain of my behaviour in the matter." 
 
 " No indeed, that 's true enough ; but, you see, I could 
 not know that beforehand ; and besides if anything had 
 happened to you, I should have been responsible : 'twould 
 be said, I ought not to have led you into the danger, and 
 all the blame would have fallen on me. But had I been 
 
22.2 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 alone, I should have crept into the latschen and staid 
 there, and I know they would not have ventured after 
 me ; and if they had, I should have quietly brought down 
 the nearest fellow, and that would have stopped them. 
 They would have hardly liked to risk having the con- 
 tents of my second barrel sent into one of them ; and 
 even if I had fired that, I could easily have crept away 
 without their finding me." 
 
 I am quite sure that all this was true. Once in the 
 latschen, he would have felt perfectly safe ; being able 
 through the boughs to watch his enemy's advance, with- 
 out being seen himself, and thus might bring him down 
 with a bullet, or remain quiet, as he found advisable. 
 
 As he knew the ground better than myself, I followed 
 his directions, exactly, without argument ; indeed for this 
 there was no time. He, on his part, never having been 
 with me under like circumstances, could not tell how I 
 should get on, and was naturally unwilling to stay on 
 ,the mountain, since any awkwardness on my side might 
 have proved fatal to me, if not to both of us. Berger's 
 sole anxiety was for my safety, and it was this alone 
 which caused his precipitate retreat. 
 
 When we reached home, having taken the most by- 
 ways, in order to meet no one who might tell the men 
 of Hundsham they had seen us returning so unusually 
 early on that day, the forester said it would be useless 
 to go out again at present, for the game having been dis- 
 turbed would not return to its usual haunts so quickly. 
 I therefore bade my kind host and hostess farewell, and 
 leaving behind a friendly greeting for the Solachers, set 
 off the same afternoon across the Kiihzagel Alp for 
 Tegernsee, intending to go on from thence to Munich. 
 Berger, who had a brother at a village on the lake, ac- 
 companied me. Night overtook us on the road, and we 
 
MEETING WITH POACHERS. 223 
 
 lost our way in the wood. We waited till the moon rose, 
 and when its broad face looked in among the branches, 
 soon found the path, and in a couple of hours reached 
 the inn. Berger promised to look after my pole, and a 
 letter which I received some weeks later from the fores- 
 ter, told me he had found it : both his and mine were 
 still lying where we had put them. He added in his 
 letter: — "All my endeavours to trace this dangerous 
 band of poachers have been fruitless : I have not been 
 able to get the least clue to any of them." 
 
 Thus ended my shooting in the mountains for 1849; 
 and I returned to town, carrying with me a rich store 
 of pleasant recollections. 
 
PART SECOND 
 
227 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PREPARATION. 
 
 How pleasant an occupation is the arranging all for the 
 coming excursion to the mountains ! What an agreeable 
 state of excitement one is in, while mustering the neces- 
 sary things, and again running over the list in your mind, 
 to be doubly sure that nothing has been forgotten. And 
 then, too, as this or that thing is brought forth from its 
 retreat, where it has lain well taken care of since last 
 October or November, what gladdening associations the 
 sight of it calls forth, and how vividly the mountain and 
 mountain life appear before you ! Ha ! there is the old 
 rucksack again — stained and discoloured by the rain 
 and the dews, and by the blood of the last chamois 
 that it helped to bring down from the mountain. And 
 there are the dried, prickly leaves of the fir still among 
 its folds ; and crumbs of bread, and a hard crust too, 
 reminding of the delicious yet simple meal on the top 
 of the Miesing or the Krammets Berg. What a long- 
 ing it awakens to have it again at your back, and to 
 be trudging before daybreak over the dewy meadows of 
 the valley ! The dear old sack ! it is indeed faded and 
 weather-beaten, but its very beauty consists in being so, 
 telling as it does of long and faithful service. 
 
 And now for the mountain stick, — here it is, tough 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and unbending as ever. The good old fellow ! he has 
 been a trusty friend, and helped where none else could, 
 and when sure and timely support was a question of 
 life or death. What a pleasure it is to have it once 
 more in your hand ! You are carried away by the im- 
 pulse of the moment, and, in thought, are again on the 
 steep declivity with the abyss in front ; and so, leaning 
 the iron point on the floor, with body bent back and your 
 whole weight resting on the good staff, the four walls 
 and even floor of your room have disappeared, and you 
 are on the rocks among the latschen, with the blue 
 sky overhead. A sudden fit of impatience, that was dor- 
 mant until now, has seized you : you want to be off, and 
 begin to think it was foolish not to have started some 
 days ago, for then you would have been on the moun- 
 tains by this time. Hitherto you were calm enough, 
 and proceeded with your task of packing and preparing 
 with a placid serenity ; but as the several objects more 
 especially connected with the scenes where you are going 
 again greet you after a ten months' interval, your cool 
 business-like manner begins to disappear, and, in a word, 
 you can hardly wait to be off. 
 
 Now then a place for these two pair of thick-soled, 
 well-nailed shoes ; and here are grey woollen stockings, 
 with the clocks worked in green ; and the short leathern 
 breeches, embroidered with green silk, — in with them all 
 for the present ! in a day or two however we shall have 
 them on. That powder-horn we will put into the very 
 middle, among the linen, where it will be sure to be quite 
 dry ; and here are two bottles of rum to be stowed away 
 safely somewhere. Those cramping-irons may be left 
 out, they are very heavy ; besides their sharp points tear 
 everything they come in contact with. And here are 
 bullets, in a bag of sawdust to prevent their rubbing. 
 
THE PREPARATION. 229 
 
 Now let me see : in the rucksack are the telescope and 
 hammer, and small leathern bag with balls for the day's 
 use ; and flask, and drinking-cup, and knife, et cetera, et 
 cetera. 
 
 Yes, now I have all. The joppe must not be packed 
 — that is to be worn ; and whether on a journey, on the 
 mountains, or in the library, a more comfortable gar- 
 ment is not to be found. It is at once all that may 
 be desired, — is warm or cool, and may be worn over 
 another coat as well as alone. This said joppe, now the 
 national dress of the peasant of the Bavarian highlands, 
 of Styria and the Tyrol, can lay claim to high descent ; 
 it is, with slight variation, the ancient short royal 
 mantle that we occasionally see on the stage — such as 
 Harry the Eighth wore — lined with ermine, and made so 
 that it hung loosely on the wearer, or could be wrapped 
 close should he choose, as theatrical kings often do, to 
 cross his arms on his breast and scowl upon mankind. 
 There is nothing like a joppe, grey turned up with green : 
 the ermine has disappeared, but the lineage is to be traced 
 for all that. 
 
 And now for the rifle ; but before putting it in the 
 leathern case, just one look to see that all is in order; 
 and up it goes to the shoulder, and we are delighted at 
 the fineness of the sights, and should be glad to get a 
 good long shot to test their accuracy. For, be it known, 
 we have had some alterations made since using it last ; 
 the sight at the end has been filed away till its pinV 
 head shape was changed to a thinner form, and the inden- 
 tation on the bridge in the middle of the barrels has also 
 been made proportion ably finer. For in firing at a great 
 distance, if the sight in front is of coarse size, the cha- 
 mois is quite covered by it ; a chamois not being a very 
 large animal. The charge too has been increased for a 
 
230 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 longer range; and since all these reforms have taken 
 place, the rifle has not once been in requisition ; so we 
 have a double interest this time in going out with the old 
 friend, and in seeing how he comports himself in his 
 altered condition. He will do his duty, without doubt ; 
 and if the arm that holds him be but steady, there can 
 be no fear about the result. 
 
 Most persons, I suppose, quite well understand the af- 
 fection of the rider for his horse, whether that rider 
 be Arab, fox-hunter, or cavalry soldier. They find it 
 natural that the animal, which has contributed to the 
 pleasures of the one, or shared the dangers of the other, 
 should be looked upon in the light of a friend, and be 
 cherished accordingly. And they are right in thinking 
 so. The steed shares the excitement of his master, and 
 the natural ardour of each is a bond of union between 
 them. But will they be able to comprehend the 
 fondness of the mountaineer for his rifle, between which 
 and himself there can be no such sympathy ? Yet affec- 
 tion he does feel for it : he and it have passed many a 
 pleasant hour together, and it has been the means of pro- 
 curing him the most exciting joys. Why, his very fame 
 as a good shot, is it not bound up with his rifle ? and do 
 not the two, like loving companions, share with each 
 other the praises and renown ? And a stronger cause for 
 attachment still — has he not endured manifold disap- 
 pointments, many a vexation, many a sad failure, with 
 no earthly thing near him in which he took an interest 
 or for which he felt companionship, save his rifle ? 
 For should he have missed a stag or a chamois, and 
 in all the bitterness of disappointment and self-reproach 
 sits down alone to think over the event and explain 
 how it happened, the sportsman, if he have a grain 
 of sense or justice in his composition, will never at- 
 
THE PREPARATION. 231 
 
 tribute the failure to his rifle, but to his own over- 
 hastiness or want of skill. On the other hand, when at 
 160 or 180 paces he has brought down a chamois, he 
 praises his good weapon, and looks at it complacently 
 and with cherishing regard. The reputation of my rifle 
 I maintain as though it were mixed up with my own. 
 Like the monarch in a constitutional state, in my eyes 
 it "can do no wrong f and when a blunder is com- 
 mitted, I, as responsible minister, am ready to bear the 
 blame. 
 
 Moreover I always clean the weapon myself; and, 
 though a rifle is an inanimate thing, the care and at- 
 tention thus bestowed make you like it all the more, 
 and feel for it a certain regard. Always on my return 
 from the forest or the mountain, let me be never so 
 tired, or wet, or hungry, my first care is my rifle, to see 
 that it is dry, to wipe the locks and look carefully to 
 the inside of the barrels ; and then, but not before, do 1 
 provide for myself; then comes the refreshing toilette 
 and the pleasant meal. 
 
 It is the 14th of September : all the clocks in Munich 
 are striking five, and the stage-coach is rolling noisily 
 through the streets, and going southward. I and my 
 rifle are inside, and when day breaks tomorrow, shall see 
 the sun rising over the snows on the Zug Spitz and the 
 Wetterstein. 
 
232 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 TO PAKTENHRCHEN* 
 
 It was about eight o'clock when the smart young ppa . 
 sant, who drove us from Ammergau to Partenkirchen, 
 set us down at the entrance of the high street of the vil- 
 lage, and bidding us farewell, cracked his whip and took 
 the road that, here diverging, leads to Garmisch. From 
 the principal inn issued the cheering sound of merry 
 human voices ; and the windows were full of light, and 
 there was a bustle and a hum that, as one approached, 
 rose upon the hush of the night, and had a pleasant in- 
 fluence on the traveller seeking a night's lodging. And 
 there stands mine host — such a host as I always like to 
 see — of fair dimensions, and in whose jolly face good- 
 humour has ensconced itself. He looks as pleased as 
 
 * Whoever passes through Partenkirchen should take a walk to "The 
 Clam." It is a wonderful place, and the unlearned as well as the learned 
 cannot fail to be impressed by the sight. Even he who knows nothing 
 of geology, will understand that this earth of ours must be very old, 
 when he sees the channel that the water has here for centuries been gnaw- 
 ing through the solid rock. Go and look at it, and stop there awhile ; 
 and as you peep over into the deep chasm, try to think of the years that 
 the water has been thus toiling to wear out the hard stone ; and how 
 one century dragged on, and another weary century, and the still toiling 
 water had only got a little lower down. After that, and when you see 
 what it has accomplished, the word " Time " may perhaps convey to your 
 mind another meaning than it has hitherto done. 
 
TO PARTENKIRCHEN. 233 
 
 though the light, and gaiety, and hearty laughter ema- 
 nated from him j as though he were the sun whose rosy 
 presence thawed all into merriment. And, for aught I 
 know to the contrary, it may have been so. He was a 
 right jolly fellow, as I afterwards experienced j and when, 
 some weeks later, I lay day after day sick and lonely in 
 bed, I was as glad to see him enter my room as when a 
 sunbeam looked in through the window-pane. 
 
 But the house is full : there is not a bed to be had for 
 any money, or, what would weigh still more with our 
 worthy landlord, not even for the sake of obliging an- 
 other. There is a fair tomorrow, and many are the 
 comers from the neighbouring villages ; so that the lack 
 of house-room is as great as when independent electors 
 throng to support independent candidates at a small 
 country town in England. 
 
 After some vain applications elsewhere, we at length 
 found a lodging, and the following morning I could not 
 but think how lucky it was the inn had been full ; for 
 on peeping out of the window, there stood before me the 
 great grey mountains of which the Zug Spitz is the last 
 and highest peak. The sky was bright and blue, and 
 cutting against it the sharp, hard outline of the cold 
 stony ridge ; nor could the sunbeams even, as they played 
 upon that rock's imperturbable face, impart to it life or 
 warmth. Our little lattice was the frame to the picture, 
 and I soon roused my fellow-travellers to come and see 
 what we, in our humble back room, were possessors of. 
 Lono- after the others had left the window I was still 
 looking out ; and I gazed and gazed, in order to be quite 
 assured that I was really among the high mountains. 
 
 How often do we hear children, when asking for some- 
 thing, insist on its being a real sword, or horse, or what- 
 ever it is they wish for, and not a mere make-believe ! They 
 
234 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 are always fearful they may be put off with something 
 that is not the reality, and so there be a falling away 
 from their brilliant imaginings. Somehow or other I 
 carry this childish anxiety about with me still ; and when 
 a wished-for-thing is just before me, and another step 
 will enable me to reach it, the doubt and the suspicion 
 will arise, and I can hardly bring myself to believe that 
 it is really so. And even this difficulty over, all my rea- 
 soning cannot make my silly self give up the fear that 
 something may yet happen to snatch away the enjoy- 
 ment. I must have the toy in my hands, before I can 
 believe it is my " very own." And so I looked to satisfy 
 myself that what I saw was all real ; and then I looked 
 again, to be sure that my wishes had not betrayed me 
 into self-deception. But there was no mistake here ; 
 and it was settled these were indeed thoroughly respect- 
 able mountains, and that I with my own eyes was be- 
 holding them. 
 
 Just with such fluttering anxiety did I approach Venice 
 for the first time. Already at Mestre, I dreaded lest, by 
 some unforeseen cause or other, I should be transported 
 across the Lagune otherwise than in a gondola. Could 
 I by any piece of witchery have been carried thither 
 through the air, I would still have preferred the gondola ; 
 for that was associated with all my boyish notions of 
 Venice, and without it therefore the charm of that mo- 
 ment, so long waited for, would have been incomplete. 
 And only when fairly seated in it, and we had shoved 
 away from land, did I feel sure that nothing could cheat 
 me of my hopes. And as we emerged from the Grand 
 Canal, — ay, there was St. Mark's, and the Masts, and 
 the Palace of the Doge, all as I had seen them a thou- 
 sand times in pictures, in drawings, and in my fancy. 
 All was there — I missed nothing — I recognized every 
 
TO FARTENKIRCHEN. 235 
 
 spot. Yet as the gondola lay moored against the steps, 
 and the waters of the Adriatic gurgled under the prow, 
 I still stared in wonderment, and even then asked myself, 
 Can it really be ? And at last wheu I stood on the pave- 
 ment, and passed between the columns at the landing- 
 place, I looked up and told myself gladly, I had lived to 
 see the winged Lion of St. Mark. 
 
 But now to the Forester, for in his hand lies my fate. 
 His house stood just out of the village, and so crowded 
 was the street that to reach it was a matter of time. 
 The booths and the gaudy throng of peasants formed a 
 merry scene ; but the prettiest spot was the cattle-market, 
 where picturesque groups had collected; — here, some 
 young girls with kids ; there, two old men bargaining for 
 a calf that a chubby boy was fondling ; and, best of all, 
 childhood was everywhere to be seen, — a pleasant sight 
 always, and in any picture. 
 
 The kind forester gave me a few words to one of the 
 under-keepers, whose district was a short distance off; 
 and though here, as everywhere else, the game had of 
 late been destroyed by wholesale, he still had hopes that 
 I might get a shot. 
 
 " However I cannot promise you," he added ; u for all 
 around there are poachers, and from the villages the pea- 
 santry go out and shoot everything they see. I think 
 the best place for you to try will be the Oester Berg : it 
 was a capital mountain formerly, and, though it has 
 been well-nigh cleared, it still is the most likely one for 
 a successful stalk. There is a hut about half-way up 
 where you can sleep : that is to say, you will find straw 
 to lie on and milk to drink. Bread you had better take 
 with you." 
 
 In the afternoon, putting a few things into my ruck- 
 sack, and leaving the rest with the landlord at Parten- 
 
236 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 kirchen, I started for Farchant. I soon found the fores- 
 ter, and we talked over the chances of seeing chamois, 
 and where it was best to go. " You would/' he said, 
 ' ' be more likely to get a shot on this side than on the 
 Oester Berg. I was there the other day, and saw cha- 
 mois : two bucks are there for certain, but if we shall 
 meet them it is of course impossible to say." Then came 
 the old tale, falling sorrowfully enough on a hunter's 
 ear, that a year or two ago, had I been there, I might 
 have had sport in plenty, but now all the best mountains 
 were quite depopulated. This is a theme which at once 
 causes a dark look to pass over the face of a forester. 
 Angry feelings and hatred rise with a sudden gush with- 
 in him, as he thinks of the times when those mountains 
 and forests were his pride, and remembers that the stag 
 and the chamois which he watched so lovingly have been 
 since then swept away by bands of lawless marauders. I 
 may safely assert that, in the breast of no set of men 
 have the late revolutionary changes caused such dark 
 and bitter feelings as in those of the foresters and game- 
 keepers : for not only did they see that which it had been 
 their pride to guard, at once, partly by law and partly in 
 defiance of the laws, given over to plunder, but they 
 found themselves with hardly a shadow of protection, 
 while defending the little which the new order of things 
 had left them. At first indeed it seemed as though mat- 
 ters were arranged to protect the thief, rather than him 
 whose property had been stolen. For the new game- 
 laws were partial; they were carried out too with a 
 miserable inertness ; moreover the authorities were them- 
 selves often possessed by the same spirit, subversive of 
 order, or were influenced by fear ; so that the poacher, 
 though caught in the fact, had but to bear himself with 
 effrontery and bravely lie, in order to escape scot free. 
 
TO PARTENKIRCHEN. 237 
 
 He knew besides that the foresters dared not fire at him ; 
 while he, defying the law, cared little for a similar re- 
 striction. When hearing of the ill-treatment, and inso- 
 lence, and danger, to which these men were exposed at 
 the time when this lawless spirit broke loose over the 
 land, one only wonders how human patience could have 
 been found so enduring, and that not more human blood 
 was shed. 
 
 For a true sportsman it is a painful thing to see game 
 hunted mercilessly at all times, — the dam shot away from 
 her helpless young, and the kid destroyed when only a 
 few weeks old. And this was going on the whole year 
 round, in every spot where a deer or chamois was to be 
 seen, and the stolen venison sold openly under the very 
 eyes of its lawful possessors. Most of those persons 
 therefore who had a chase, were obliged to exterminate 
 their game themselves, rather than have it shot and 
 carried off by the peasantry, who were ever on the 
 alert. 
 
 I proposed that, if we tried the Oester Berg, w T e 
 should leave overnight, sleep at the hut, and so be on 
 the mountain early. 
 
 "You can do so, if you like," said Neuner; "but if 
 you try this side, then we start tomorrow betimes." 
 
 " How long shall we be getting up the mountain ?" I 
 asked. 
 
 " Four hours." 
 
 " Well then," I said, " we will start at four : at five 
 it is day, and we shall be up by eight. You can come 
 for me in the morning." And so it was decided. 
 
238 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 UP THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 The following day I was up by a quarter-past three. 
 The morning was fine and warm, and the stars were 
 shining with wonderful brightness. Neuner just en- 
 tered, as I went into the little room below to get my 
 breakfast. 
 
 " There is my rifle, Neuner ; be so good as to load it, 
 while I drink this cup of coffee. In the rucksack, you 
 will find the powder-horn and balls ; here is the measure 
 for the powder. I shall have breakfasted in a minute, 
 and then we'll be off : this half brown loaf we may as 
 well take with us." 
 
 We sallied forth into the darkness. As we crossed 
 the fields in the valley, the forms of the nearer moun- 
 tains could be just made out, inasmuch as the gloom 
 above was not quite so impenetrable as that which 
 shrouded their sides and base. Now came the grey 
 dawn, and then the ever-cheering daybreak, accom- 
 panied by that wonderful breath, moving through the 
 air, which is felt at no other time. To the left was the 
 Kramer Berg, with its steep wall of rock and abrupt 
 precipices. From every point on this side the Kramer 
 presents itself in great picturesqueness ; the grey stone 
 and overhanging pines, and the deep ravine, are min- 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 239 
 
 gled together so finely that your eyes turn thitherward 
 almost unconsciously ; it juts out too, and rises at once 
 from the plain, and the bold upward line, especially when 
 seen in profile, gives it a commanding aspect. 
 
 " What a thorough chamois mountain that seems to 
 be," I observed : " what capital places everywhere for 
 them to maintain themselves in, — just such places as the 
 chamois love. Are many there now ?" 
 
 " Formerly it was one of the very best places : now I 
 doubt if there are any, — two or three perhaps. You 
 might go out day after day and not see the trace of a 
 living creature. And how the poachers used to be about ! 
 You might have heard rifle-shot after rifle-shot on the 
 mountain continually. Garmisch, you see, lies close at 
 the foot of it, and the Garmisch people were always 
 out." 
 
 " As it is so conveniently at hand, most of them, I 
 suppose, were poachers ?" 
 
 " Nearly all. They are a bad set there : work they 
 will not, and so they take their rifles and amuse them- 
 selves. I know most of them ; but if I met one on the 
 mountain, and went afterwards to the authorities to in- 
 form against him, the fellow would have a dozen witnesses 
 ready to swear that at that very hour he was elsewhere, 
 and I should get no redress. Formerly the Kramer was 
 in the Ettal district, and then I wished that it had been 
 in mine. Well, now it is so ; but as things are, I would 
 rather not have it. Ay, formerly ! that was a place in- 
 deed — the best of any here." 
 
 "On this side there are some wild-looking spots, 
 Neuner; yonder, for example, where the rock shows 
 through the latschen, — a difficult place that, I should 
 think, eh?" 
 
 " Yes," he said, " ugly places are there. The gullies 
 
240 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 (graben) are rather frightful to look at — some of thern 
 at least. I shot a chamois on the Kramer some time 
 ago, and he afterwards climbed to a spot where he could 
 not get out, nor I after him ; so I had to fetch a rope 
 and let myself down by it, and then drag him and my- 
 self up again."* 
 
 " I suppose as long as the laws remain in their pre- 
 sent form poaching will not cease. What think you, 
 Neuner?" 
 
 " Oh, the laws are well enough, if they were but exe- 
 cuted. We have law, but there is no one to look after it. 
 The fellows know we must not fire, so they don't care : 
 they like to go out, and seeing how little chance there 
 is of punishment, out they go and shoot to their heart's 
 content." 
 
 " Do they fire at the foresters here ?" I asked. 
 "The Schlier See men do not hesitate a moment, 
 but as soon as they see one up goes the rifle to their 
 shoulder : whether attacked or not, it is all the same to 
 them." 
 
 " No, here they don't : they always run away. But 
 once I met a fellow carrying off a chamois, and called to 
 
 * When a chamois is wounded in the flanks, the ball going through 
 the bowels, it is always best to let it alone for some time, for it is then 
 sure to He down at the first convenient spot it meets with. If on the 
 contrary you still pursue it, in the hope to get one more shot, the animal 
 will go on and on, climbing upwards till it is at last locked in and can 
 get no further. But the worst part is, you cannot get at it either ; or if 
 you should be able to approach near enough to put an end to the busi- 
 ness with another ball, the chamois in falling from its narrow ledge will 
 probably roll to such a distance, or come toppling down, dashing from 
 crag to crag, that even if recovered it is of no good to any one, as bones 
 and flesh will most likely be all battered into a pulp. For this reason 
 there are certain occasions when a calm sportsman would not fire at a 
 chamois, because he would know that, if he hit it, the creature would be 
 sure to go tumbling over the precipice. 
 
UP THE xMOUNTAIN. 241 
 
 him to lay down his rifle ; he did not, and was just run- 
 ning to a tree, from behind which he would most likely 
 have let fly at me, when I called to him again, ' This is 
 the last time, you rascal ! now then, or Fll fire ; ' and as 
 he did not, I fired. The trigger worked rather hard, so 
 the shot went off a little late, or the bullet must have 
 passed through the very middle of his chest. He reached 
 the tree however, and afterwards went away." 
 
 " And what luck the fellows have," I said : " not many 
 
 weeks ago one of the park-keepers of Prince T fired 
 
 at a poacher he caught in the park. The ball passed his 
 ear, just touching it. And another, since then, shot a 
 poacher's cap from his head : both got off safe." 
 
 " Well," said Neuner, " and it was but the other day 
 a young forester near here sent twenty-six shot into a 
 poacher's back. The fellow took four days to get home. 
 By good luck — or rather by ill luck, I should say — not 
 one shot touched his neck."* 
 
 " Did he take his rifle from him ?" 
 
 u No, the man crawled into a bush, so of course the 
 other could not venture near him ; but next day he came 
 up to the spot again, bringing a comrade with him, to 
 look for the poacher, and see what had become of him. 
 They thought to find him there still, either alive or dead, 
 but he was gone." 
 
 * As these are actual conversations, and not dialogues invented or 
 dressed up for the occasion, I beg the reader not to make the Author 
 answerable for any deficiency of mild forbearance or Christian love, in 
 these or similar expressions of feeling : that is to say, should lie happen 
 to find there is a lack of either. It is the Author's intention, to the 
 best of his ability, to give a plain, faithful picture of what he saw, and 
 to tell what sort of people these mountaineers, and poachers and foresters 
 are, and show hoto they feel inclined totcardseach other. As to a forester 
 feeling anything like human kindness for a poacher, this is demanding 
 more than his sinful mortal nature is capable of; but he has plenty of 
 human hate to give him, inveterate, deep, and unquenchable. 
 
 R 
 
24.2 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 u And did you hear nothing more about him ?" 
 
 " Oh yes, we knew who he was, and went to see him. 
 He never said anything about the matter, nor complained 
 to the authorities ; and as he had got punishment enough, 
 we did nothing more either." 
 
 I cannot give a better proof of the progress which the 
 lawless spirit of the revolutionary movement had made 
 among the bureaucracy, as well as the peasant class, than 
 by repeating what my companion told me as we walked 
 slowly up the steep mountain path. 
 
 " A short time ago, one of my men met some pea- 
 sants out poaching. Creeping along from bush to rock, 
 he stalked close up to them. He looked at each, but 
 did not recognize any of the party ; the rifle however that 
 one carried he remembered ; it had been sold by auction 
 not long before in the village, when the fire-arms that 
 had been taken from different persons were disposed of. 
 Well, he laid his information ; but the authorities, easy 
 as it would have been to find out the owner, have done 
 little or nothing in the matter." 
 
 " I suppose they are afraid to act, and are besides 
 better inclined to the poachers than to the foresters." 
 
 " Both one and the other," he answered. " And how 
 savagely the villagers can behave to one of us, when 
 they get us in their power, what I am going to tell you 
 will show. Some time ago a poacher was missing from 
 Partenkirchen. Between one and two hundred peasants 
 went out to search for him, and at last found him shot 
 dead. They instantly fancied he had been killed by one 
 of us foresters ; but it was really not the case, for none 
 of us knew anything about the matter. He had, with- 
 out doubt, been shot accidentally by a comrade. Well, 
 as soon as they found the corpse, the whole band with 
 shouts went to the house of the assistant-keeper, but he 
 was out. At last thev found him, and taking him to 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 243 
 
 the place where the corpse lay, asked, before the body, 
 1 Were you not out in the mountains V ' Yes,' he an- 
 swered, 'but not on Thursday/ 'You lie!' they all 
 shouted : ' you shot him/ They then beat him so un- 
 mercifully that he was soon unable to speak, and could 
 only hold up his hand imploring mercy." 
 
 "And what became of the poor fellow?" I asked. 
 
 " He was ill for a long time, and will never quite re- 
 cover ; he must have received some very severe internal 
 injury, for though he still goes about, he is quite a dif- 
 ferent person to what he was before." 
 
 " And were any of the men punished ?" 
 
 " The doctor, who was a thorough radical, said the 
 injuries the young forester had received were slight, and 
 the punishment therefore was also a slight one, as for a 
 misdemeanour only. Among the mob were two or three 
 common-councilmen (Gemeinde Rathe), and there they 
 are still." 
 
 We were going onwards up the stony road, when 
 Neuner said, " Yonder to the left is a salt-lick : it is as 
 well to look if anything is there." 
 
 We left the path accordingly, and passed among the 
 firs with which all this part of the mountain was covered. 
 There was little need of choosing our way here, for in 
 front a mountain torrent rushed along so boisterously, 
 as completely to drown the sound of our footsteps over 
 the dry prickly leaves. We came to the edge of the 
 bed of the stream, a deep and broad gulley torn and 
 broken up, and desolated by the swollen torrents which 
 come sweeping down from the mountain-tops in spring- 
 time. Heaps of rock and large stones were piled in the 
 middle of the broad bed, besides whole trees, dried and 
 sapless as the very stones themselves, which had been 
 flung there like wrecks. 
 
 R 2 
 
244 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 We did not speak in a whisper, for the waters were 
 filling the solitude with a voice louder than ours. 
 
 " There is nothing here," I said, after looking for a 
 minute up and down the ravine ; when, just as I had 
 spoken, from beneath a projecting part of the bank forth 
 bounded a chamois, scared at hearing a sound suddenly 
 jarring and breaking in upon the monotonous din that 
 surrounded his loneliness. He leaped upon a high stone, 
 quite unable to make out what sound it was that had 
 intruded on the solitude. His fine ear had caught an 
 unfamiliar tone ; the loud equal hum that was in the 
 air, and in the ground, and rolling on with the water, 
 was suddenly interrupted ; but what it was the creature 
 did not know. He stared and listened again, terrified 
 as men are when the cause of alarm is unseen. He 
 presently observed us, and springing down from his 
 eminence, turned toward the steep on the opposite side. 
 There he stood and gazed again, not more than fifty 
 yards from me ; but as it was only a yearling I let him 
 pass. On he bounded, then looked back, and leisurely 
 passed up among the trees to other haunts on the moun- 
 tain-top, where his own footsteps pattering on the rock 
 would be the only sound rising through the heavy si- 
 lence. 
 
 On our way upwards we had already passed such a 
 lick, almost hidden among the trees, — a dark and shady 
 spot, but nothing was there. Further on was another. 
 It was in the same gulley we had seen before, and close 
 to a waterfall, caused by the accumulated trunks and 
 branches of trees, stones, and fragments of rock that 
 had here formed an embankment. We crept through 
 the underwood, and as we came nearer I advanced alone. 
 Kneeling among the moss, I could look down into the 
 haunt of the chamois. On one side rose a green hillock, 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 245 
 
 and about it long grass was growing, and shrubs over- 
 hung the nook, making of that patch of ground a bright 
 verdant spot — a little oasis — amid the barrenness. I 
 fancied to myself it must be very pleasant behind that 
 hillock, — a cozy little home such as children, in the 
 overflowing richness of their imagination, see with their 
 mind's eye, and in their play will try to build up and 
 make a reality, — a retreat that nobody was ever to know 
 anything about, all covered over with nice yielding turf- 
 While looking at the green bank, and dallying thus with 
 old recollections (by the way what a simpleton my com- 
 panion would have thought me, had he known what I 
 was about), two most delicately-formed little ears rose 
 from behind it, then suddenly disappeared. They came 
 again, and with them this time the pretty head of a kid, 
 nibbling a blade of grass. It was rather toying with the 
 herbage than browsing upon it ; and it pricked its ears, 
 and bright glances darted from its dark eyes, and it 
 leaped and disported itself in the very happiest play. I 
 turned to Neuner, putting one finger on my lips, and 
 then pointed down toward the watercourse. He was 
 soon by my side. Hidden by a bush I watched for what 
 else might come, for I knew it was not likely the kid 
 would be alone. Its head came forth, now on one side, 
 now on the other, but the rest of its body always re- 
 mained concealed. Afterwards another head came in 
 sight, or rather the ears and horns only, nor could I 
 once obtain a view of the whole animal. We remained 
 a long time waiting for it to emerge from this chosen 
 spot, but in vain. 
 
 " That's a doe, Neuner," I whispered : " the horns 
 are too fine for a buck. When they come in view again, 
 look and you will see I am right." 
 
 " I think so too," he answered ; " but we arc losing 
 
246 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 time here. Let us go up higher ; we shall then see be- 
 hind that knoll, and if a buck is there get a shot." 
 
 Stealthily we crept back, and went higher, but on 
 looking over the ravine saw nothing ; we could not even 
 discern the hillock which had been between us and the 
 chamois just before. 
 
 " Shall we try a little further on ?" I asked. 
 
 " No, no, it will not do any higher ; they would be 
 sure to wind us there." 
 
 It was then settled Neuner should stay here, while I 
 returned to my former position ; and when he supposed 
 I had reached it, he was to dislodge a stone or two to 
 alarm the chamois ; and as they bounded away I should 
 see what they were, and according to circumstances get 
 a shot, or, might be, get none. 
 
 Presently down came a stone into the rocky ravine. 
 The two kids pricked their ears, and looked as though 
 they wondered what it could be, but yet not much 
 afraid. A second is heard, hopping along the hard bed 
 of the torrent. There is no doubt now about the danger ; 
 and off they go, thoroughly scared, — one, two, three 
 kids! and three does too. They look back once more, 
 and then disappear. 
 
 We returned to the path, and soon reached that part 
 of the mountain where the woods ceased. Before us 
 lay the bare steep ascent, with here and there a stunted 
 tree growing out of the rocky earth. Now all wore a 
 different character ; we were entering another region. 
 High above us was the sharp line of the ridge's sum- 
 mit ; that was our horizon, and thither we had to go. 
 On our left was a deep hollow. 
 
 "There, just there," said Neuner, pointing to a wizard- 
 looking dead tree, " I once shot a stag. It was even- 
 ing, and quite dark. I was waiting for him, sitting here 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 247 
 
 on this stone. He came along by yonder broken ground, 
 and through the hollow. I could not see his antlers ; 
 however I fired, but it was too dark to look for him 
 afterwards. As it was impossible to go home, I sat the 
 whole night under that tree, and the worst of it was it 
 rained all the time. In the morning I found him : he 
 had not gone far, for by chance I had hit him well." 
 
 Some distance up the mountain was a rude log-hut. 
 We went to it, for in such a place traces are often found 
 indicative of who were the last lodgers, or if any one 
 has been there beside the herdsman or the woodcutter. 
 On the door was written — 
 
 " In the lower hut. 
 
 Wolf." 
 It was fastened with a wooden peg outside, so we knew 
 there could be no one within. It was a miserable shelter, 
 just high enough to stand upright in, and round some 
 stones placed together on the ground were the remains 
 of a wood fire. A bed of dried leaves and hay was in 
 one corner, and after stirring and poking it about to see 
 if nothing was hidden there, we left the place. When a 
 poacher has rested or passed the night in a hut, he will 
 often leave behind him some marks of his sojourn ; and 
 an experienced eye will at once discover that the frag- 
 ments of a meal, the scrap of paper in which something 
 was wrapped, or the footsteps round the fire or leading 
 to the hut, were not the traces of its legitimate in- 
 habitants. Among the leaves, too, something or other 
 will be occasionally concealed, to be fetched away at a 
 convenient opportunity. Neuner said it was herdsmen 
 who had been there, and that the lire was of their mak- 
 ing. We saw a roebuck grazing among the latschen, but 
 he saw us too, and soon darted from our sight. 
 
 We were now near the sky-line; a fow steps more and 
 
248 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 we should be on the crest of the mountain. On nearing 
 this boundary of my vision — the line which seems to en- 
 circle and form the limits of a world — the same sensa- 
 tions were always quick within me. What was beyond ? 
 On what should I look down ? On cloud, and vast space, 
 and undefined emptiness ; or would wild rocks be there, 
 and dizzy precipices ; or should I be surprised by over- 
 looking a new portion of this earth of ours, that my eyes 
 had not yet rested on? Should I see a wide plain, with 
 distant cities and roads and tortuous rivers, and thus, 
 with a single step, be in presence of a new tract of coun- 
 try, and take it in at once with one long wondering gaze ? 
 As I had never been on these mountains before, there 
 was always this excitement on nearing the summit — a 
 pleasurable uncertainty about what was to come. And 
 as I crept along towards the ridge, about which, until 
 my foot had touched it, I always felt there hung a mys- 
 tery, how busily did imagination ply its work ! The cau- 
 tion, and the watchful eye, and the breathlessness, arose 
 as much from the awe of the moment as from the heed 
 that is natural to the chamois-hunter. And with strain- 
 ing eye and a tremulous longing, and a sense that a 
 spell was upon me which in a second would be broken, 
 did I creep on my knees to the very ridge, and stare over 
 into what was beyond. But it was not until, with still 
 gradually advancing body, I had cast my eyes over the 
 whole expanse before me, — not until with a glance all 
 had been passed over, — that the charm was dissolved, 
 and that, drawing a deep breath, I felt the sweetly-op- 
 pressive mystery was dispelled. 
 
 It is a different thing altogether thus to behold a new 
 country from the mountain-tops, or to see it as he does 
 who advances upon it step by step along the high-road. 
 It does not come upon you gradually, object after object 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 249 
 
 giving way to others as you approach, but the whole land 
 bursts upon your vision at once, and your senses make 
 you feel, by the sudden weight that presses on them, how 
 great the vastness that the mind is labouring to take in. 
 You have a consciousness of extent, and range, and space, 
 for some minutes before reason informs you about them, 
 — a sensation that takes you by surprise, that comes 
 rushing in upon you, and lording it for the moment over 
 the faculties of the mind j and though this eventually 
 gives place to a calm comprehension of extent, reaching 
 further than the eye can follow, it is after all that first 
 impression which is remembered long afterwards, — that 
 first sensation of being in presence of a vast thing, but as 
 yet uncertain, vague, and undefined ; for later, when Ave 
 look about for forms and mark particular outlines, there 
 is already a diminution of the glory. 
 
 Lying on the earth we wound forwards, and taking 
 off our hats we looked down into the green valley. Far, 
 far below chamois were seen : out came the telescopes 
 quickly, and we counted seventeen of them. On the side 
 of the mountain we could everywhere see their traces in 
 the snow. 
 
 " They have been here early this morning," said Neu- 
 ner : ■" we are rather late ; those other chamois kept us 
 so long. That is the essential thing, to be at the top 
 early. What a bad wind we have ! it comes up from 
 behind us, without blowing up from the valley in front 
 too." 
 
 " We could not do anything, even if they were not so 
 far ; we should never be able to reach them." 
 
 " Besides," said Neuner, who was still watching the 
 chamois through his glass, " there is not a buck among 
 them : they are all does." 
 
 We lay there awhile, examining the herd, and follow- 
 
250 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 ing their movements with our telescopes, and then I 
 took out our brown bread, and ate, while enjoying the 
 scene. 
 
 " Have you an apple ?" I asked. 
 
 "No." 
 
 " What a pity ! if you had, we could have a splendid 
 meal. Is there no water near ? for I am thirsty." 
 
 " None about here ; even the nearest place is a great 
 distance off." 
 
 Though the mountains opposite us were far away, the 
 bells of the grazing cattle and the shouts of the herds- 
 man came across to us distinctly, floating on the motion- 
 less air. 
 
 Our dry bread being eaten we went on. To the right 
 was a dip in the mountain, and here we expected to see 
 chamois. It was an inviting spot ; and formerly, as 
 Neuner told me, we should have been sure to find some. 
 We looked around, but not a creature was visible. After 
 a time we left our path along the ridge, and advancing 
 among the latschen, sat down and watched. We peered 
 around in vain, examining every dark green patch of her- 
 bage, and each spot lying in the sunshine, where at this 
 hour they would most likely be. We were both looking 
 in one direction, and by chance at the same moment 
 turned our heads ; when behold, on a pinnacle of rock, 
 rising among the herbage, there stood a chamois ! "Look, 
 a chamois \" each exclaimed, — a buck too ! and quick as 
 thought my finger drew back the cock of the rifle, and I 
 was cautiously raising it, when the creature was gone. 
 He did not disappear with a bound, but vanished like a 
 falling star. We looked at each other astonished, for 
 neither very well knew how he had got on that point of 
 rock, nor how he had quitted it ; but gone he was. It 
 was doubly vexatious, for not once in fifty times might 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 251 
 
 I get a shot under such circumstances. To bring down 
 the animal you are after is of course always pleasant, but 
 the satisfaction is at times greatly increased by the ac- 
 companying incidents. The chamois I shot on the Roth 
 Wand, for example, gave me a hundred times more plea- 
 sure than I should have felt in getting one of those first 
 seen on the Miesing. The spot where the creature 
 stands, the scene around it and you, — it is this enhances 
 the charm, and makes the heart leap with delight. Now 
 here was all I could wish for : from that pinnacle, on 
 which he was poised, how he would have come toppling 
 down through the air into the latschen below ! And as 
 I rehearsed the whole scene in my fancy, and grew more 
 and more vexed that it had not been realized, an angry 
 " Donner Wetter \" came rumbling through my teeth ; 
 and flinging my rifle over my shoulder I strode away. 
 
 "Do you see yonder green knoll?" said Neuner, 
 pointing to a rock rising out of the valley, and behind 
 which a path seemed to lead from the lower pasturages. 
 "Well, just on that spot a poacher was shot." 
 
 " W T ho shot him?" I asked. 
 
 " One of the under -foresters. The fellow was a noted 
 poacher, and had already fired several times at the 
 keepers. He was the most desperate in the whole coun- 
 try, and being well known as such they had often tried to 
 get hold of him, and bring him in dead or alive. The 
 young forester was quite alone, and standing just about 
 where we are now, when he saw him from afar coming 
 up the path ; so he sat down and waited for him. He 
 knew the path would lead him to yonder hillock, and 
 presently sure enough he saw his head appear, and then 
 his shoulders, and then the whole fellow. He was aim- 
 ing at him all the while, but it was not until the man 
 had reached the top of the rock, and stood before him at 
 
252 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 his full height, that he fired. The ball hit him in the 
 centre of his chest. It was rather strange, but when 
 struck the poacher pulled open his shirt as if surprised, 
 looked at the shot-wound, and then falling forwards on 
 his face, dropped down dead." 
 
 From a sort of table-land below and in front of us, 
 where a group of figures was distinctly visible, rose the 
 sound of women's voices ; and all space was filled with 
 their carollings. A very flood of tones came rolling to 
 us in great waves of sound ; for the distance, and may- 
 be the soft air, blended them in harmony, and made 
 those loud and sudden gushes of song most musical. 
 We stopped and examined them with our glasses. 
 
 " Hang them \" said Neuner, while getting out his 
 telescope, " they are on the mountain shouting and sing- 
 ing all day long !" 
 
 "Who are they?" I asked. 
 
 ' ' People digging gentian-roots ; they are always seek- 
 ing them, and disturbing the game ; it never has any 
 peace. There are two women and a man," continued 
 he, examining them with his glass ; " they are not from 
 Partenkirchen, but come from a village yonder." 
 
 Though far away we could hear them distinctly when 
 they spoke, and their hearty laugh came ringing in our 
 ear, and sounded gladdening among those lonely rocks. 
 
 We were ascending the last rise of the mountain, 
 when Bursch (the dog) came running to us in evident 
 fear. 
 
 " Himmel, Donner Wetter ! " cried Neuner, seizing 
 his rifle with the quickness of thought ; instinctively I 
 seized mine, while springing round to meet the danger, 
 and cocked it in a second ; for I thought a poacher had 
 stolen upon us and was close at hand. But it was no 
 such enemy that Bursch had run from : a large vulture 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 253 
 
 was wheeling upwards and bearing away from us, and 
 was now so far that it would have been useless to send 
 a bullet after him in his flight. 
 
 " Had we seen him sooner, I might have had a shot," 
 said Neuner. "Four florins are given for every one 
 we deliver to the head-forester." 
 
 " Are they very large ?" I asked. 
 
 " Seven feet from wing to wing ; and they are strong 
 too ; they carry away the young kids. When the cha- 
 mois see one wheeling in the air, there is a terrible com- 
 motion, the poor helpless things are so frightened. I 
 have often watched them : they all run together, and 
 huddle as close as possible with the kids in the middle, 
 and wait tremblingly till their enemy is gone." 
 
 After continuing along the crest of the mountain for 
 some time, we again sat down on a commanding spot, to 
 look if anything was to be seen. We saw nothing ; so 
 at last I gave up the search, and let my eyes wander 
 dreamily around, just as they listed, without aim or pur- 
 pose. I saw all, but it was supinely, and with the happy 
 consciousness that not one single object concerned me, 
 or could disturb my delicious inactivity, — a sweet state 
 of utter indolence. The early hour of rising, the fatigue 
 and the excitement, all induce this calm and dozing list- 
 lessness. The muscles relax kindly, and the whole body 
 reposes in a state of slothful Eastern ease. 
 
 While thus outstretched upon the earth, my elbow 
 buried in the grass, and my head resting on my hand, 
 gradually my eyes wandered to fewer objects, and at 
 last gazed with but little consciousness at a single ^one. 
 Slowly a thin veil moved before it ; I heard the voices 
 of the women floating lullingly on the air, and indistinct 
 remembrances were lazily trying to marshal themselves 
 into some sort of order in my brain, but they could not 
 
254 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 accomplish it. The carol of the gentian-gatherers was 
 now as a low hum in my ear, and from the valley there 
 rose a mist, and then a rolling cloud. I fell asleep. 
 
 Suddenly there came a shock ; a hand was upon me, 
 and a voice said, ' ' There is a chamois ! " I was wide 
 awake in an instant, and involuntarily cocking the rifle 
 on which my hand rested while I slept, I started to my 
 feet. 
 
 " Oh, it is too far to fire," said Neuner. " There he 
 is!" 
 
 "I see it!" And there stood, far below us among 
 the thick latschen, a fine chamois. Out came the tele- 
 scope. His fore-feet were on a fragment of rock, his 
 sloping back was toward us, and his neck stretched out, 
 with the head knowingly on one side, as though he were 
 listening. He stood so for a long time immovable ; it 
 was evident he did not know what to make of it. 
 
 " Perhaps he hears those women," I observed ; " or, 
 as he is looking downwards, may-be a herdsman is pass- 
 ing below. What shall we do ?" 
 
 " We will wait and see what he does," said Neuner. 
 
 But he still remained, and gazed and listened. And 
 well might he tarry, for from the rocks above no danger 
 could reach him ; and to approach where he stood with- 
 out being perceived was next to impossible. Yet he was 
 mistrustful, and soon skipped lightly away. The manner 
 of his leaving the spot, however, showed he was not 
 frightened ; prudence, rather than fear, had induced him 
 to change his position. I knew therefore he would not 
 go far : he would not bound headlong on without stop 
 or stay, as when his fine sense of hearing warned him 
 of danger being near, or the taint of the hunter floated 
 toward him on the air, streaming over a sudden dip of 
 the mountain. He was most likely among the latschen, 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 255 
 
 so we hastened back some distance, and down the rocks, 
 in order to meet him should he come that way. But 
 we saw no trace of him, though every bush and spot was 
 examined most carefully. 
 
 " He cannot have passed, Neuner," I said : " he must 
 be among the latschen. Perhaps he is behind that up- 
 right rock yonder : I will go forward and see." And leav- 
 ing my long pole behind me, I went carefully through 
 the latschen and looked over the precipice. It went 
 down quite perpendicular two hundred feet, and from my 
 pinnacle I had a good view around, but saw nothing of 
 the chamois. 
 
 We regained our ridge by climbing a steep, so long and 
 slippery that I was right glad when it was behind us. We 
 sat down to rest. Opposite was the Kramer, and rising 
 above this was the Zug Spitz range, grand and mighty 
 in its proportions, and the eye wandered over those snowy 
 peaks far away into the Tyrol. On the left the Ettaler 
 Mannl came peeping from amid the verdure-covered 
 rocks. My good friend Franz Kobell has sung his stern 
 virtues ; but I was now hungry, and so tormented with 
 thirst that I cared not one farthing about his virtues or 
 anything else, — / wanted to drink. Water was not to 
 be had ; I was obliged therefore to mix some snow with 
 a few drops of rum and eat it. Neuner told me snow 
 would only make me more thirsty, but that I could not 
 help^ — drink I must. We ate a crust of bread, and, as 
 the sun was shining warmly, we crept into a shady place, 
 with Bursch beside us, and all three had a sound sleep. 
 
 In an hour we awoke, and on we went again. " A 
 buck ! a buck I" flew suddenly from Neuner's lips ; and 
 with widely-opened eyes and his mouth screwed up as 
 though he were saying " Hush \" though he uttered not 
 a breath, down he dropped, so as to prevent his body 
 
256 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 being seen above the sky-line. We crept forward on 
 our stomachs, with hats off, gently advancing our heads, 
 till at last our eyes could just peep over the ridge. There 
 he was below us, and a splendid fellow too. 
 
 " He is quite black," I whispered to Neuner ; " that's 
 a good buck indeed ! But how can we get near him ?" 
 
 This was a question of painful interest. To be tor- 
 tured by the sight of such a capital chamois, within my 
 grasp as it were, and yet not be able to approach him, 
 was most distressing ; for in a moment my eye recon- 
 noitred the ground, and I saw all the difficulties of our 
 position. Over the ridge where we lay the descent was 
 nearly perpendicular; latschenwere growing there abun- 
 dantly, it is true, so that to climb down would have been 
 possible enough, but not noiselessly, and that was here a 
 question of the last importance. From out the depth be- 
 fore us, that went stretching away more or less abruptly 
 to the valley, rose here and there a pile of rock like the 
 towers of a cathedral, with latschen growing on its sur- 
 face, or starting from the gaps and crevices. It was on 
 the top of one of these rocks the buck was feeding. With 
 our glasses we looked down full upon his broad back. 
 
 " What a magnificent fellow ! If we could but get 
 him, Neuner ! " I said, half inquiringly. 
 
 " Yes," he answered, " but how ? that's the thing." 
 
 At first he was partly hidden among the latschen, then 
 his hind-quarters, quite black, emerged from the dark 
 green bushes, as he slowly moved on, perfectly uncon- 
 scious of our neighbourhood. 
 
 " I don't see him now," said Neuner. 
 
 " But I do : look there, the black spot to the right 
 of that bare rock, — that's he ! Here, take my glass." 
 
 " Ah, what a size ! Well, we had better go down 
 yonder to the left, and see if there is any possibility of 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 257 
 
 getting nearer : it will however be a long shot in any 
 case. Shall we try?" 
 
 "Yes, of course, come along." 
 
 And we went to where the ridge dipped some- 
 what, but yet advanced thitherwards where the chamois 
 stood. Now came the latschen, — those dreadful latschen 
 through whose thick branches it is so difficult to creep 
 without a rustling noise. We stepped with breathless 
 caution. " Hush \" said Neuner with a long drawn-out 
 breath ; " Hush — sh — sh ! — silently, silently ! no noise, 
 for heaven's sake i" And holding back the stubborn 
 branches for each other, we proceeded slowly to the 
 brink. Before us was a wilderness of latschen, growing 
 up from the abrupt steep, and there was a deep hollow 
 between the brink where I stood and the tower-like 
 rock where the chamois was first seen. But now we 
 looked and we saw him not. Between us and the rock 
 on which my every hope was centred there rose another, 
 hiding a part of the first from view. I fancied the buck 
 might be just behind that rock, and whispered it to 
 Neuner. " If so," I said, " he will for certain come in 
 sight again on one side of it or the other ;" for the nearer 
 crag, being less broad than the further one, hid just the 
 middle part from our sight. 
 
 " How far is it from here to yonder bare rock on the 
 left ?" I asked ; " it is there I expect he will come." 
 
 " A hundred and forty yards ; not more I think, but 
 quite as much certainly." 
 
 For a long, long time we waited, but in vain. At last 
 Neuner proposed to return to the ridge whence we first 
 saw the buck, and look if he was still there. After 
 awhile I saw him standing motionless on the crest of 
 the mountain, and gazing steadily into the depth below. 
 He made a sign that nothing more was to be seen. This 
 
 s 
 
258 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was certainly not cheering, but I did not yet despond, 
 and still believed the chamois was on the rock and 
 would eventually move into sight. But another half 
 hour dragged by, and then another, and at last I re- 
 luctantly acknowledged to myself that I gave him up. 
 But as Neuner still stood on high peering from his eyrie, 
 I would not quit my station, incommodious as it was to 
 stand between, and partly upon, the branches of the 
 latschen. And though in my heart I had given up all 
 hope now, my eyes were still fixed on the further rock ; 
 when behold ! from behind the nearer one the head of 
 a chamois appears — only the head — as he advances gra- 
 zing. It was on the right. And now he lifts his head, 
 and comes forward. His whole body is exposed; one 
 second only, and the report of my rifle thunders through 
 the mountains. He stops, turns, and goes to the very 
 spot where I first expected he would come. It is ter- 
 ribly steep just there ; he stands somewhat bent to- 
 gether, ready to descend the rock's precipitous side. 
 But he is hesitating. He must be hit ! The rifle is 
 still at my shoulder, and the ball from the left barrel 
 . . . " By Jove, it has hit him I" Down he comes; he 
 can't stop himself, he rolls headlong over the crag ! I 
 watched him till he was out of sight, and then drew a 
 long deep breath. I looked up to Neuner, and taking 
 off my hat waved it in the air, that he might know all 
 was right. He swung his gaily in return, and dashing 
 along through the latschen was soon at my side. 
 
 " Did you see him fall, Neuner ?" 
 
 "Yes, but before you fired I saw nothing. When 
 you levelled your rifle I thought it was only a joke, till 
 the shot came, and afterwards the other." 
 
 To be doubly sure, I looked across with my glass, to 
 see if any blood was upon the rock, but I could discover 
 
Qsmp.^.Th.Horschelt Gedr.b Jul. Ada.™ in Munch er. 
 
 After the wounded chamois 
 
 Litli.T.r Hohe 
 
UP THE MOUNTAIN. 259 
 
 none. Then came the doubts and anxiety ; yet at the 
 same time I felt sure he was hit, and well hit too. With 
 some difficulty we clambered down to the foot of the 
 rock ; I looked into the gulf, but could see no trace of 
 the animal. 
 
 " He must be in there, Neuner, — I am sure he must. 
 No chamois that was not badly wounded ever came 
 down a rock as he did. I'll go down and look after 
 him." 
 
 " No, you will not be able to get out again ; it is im- 
 possible. Let us go lower down yonder, and look up 
 the gully." 
 
 We did so, and I stopped to load my rifle. Neuner 
 meanwhile ran forwards to a projecting crag, and by his 
 manner and the expression of his whole body I knew he 
 saw the chamois. At the same moment he fired. 
 
 " There he is \" he cried j " he 's limping." 
 
 "Stop, Neuner, I am sure he can't go far; we shall 
 overtake him, and then we'll let Bursch follow, and 
 he'll bring him to bay." And down we ran, where at 
 any other time we should have gone with slow and care- 
 ful steps, and presently caught sight of him. 
 
 " There he is \" 
 
 " Let me fire \" I cried j " do you see him ? Ah, now 
 I do, but the latschen half hides him. Now he moves 
 forward !" Fire ! — and down he rolls head over heels. 
 Bursch, who till now, though trembling in every limb 
 with excitement, had restrained his desperate longing, 
 was unable to do so any longer. When the chamois 
 fell, he dashed forwards, baying, screaming almost with 
 passionate delight, and the chamois and he were going 
 down the steep together, and we following as fast as we 
 could go; it was a headlong race over loose stones of 
 every size, slipping, stumbling, falling, and then sliding 
 
 s2 
 
260 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 forwards several yards with the loose rubble, my feet in 
 front and my body inclined backwards, leaning on my 
 pole behind. Now all was silent ; Bursch had ceased 
 his baying, so we knew the chamois was dead. On the 
 grass and rocks were frequent drops of blood : but as we 
 could not see where the hound was, we whistled for him, 
 and at the same moment descried him beside the buck, 
 which had fallen close to the trunk of a half-decayed 
 tree. 
 
 Then came the examination of our booty, and of the 
 different shots. On of the horns was gone, broken short 
 off close to the skull in rolling among the rocks after the 
 last shot. I was sorry, for they were high and thick, 
 and had in perfection that short curve peculiar to the 
 buck, which gives him so sturdy an air. 
 
 " Look, Neuner, here 's the first shot ; it has grazed 
 his back-bone badly— a little too high, though. No 
 wonder he stood so bent together after being hit !" 
 
 "And this must be the second," said Neuner, ex- 
 amining another just behind the shoulder. " It was 
 that prevented his being able to hold himself up in 
 coming down the rocks." 
 
 " Well, I am very satisfied with both : that left barrel 
 of mine shoots capitally. Now then, let us pull him 
 out : — how heavy he is ! ;; 
 
 And dragging him to a spot where it was less steep, 
 I gralloched him, and found him in capital condition and 
 as fat as possible. 
 
261 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 HOMEWAKDS. 
 
 Not far from where the chamois fell there gurgled a 
 rivulet ; and when our buck was put into the rucksack, 
 we sat down beside the pleasant water, and mixing a 
 cupful with a little rum, drank success to the merry 
 sport. Not that I was thirsty now, for the excitement 
 of the last two or three hours had prevented my think- 
 ing about it ; yet, thirsty or not, it was right cheerful to 
 sit on a mossy stone, rifle in lap, with a good chamois to 
 feast our eyes on, and to taste the delicious water that 
 was playing round the stones. But there was no time 
 for luxuriating thus. • 
 
 " We must be going," said Neuner, " for it is a good 
 way home ; and if we wait much longer night will over- 
 take us before we reach the village." 
 
 " Let me carry it," I said, as Neuner was about to 
 sling his rucksack, with the chamois in it, on his shoul- 
 ders; "I would rather, I assure you, — halfway at least." 
 
 " Oh no, it is nothing ; I have many a time carried 
 two roebucks, and have still gone on stalking, as though 
 I had nothing. Two I did not feel, — I did not mind 
 them at all. I have even done so with three, and have 
 carried home five. Sixty, eighty pounds, I don't mind 
 now, but more I should not much like. 
 
262 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Yet that's a pretty fair weight to carry a long time." 
 
 " Yes, but I am not what I once was : formerly I 
 cared for nothing; — heat, or cold, or hunger, it made 
 little difference to me. I used to be out day after day, 
 and night after night, and did not return home from one 
 week's end to the other. But once I went out, and in 
 the evening, on reaching the hut where I intended to 
 sleep, found it full of snow; so I could make no fire. 
 I was in a profuse sweat, and of course had nothing to 
 put over me; I got some brushwood and made a bed 
 on the snow, and lay down. The next morning I felt 
 ill, and went home ; but I was so cold and stiff that it 
 took me a whole day to get there. I have never been 
 quite well since." 
 
 There were no signs of stiffness in his limbs now, for 
 on he went at a smart pace, despite the rough path and 
 the chamois at his back. 
 
 In coming down a mountain, there is every now and 
 then some appearance which gives indication of your 
 approach to the valley ; and each one, as it shows you 
 are nearing your home, is welcome and makes you glad. 
 We cftme to a meadow affording capital pasturage, and 
 strewn over it were the rude log-huts for storing the 
 hay.* 
 
 "Often enough at evening," observed Neuner, as we 
 stopped a moment or two for him to rest his load, " often 
 enough were stags to be seen here formerly. The mea- 
 dow, you see, is quite surrounded by the woods, and as 
 the sun was going down they liked to come forth and 
 graze. 
 
 "Once, near Ettal, my brother saw twenty stags all 
 
 * After the haymaking the whole crop is put up in such log-huts, 
 and when winter comes and the snow is hard enough to bear, the hay is 
 piled on sledges and carried down to the village. 
 
HOMEWARDS. 263 
 
 together in a pool," said Neuner. " He is forester in 
 that district, you know. It was in summer, when the 
 great horse-fly is very troublesome to them. Another 
 time he met seventeen together. That was a sight — such 
 pushing and rolling and fighting with each other." 
 
 "It must have been worth seeing," I observed. 
 " What a splashing, and how they must have been coated 
 with mud \" 
 
 " Bauer shot one there the other day, — just there, be- 
 tween yonder woods, where you see a way cut through 
 them," said Neuner, pointing to a grassy avenue leading 
 from the smooth green meadow away into the forest. 
 " Game would quickly be here, if there was only a little 
 peace. The red-deer, that used to quit their haunts at 
 certain seasons, now stay and drop their young here ; and 
 in the rutting season the stags have their appointed places 
 too. For some years this has been the case; formerly 
 they never did so. With a little quiet, I should soon 
 have a fair stock again, for all the places about here are 
 favourable for deer and chamois; they can maintain 
 themselves on the mountains, and there are sheltered 
 spots for them in winter, just such places as they like. 
 And you see how beautifully all adjoins and hangs to- 
 gether : I would not wish a finer forest, and it used to 
 be my greatest delight ; but now, I don't know how it is, 
 all my pleasure is at an end." 
 
 "But things will change," I said; "be sure matters 
 cannot go on as they are now, — they must mend." 
 
 " Oh, you can form no idea of the endless disagree- 
 ables we have to go through. There are our master's 
 rights to defend ; and if we do so, never so mildly, then 
 the peasants, every one of them, abuse us in all possible 
 ways. They think now they have a right to everything : 
 they want wood given them, or permission to collect 
 
264 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 litter* for their stables, and are greatly discontented if 
 they do not immediately get what they require. And 
 yet these are the persons who have been exterminating 
 the game, and would not listen to reason, and who re- 
 fused every offer made them that was just and fair. No, 
 Fve enough of it; my duties give me no pleasure now." 
 
 "I well know what the peasants are; formerly I 
 thought something might be done with them, but I now 
 see it is quite out of the question. Besides, of the game 
 here they had no reason to complain, for it did them no 
 harm, as is the case in the flat land."f 
 
 " To be sure not," continued my companion ; " but 
 even my woods, which I always took such pleasure in, 
 they can't leave alone." 
 
 " What is it they do ?" I inquired. 
 
 " Did you not see, as we were going up the mountain 
 this morning, the bark peeled off several trees ? Well, 
 where the bark is off, a worm enters and destroys the 
 tree. I could show you places where there are twenty 
 
 * The peasantry in Germany collect the dead leaves in the forests to 
 make litter for their cattle in the stables in winter. Though of course 
 the forester does not mind their carrying them away, he cannot give to 
 each one indiscriminately permission to do so. Formerly, when there 
 were red-deer in the forests, the constant invasion of their solitude dis- 
 turbed them ; for, as everybody knows, there is nothing the deer value 
 so much as quiet. Besides, the young wood might be injured, or timber 
 stolen, if every one were allowed to work for days together in the woods 
 merely for the asking. 
 
 t In the flat land the game, it is true, often did harm to the crops of 
 the husbandman. But when the damage was paid for — paid for even 
 beyond its value — the discontent of the peasants did not cease, though 
 many of them calculated on this indemnity as one source of revenue. I 
 have often seen potatoes planted on strips of ground on the skirts of the 
 forest, which no peasant would ever have thought of tilling, had he not 
 hoped to be able to show that deer had been on his field, and so make a 
 claim for loss sustained. The noble proprietor of the forests bordering 
 the Danube, in the neighbourhood of Donau Stauf, paid regularly every 
 
HOMEWARDS. 265 
 
 or thirty in that state. The worst is, the disease is in- 
 fectious ; and when one tree has been treated so, it is 
 sure to spread to several others. I think I should shoot 
 a fellow if I caught him at it." 
 
 " But what is their motive ?" 
 
 " Malice, mischief, ill-will," he answered. " What 
 other motive could they have, as they gain nothing by 
 it ? And yet they want us to help them out with wood, 
 etc., and are mightily surprised and insolent if we say a 
 word. My trees used to be my great delight ; for as to 
 shooting the game, I don't care about that : it never cost 
 me an effort to see a stag or chamois and not to fire 
 at it." 
 
 " And what is the price of venison ?" I asked. 
 
 "Eight kreutzers a pound."* We are obliged to sell 
 it cheap, or we should not dispose of it at all. If we 
 asked more than the poachers, no one would take it, so 
 we are obliged to give it at the same price as they." 
 
 Rather hard this, for another to be underselling you 
 with your own property ! 
 
 " Have any been out lately ?" I asked. 
 
 year a considerable sum to the peasants as indemnity for the damage 
 done to their crops by the game ; and according as the price of com rose 
 these sums were increased. As the money received was generally more 
 than adequate to the loss sustained, the peasantry were satisfied, and found 
 in the arrangement no cause of complaint ; when suddenly, in 1848, al- 
 though the preceding years the indemnity received by them had been 
 nearly doubled, they discovered that such a state of things could exist no 
 longer ; and thus, supreme authority ceding to popular will, a general 
 extermination of game took place throughout the land. Now however, 
 when too late, there is hardly one who does not regret the change, and 
 wish that "the good old times " would come again ; for to many a pea- 
 sant this indemnity was a source of revenue : — it was a part of his income 
 in fact, and, as such, entered into all his calculations. 
 
 * One-third of a penny less than threepence. Nine kreutzers are 
 equal to threepence. 
 
266 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Of course : why they are always out : it was not 
 long ago Bauer met three men on the Enning, where you 
 shot your buck today, — close by where we first saw him." 
 
 " As he dared not fire, he could not do much, I sup- 
 pose." 
 
 " He took away the rifle of one, — that was all. The 
 thing was, he stalked close up to the man without his 
 perceiving him, and laid hold of his rifle. The fellow, 
 who was sitting on a rock, was terribly startled, and 
 slipped forward to get away. Bauer caught hold of his 
 rifle, and thought to get the man too, but he just es- 
 caped." 
 
 "And the others," I said, " what did they do ?" 
 
 " You see, when Bauer crept up to the one poacher he 
 did not know any others were there. He had not ob- 
 served them, for they were a little distance off. But 
 when he did, he had his rifle to his shoulder in a mo- 
 ment so they could do nothing but follow their compa- 
 nion, and off they ran." 
 
 We now came in sight of the village and its little 
 homesteads, and broad fresh green pastures ; with here 
 and there a peasant-girl tripping along on the dewy 
 path, returning from Partenkirchen, or youth whistling 
 gaily, or with a mouth-harmonicon feasting his soul with 
 music, as he lingered abstractedly on his way. 
 
 And now we are in the village, and the children stop 
 in their play, and the old people and youths and lasses 
 pause in their work as we pass, and look at the good cha- 
 mois that Neuner has at his back. And with what feel- 
 ing of inner satisfaction and delight you meet the pas- 
 sers-by ! in truth you are glad they happen to come that 
 way just then, when the rucksack is freshly stained and 
 bulging out with its pleasant load. You feel so cheery 
 and light-hearted, so perfectly satisfied with yourself, and, 
 
HOMEWARDS. 267 
 
 even if not so generally, I am quite sure that now you 
 cannot help- being affable. But does not success always 
 make us happy ? 
 
 We took the buck to Neuner's cottage, and his sister 
 stepped out to welcome us. Now came the sweet words 
 of gratulation, — sweet and gentle-sounding ever, be the 
 language what it may in which they are spoken. Some 
 of the hair was then pulled out to make a gemsbart ; it 
 was jet black, but unfortunately rather short. Six weeks 
 later it would have waved the whole length of his back 
 in long and splendid tufts. He weighed, when cleaned, 
 61 ^lb., and of fat alone. we took 51b. out of him. 
 
 "There are calamities in authorship which only au- 
 thors know," writes Charles Lamb to a friend; and just 
 so with the sportsman — there is many a circumstance 
 which he only can appreciate. All these little incidents 
 therefore I mention purposely ; for, though very trifling 
 in themselves, they belong here, and it is such after all 
 that contribute in no small degree to make up the sum 
 of the pleasures of the chase. Just as the place where 
 you follow the game, or the spot where it falls, serves to 
 enhance your delight, so the length and colour of the 
 beard,* the size or beauty of the horns, the casual meet- 
 ing with some forester or friend as you are going down- 
 ward with your prize over your shoulders, — all these and 
 a thousand other chance events contribute to your plea- 
 sure, and swell the amount of your enjoyment. 
 
 We were told that two shots had been heard on the 
 Oester Berg, the mountain that rises immediately behind 
 Farchant. It was probably Bauer, the under- gamekeeper ; 
 for he had gone out betimes that morning, and was not 
 yet returned. Nor did he come later. We supposed 
 
 * The so-called " beard," be it remembered, is the hair growing along 
 the ridge of the back. 
 
268 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 therefore that he had wounded a roebuck or a chamois, 
 and would stay that night on the mountain. 
 
 As I returned to my little inn, the whole village was 
 crowded with young heifers coming back from the pas- 
 turage, each wearing round its neck a differently toned 
 bell j and there was something very cheerful, and far 
 from discordant, in the sound. Hardly had it ceased, 
 when the evening bell, swinging slow and steadily, again 
 broke the silence, but added to the repose, — reminding 
 all, even the lonely wood-cutter in his poor hut high 
 up on the mountain, that it were well to thank God for 
 another day of life. 
 
 THE ETTALER MANNL. 
 
 " The Ettaler Mannl," or " The Little Man of Ettal," 
 alluded to in the preceding pages, is a mountain that 
 closes in the vale of Ettal, and whose top consists of 
 an upright bare rock, which rises above the surround- 
 ing verdure, forming by contrast a rather conspicuous 
 feature in the landscape. This "Man" Kobell in a 
 little poem has invested with human attributes, and 
 makes him from his watch-tower look forth over the 
 plain, to see if danger is approaching the land. When I 
 was last at Ettal it was with Kobell, and the villagers 
 told him that the words had been set to music, and 
 how a few nights before they had sung them amid loud 
 cheers and enthusiastic applause. The dalesmen love 
 their mountain all the more dearly now ; they have 
 identified themselves with ' ' The Old Man of Ettal," since 
 the poet has breathed upon him and made him live. 
 
THE ETTALER MANNL. 269 
 
 Wgi Ettaler jJKannl. 
 
 The Ettaler Mannl is strong and stout, 
 His bones have a marrow of stone throughout ; 
 Cares not for wind or for tempest wild, 
 For he's indeed a true mountain child. 
 
 The Ettaler Mannl sees far inland, 
 'Tis a fine look-out where he 's ta'en his stand ; 
 But what 's he watching, what is 't he will, 
 So earnest always, and always still ? 
 
 I'll tell you what, — he's thinking, and heeds 
 
 What sort of life the Bavarian leads ; 
 
 If still, as once, he is kind and good, 
 
 If still he 's warmed by the same brave blood, 
 
 If still to his King he true be found, 
 That's why the old fellow looks round and round 
 And should it not be so, then — God speed ! 
 For days would follow of sorest need. 
 
 The Ettaler Mannl in awful size, 
 
 His gray cloak round him, doth now arise ; 
 
 A giant then you will find is he, 
 
 The like of whom none did ever see. 
 
 And with his feet and his arms of stone, 
 Makes such wild havoc as ne'er was known, 
 And on throughout the whole land the same, 
 Till clean once more from disgrace and shame. 
 
 The Ettaler Mannl still stands in peace, 
 All 's right as yet — there is nought amiss ; 
 So go on bravely, be good and true, 
 That this Man never have aught to do. 
 
270 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE OESTER BERG. 
 
 At noon I started for Partenkirchen, and walked straight 
 to the forester's house to report myself. He was not a 
 little surprised at my good fortune. Then, before going 
 up the Oester Berg where Neuner had seen two chamois 
 lately, I went to the inn to get some bread, a few lumps of 
 sugar, in case I should wish to make a glass of grog, and 
 a couple of eggs for mixing with my schmarren. The 
 landlord's daughter — who, although her wedding was 
 near at hand and she was busied the live-long day with 
 three of her handmaids in marking and hemming, and 
 folding great piles of linen for the household of which 
 she was soon to be mistress, was not always in the best 
 of moods — met me as I entered. " Good day, Chris- 
 tina !" I said; "why, I expected a friendly greeting, 
 — you wanted a chamois, and I sent you one yester- 
 day." 
 
 "Ah, good day \" she answered: "one hardly knows 
 you in your green hunter's hat and joppe." 
 
 " The chamois was good, was it ?" 
 
 " A capital one, — who shot it ?" 
 
 " No, no ! that I don't believe." 
 
 " Now for your unbelief, Christina, you must give me 
 
THE OESTER BERG. 271 
 
 an apple to take with me ; for I am going up the Oester 
 Berg, and dry bread makes a rather insipid meal. So 
 now for the punishment : come along to the storeroom 
 and put some of your best into my rucksack, for part 
 with your rosy apples you must." 
 
 What a storeroom that was ! well worthy of belong- 
 ing to the richest man in the village, and a post-master 
 and landlord withal. It was a large stone-paved room, 
 light and cheerful and cool ; and round the walls were 
 bright copper moulds, for making jellies and cakes; 
 and a store of spoons, and plates, and jolly-looking tan- 
 kards, with huge flagons beside them, that had many a 
 time descended into the earth, and returned thence foam- 
 ing and sparkling and bright with the rich treasures laid 
 up there. And there were mighty stone bottles stand- 
 ing on the dresser, in which it was evident some rebelli- 
 ous spirit was enthralled, for to make egress quite im- 
 possible the corks w r ere bound firmly down ; and moun- 
 tains ,of butter on fair white boards, and eggs in abun- 
 dance ; and binns broad and deep, filled with coarse meal, 
 and finer, and the very finest flour. Loaves of freshly- 
 baked brown bread were piled on the shelves, each a good 
 five-pounder ; and tongues shrivelled and smoked, with 
 fat sides of bacon, hung from a row of hooks ; and sugar- 
 loaves, and dried fruits, and glass jars filled with lusci- 
 ous syrups and preserves ; golden apricots and red cran- 
 berries, with pots of lucent Tyrolian honey — all was 
 there in generous overflowing abundance. The fat of 
 the land, dropping into many channels, had been made 
 to pour out its unctuous richness here. It was worth 
 seeing, that storeroom, — a rich granary where the wealth 
 of the earth was garnered up ! 
 
 A good road leads a considerable distance up the 
 mountain : at last, between the hills a green valley is 
 
272 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 seen, with a single solitary hut. But it was to the 
 " Hinteren Hiitte " — the hindmost hut — that I had to 
 go ; so crossing the meadow and following a stony path, 
 I soon saw smoke rising slowly, and mixing with the 
 mists which were gathering fast over the landscape. It 
 was growing dark, for I had tarried too long at Parten- 
 kirchen, and the walk thence had taken me two good 
 hours. 
 
 I pushed open the unbolted door, and entered the 
 room on my right. 
 
 " Ha ! you are come at last," said Neuner, rising to 
 meet me ; " it is so late we had given you up." 
 
 " And glad I am to be here," I said; "it is just be- 
 ginning to rain. I fear we shall have bad weather j the 
 sky is overcast, and the clouds look very gloomy." 
 
 " Should it rain in the night so much the better, if it 
 is but fine in the morning. After rain the chamois are 
 on the mountain-tops. We want rain, for it has long 
 been too dry, and the chamois have kept low down." 
 
 I wiped the moisture from my rifle, and hung if up 
 against the wall ; and laying aside my rucksack and 
 thick shoes, was comfortable enough in the warm room. 
 The hut was rather a large one. It consisted of the room 
 where all sat, with a smaller one adjoining ; and on the 
 other side was a kitchen, — that is to say, a smoke- 
 blackened place three or four yards long by one-and-a- 
 half or two in breadth, paved with rough stones, and a 
 rudely-raised hearth in the middle for making fire. On 
 the wall hung several large copper saucepans for warming 
 milk, and an iron frying-pan, and this was all the furni- 
 ture. But nothing could be cleaner than these utensils ; 
 they were as bright inside as if they had been of silver. 
 On entering the house-door you went along a passage, 
 leading to a shed or sort of barn, which, though roofed 
 
THE OESTER BERG. 273 
 
 over, was at one end quite open to the weather. Here 
 stood a large horse-trough, into which a rivulet splashed 
 and gurgled unceasingly. At the further part of the shed 
 was the cow-house, and over this stable, immediately 
 beneath the roof, was the loft, crammed quite full with 
 hay. Here I was to sleep that night, and many a follow- 
 ing one. You scrambled up to it, by help of a rude lad- 
 der j and unless the pattering of the large rain-drops on 
 the shingle roof just above your forehead were to disturb 
 your rest, or the jingling of the cows' bells in the stable 
 beneath, or the noisy rustle of the water falling into the 
 trough, — sounds which most likely you would not be 
 accustomed to in your bedroom in town, — if, I say, the 
 novelty of all this did not keep you from sleeping, you 
 might pass as comfortable and warm a night up there 
 in, not on, the sweet hay, as in the best chamber of the 
 Clarendon. 
 
 In the room where we sat was the usual large stove, 
 and round it ran a bench, as well as along the walls. 
 There was one deal chair besides, and a deal table, a 
 clock, and a closet where the pans of milk were placed, 
 that the warmth might the more quickly cause the cream 
 to form in thick and luscious layers.* 
 
 As it was late in the season the greater part of the cows 
 were gone into the valley, and with them " the Swiss," 
 or chief dairyman. The calves only were left behind for 
 some weeks longer, with cows sufficient to furnish milk 
 * for them, and to make butter for the three herdsmen who 
 were still here. These had to tend the cattle, cart the 
 
 * I here saw a method of skimming milk that was new to me. The 
 dairyman took out a pan of milk, and passing his finger round the sur- 
 face, separated, as it were, the edge of the thick layer of cream from the 
 sides of the vessel ; then tilting up the pan, as if to pour out the con- 
 tents, and blowing the surface, it floated off, and tumbled, almost in one 
 piece, into the bowl put to receive it. 
 
274 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 manure, and keep all in order. The eldest man, under 
 whose orders the others were, cooked for them, skimmed 
 the milk, made the butter, and managed all relating to 
 their frugal housekeeping. They lived on bread and milk 
 and butter. Their complexions, clear and bright as pos- 
 sible, gave evidence of perfect health ; and many a lady 
 might have envied their transparent purity. Health shone 
 from the men's eyes : the lids were thin, and moulded 
 themselves to the ball of the eye, causing but the softest 
 outline. 
 
 The youngest of the three, a lad of about sixteen, was 
 sitting at the table playing at some nondescript game of 
 cards with two women, who had been on the mountains 
 collecting gentian -roots,*" and who had come in to claim 
 shelter for the night. The pale flickering lamp gave a 
 poor light, it is true, but the youth's hearty laugh every 
 now and then, at his own good luck or scientific play, 
 made the place cheerful. It was a singular group ; he 
 on one side, his arms and neck bare, and wild as a young 
 colt, watching with an arch expression for his adversary 
 to fling down her card, and one girl looking over the 
 other's shoulder into her hand, and giving her friend sage 
 counsel. 
 
 A pan of milk had been put before me on my arrival, 
 part of which I had drunk. The herdsman now asked me 
 what I would have for supper, so giving him the eggs 
 I begged he would make me a schmarren. He soon 
 brought it in a large earthen pan, hot and brown, and 
 just savouring of the apple which had been sliced into 
 it. The young forester who had come with Neuner 
 shared it with me, alternately taking a spoonful of 
 
 * These are collected in great quantities, and sold for the purpose of 
 distillation. The spirit obtained from thern is in high lepute : I think 
 it detestable. 
 
THE OESTER BERG. 275 
 
 schmarren out of my pan, and a spoonful of fresh milk 
 from another beside him. I preferred a draught of water, 
 a pitcher full of which " the boy," as he was called, 
 fetched from the spring and put upon the table before 
 me. It was all very primitive, both the service and the 
 repast, — much, I imagine, like what might be met with 
 in a lonely log-hut in the backwoods of America, where 
 the wilderness stretches away towards the far west. But 
 the service was rendered willingly, and though " the 
 boy " was bare-footed and bare-knee'd, and had on but 
 two articles of clothing, a thick shirt and a pair of short 
 breeches, there was nothing of coarseness or vulgarity 
 about him. Nature — simple, God-fashioned Nature — 
 had been, to him, as a mother, and she had reared him 
 in her own quiet way and very unartificially, giving him 
 no polish, for she had herself none to give; but she 
 had moulded his heart kindly, and his manner was fa- 
 shioned after the simple human feelings which had taken 
 root there, though of forms he indeed knew nothing. 
 For him the maternal converse had done all. 
 
 It was too early to go to my hay ; and though the 
 herdsmen looked sleepy, and evidently thought we were 
 keeping recklessly late hours, — it was at most eight 
 o'clock, — I stayed where I was, and chatted with Neuner 
 about the chase, the mountains, and his favourite fo- 
 rests. 
 
 " Have you shot many chamois this year, Neuner V 
 I asked. 
 
 " No, I have shot nothing, but Bauer has — twelve 
 chamois and six roebucks." 
 
 " And in the Ammergau — do you know how many 
 they got this year ? A good number, I suppose : as it 
 is preserved for the King there must be plenty of game 
 there." 
 
 t 2 
 
276 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " Forty chamois have been shot ; but as to the stags 
 it is quite a riddle where all the good ones have gone. 
 Hardly a single good hart has been seen this year." 
 
 As we talked, one or the other of us mentioned the 
 Zug Spitz, and this reminded me I had long wanted to 
 get some information about the ascent, which was diffi- 
 cult, and had been accomplished for the first time only 
 a few years before."* 
 
 " It is about five hours' walk from Partenkirchen to 
 the place where you commence the ascent," Neuner told 
 me, in answer to my questions ; " but it is too late in 
 the year to attempt it now. A cowherd there, who is a 
 sort of guide, has been up twice. 'Tis a wild place at the 
 top !" 
 
 " What, have you been there ?" I asked. 
 " Yes, I went up with the bead-forester and several 
 others. There are only two places which are ugly and 
 difficult ; one is a narrow ridge, a sort of bridge, which 
 you have to cross, with a precipice straight down on 
 both sides of you three-quarters of an hour deep.f It 
 is very horrible, there's no denying that ; all looks so 
 wild, and rent, and torn. If you like you may ride across 
 astride." 
 
 " Did you do so ?" 
 
 " No, I walked over : that I did not mind at all. But 
 the other place, near the top, is much worse: it is a 
 steep slope of ice ; we were obliged to cut steps with a 
 hatchet all the way, and got on well enough. But the 
 coming down is the worst, for if you slip there's an end 
 of you." 
 
 * It is very little less than 11,000 feet high. 
 
 f In Germany it is usual to compute thus by time, meaning in this 
 instance it would take three-quarters of an hour to arrive at the 
 bottom. 
 
THE OESTER BEKG. 277 
 
 %t And no accident happened ?" I asked. 
 
 " No, all went on well ; however we were obliged to 
 leave some of the party behind, one at the ridge and 
 three at the ice ; they would not venture, and waited till 
 we came back. Luckily we had a very fine day ; the 
 snow was quite hard in the morning, but later it grew 
 much softer." 
 
 " But, Neuner, the other day when I was at the Am- 
 mergau, I heard that an idiot who wanders about there 
 had been up and alone ; is it true ?" 
 
 " Yes, quite true : he has always had a passion for 
 ascending mountains, and sometimes he goes up one, 
 sometimes another. Once he came home and told every- 
 body he had been on the Zug Spitz. They all laughed 
 at him of course, for no one believed it. This, it seems, 
 hurt the poor fellow very much ; so off he set, and after 
 being absent several days, came home again and told the 
 people he had been up the Zug Spitz, and that if they 
 looked they would see a pole at the top. No one be- 
 lieved the tale now more than before ; yet when they 
 looked with their glasses, there sure enough was the pole 
 stuck on the very highest point." 
 
 " Yes," I said, " I have seen the pole : but how get 
 it up there ? And then, to find his way quite alone ! 
 Why, it's almost incredible." 
 
 "But quite true," replied Neuner, "for there was no 
 pole there before; besides he described everything ex- 
 actly as it is. The most extraordinary part of the story 
 is that he went up barefoot, — the second time at least, 
 and the time before he slept on the mountain. That he 
 was not frozen to death is quite a miracle." 
 
 " Did he tell where he got the pole, and how he ma- 
 naged to carry it ?" 
 
 " Oh yes," said Neuner, " we know about that. The 
 
278 CHAMOJS HUNTING. 
 
 pole is a young fir : this he felled as far up the mountain 
 as possible, and then dragged after him all the rest of 
 the way. Once he let it slip, and down it rolled a con- 
 siderable distance ; but he returned, and dragged it up 
 again. And only think ! the poor fellow had nothing to 
 eat all the time, for he merely took a kreutzer-semmel (a 
 penny roll) with him, which dropped on the ice, and 
 rolled away into some crevice or hollow. Since then he 
 has been on the Spitz Berg — the only person, I believe, 
 who ever was there ; and he says it is so frightful that 
 he will never go again, but the Zug Spitz he does not 
 mind attempting. He has been on the Wetter Stein 
 too, and on nearly all the peaks you see of that range." 
 The gentian-gatherers had been gone some time, the 
 neatherd had been lying asleep on the bench beside the 
 stove since he had cooked my supper, and I began to 
 think it would be as well to turn into my resting-place. 
 The peasants stood up, the elder one said a prayer, which 
 the others repeated aloud after him, and then all knelt 
 to say the Lord's Prayer. Wishing me good-night they 
 went up a ladder behind the stove, and disappeared 
 through a trap -door, their beds being above the room 
 where we had been staying. Neuner preferred lying 
 down on a bench in the warmth. Being unacquainted 
 with the locality, the young forester went before me with 
 a lantern, and we thus proceeded to the shed and up the 
 shaky ladder to our dormitory. The loft was nearly filled 
 to the roof with hay. We stepped and tumbled along 
 over the fragrant heaps, and, aided by the dim light, I 
 soon made myself a right cozy nest. I pulled down 
 great masses of hay from the pile beside me, and my 
 companion flung whole armfulis over my body. Except 
 my head, which rested on a cloth thrown over the hay- 
 pillow — I owed the luxury of the cloth, by-the-by, to 
 
THE OESTER BERG. 279 
 
 the thoughtfulness of the neatherd — not an inch of me 
 was to be seen. I was as warm as possible. 
 
 " Why, there are the two women \" exclaimed the 
 young forester in surprise, holding up his lantern. They 
 were lying close to us, but like myself so tucked up we 
 had not observed them. 
 
 " No matter," I said, " as long as they do not. snore : 
 that is all I care about. Good night \" 
 
280 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 
 
 I awoke early the next morning, and groping my way 
 clambered down the ladder. It was three o'clock, and 
 as dark as pitch ; and the gusts of cold damp air came 
 creeping round my bare knees, which just before had 
 been imbedded so warmly. Outside there was a drizzling 
 rain, and mist, and impenetrable blackness; in short, 
 to tell the honest truth, it looked miserably wretched. 
 With such weather there was little prospect of success, 
 and with — I don't know if it was a sigh, a groan, or a 
 growl of discontent — I drew back my gloomy face, and 
 went into the room to lace on my shoes. This done we 
 took our rifles and started. 
 
 Most persons, doubtless, have walked out in a dark 
 night ; but if they have only done so on a tolerably 
 smooth road, they will have but an imperfect notion of 
 the unpleasantness attending every single step when the 
 path is strewn with large stones, loose fragments of 
 rock, broken up into holes or intersected by rivulets. 
 You do not see where you are stepping, and thus often 
 plant your foot so as to slip down a bank and let the 
 water fill your shoes brimmingly. This however does 
 not much matter, it is true, for it soon bubbles out 
 again ; but in going up a steep and slippery mountain, 
 
MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 281 
 
 it is fatiguing, hindersome, and even dangerous to find 
 yourself stumbling over unseen obstructions, or your 
 nailed shoes sliding from under you down a slanting 
 surface of stone. The angle up which you are going 
 being pretty acute, down you come on such occasions on 
 both hands, and, what is far more annoying than having 
 your knees driven into the earth or among the stones, 
 your rifle flies round your shoulder and descends with 
 no little force upon the ground. This always went far 
 to put me in a passion. On such occasions my first 
 thought was my rifle ; and if unable to see, I would feel, 
 if all was in order. 
 
 We went up in a straight line for some time ; at last 
 Neuner said we should soon have better ground. We 
 could now just see black patches, like blots, through the 
 gloom, and soon these grew into distincter outlines, be- 
 coming trees and latschen. There was a rude path in 
 the neighbourhood that led to the summit, but how dis- 
 cover the exact spot ? Amid stunted bushes, looking one 
 like another, and patches of torn-up rock, and gravel, 
 and stones, it was difficult in the dusk to find the place. 
 
 " Yonder is the dead tree/' said Neuner, " and the 
 path is to the right, a little higher up." 
 
 " I think it is nearer the tree than where we are," 
 answered the other, " and near thick clumps of latschen. 
 Wait a moment," he added to me, " I '11 go straight on, 
 and do you, Neuner, keep to the right. We shall soon 
 find it." 
 
 Presently a whistle told me the path was found, and 
 going straight toward the sound, we all three proceeded 
 one behind the other. As we neared the summit, the 
 grey rock and snow appeared through the dun clouds, 
 and below us mists were floating, which shut out the 
 living world from view. 
 
282 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 The north side of the mountain, as is always the case, 
 wore a totally different aspect. The line of the ridge 
 was the boundary of two distinct regions. From the 
 summit we now looked down upon sharp points ; all was 
 broken and wilder in character than on the side where 
 we had mounted. We went downwards, and wound 
 along the slanting face of the rock; here and there 
 stepping along a mere ledge, formed by a projecting 
 layer of stone, our bodies slanting outwards toward the 
 rocks and away from the precipice.* And now we 
 mounted again, and reached the top of Henneneck. 
 The vapours had before partially cleared away, but they 
 now swept by beneath our feet, and we looked down on 
 cloud, on dimness, and uncertainty. Close to us, a yard 
 or so downwards, the traces of chamois were discernible 
 in the snow ; but they were old — some days old perhaps. 
 Beyond lay a world of shadows, where no eye could 
 penetrate. Suddenly the forester exclaimed, " There *s 
 a chamois !" I saw nothing; but a moment after from 
 out the mist and cloud came the sound of a roiling 
 stone, and as we listened we heard it bounding on till 
 at last it was no longer audible. 
 
 We found but one new track of game in the snow, 
 the others were all old. The place seemed forsaken. We 
 still went on, and, creeping up a shoulder of the moun- 
 tain, looked over into a hollow spread with verdure — for 
 the mists had sailed away just then — in the sure hope 
 of seeing some animal life; but our eyes swept over 
 every inch of ground in vain. 
 
 It was now six o'clock, and I was glad to breakfast. 
 A slice of brown bread and one of Christina's apples 
 
 * The clouds were just below our feet, so that it was impossible to 
 see beyond ; but for this circumstance, it might have been less pleasant 
 to walk along that ledge. 
 
MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 283 
 
 furnished the meal. I relished it much, for I was very 
 hungry. Before us rose the Bishop, a mountain of grey 
 rock, on this side almost entirely covered with snow. 
 
 "Was that a good place for chamois formerly?" I 
 asked. 
 
 "No, never," replied Neuner; "but further down 
 was one of their favourite haunts. Yonder runs the 
 boundary-line which divides the chase belonging to the 
 Eschenlohe peasants from that of the King. They come 
 across, and leave the game no rest : you may hear shots 
 cracking, all the year round ; in season or out of season, 
 it is quite the same to them. Here we shoot the does 
 too, because if we did not, they would ; so, you see, we 
 are ourselves obliged to clear these mountains of the 
 game ; indeed all along the boundary we are forced to 
 destroy it." 
 
 On such a day as this it is impossible to calculate with 
 any certainty upon a favourable change in the weather. 
 The appearances around vary from one moment to an- 
 other. Suddenly the mists come trailing by, and bits 
 of floating cloud, smoke-like and vapoury ; and in a se- 
 cond all is shut out from your sight. A damp, cold, 
 dull clogginess, like thickened air, hangs before your 
 face ; you feel it sticking to you ; and to see your com- 
 rade beyond two paces' distance is impossible. Even 
 then he looms towering through the fog, an indistinct 
 spectral shape. Every landmark has disappeared ; there 
 is not one single thing for the eye to seize and hold by, 
 and this soon produces a disquieting sensation. All sta- 
 bility seems gone, and your nature is not used to this. 
 Then you discover that the eye, as well as the footstep, 
 needs firm ground to move over ; it must have something 
 to lay hold of, and it peers around with a straining inten- 
 sity into the sluggish, thick vacuity, but finds nothing. 
 
284 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 It soon began to rain, and so heavily that we resolved 
 to descend. On our slippery way down we found here 
 and there the genuine Iceland moss. At last we reached 
 a hollow, where the hut of a woodcutter was standing, 
 and, rude as it was, it proved a welcome shelter. We 
 were all wet to the skin. The younger forester took off 
 his joppe, and wrung the water from his shirt-sleeves : 
 he complained of being cold ; however I did not feel so, 
 and lying down on the bed of dry leaves, with my face 
 toward the open door, 'watched the mist and rain so long 
 that at last I fell asleep. After the rain it grew some- 
 what clearer, and in going along we could see down into 
 a green valley. 
 
 " Once upon a time five good stags were there," said 
 Neuner, pointing to the glen. 
 
 "It was hereabout that Bauer shot his stag, was it 
 not V asked the other. 
 
 " Yes, just there, near yonder steep bank." 
 
 " And who shot the others ?" I asked. 
 
 "Oh, poachers no doubt," said Neuner, "for they 
 soon disappeared. Perhaps they were scared away and 
 shot somewhere else; however we saw none of them." 
 
 " And did you never meet any of the men when you 
 have been out on the mountain ?" 
 
 " No ; and had I caught one and brought him to the 
 police, it is a hundred to one that he would have been 
 punished." 
 
 " There was a keeper at Schlier See — Bromberger 
 was his name — he once met a whole band of poachers, 
 and among them was a notorious rascal; he therefore 
 thought it better not to lose so good an opportunity, 
 but to make sure of him, and, picking him out from the 
 rest, sent a bullet through his body." 
 
 " That was in the old times, perhaps. It was by far 
 
MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 285 
 
 the best way. The poachers expected nothing else : they 
 risked their lives, and we risked ours ; they knew before- 
 hand that, should we happen to meet one of them, he 
 was a dead man, and in some places they treated us in 
 the same manner. As I said, both parties expected no- 
 thing else : neither complained ; and if such a poacher 
 got a full charge of swan-shot in his body when one of 
 us caught him carrying off a roebuck or a chamois, he 
 never laid a complaint or said a word about the matter, 
 knowing very well he ought not to have been there, — 
 that it was his own fault, and that he deserved the 
 punishment. He was aware of what he risked before 
 he went out; but as he could not gratify his passion 
 without the danger, why he was content to take the 
 venture as he found it." 
 
 " But what was the story of Bromberger V asked the 
 younger forester. 
 
 " Why," said I, " the thing happened thus : — A friend 
 of mine, young Count D * * *, who was with Brom- 
 berger at the time, has often told me the story. They 
 were out together, looking for chamois : while sitting on 
 the mountain and peering around, they suddenly per- 
 ceived several men below the ridge, a good distance off, 
 and, like themselves, watching for game. Their glasses 
 were out in a moment, and one of the band was recog- 
 nized as a noted poacher of the name of Hofer. At the 
 sight of him the keeper's blood began to flow quicker, 
 for this fellow was known as the most daring in the 
 whole neighbourhood, and the blood of more than one 
 forester was on his head. Solacher had fired at him 
 once, but missed. Bromberger waited to see what they 
 w r ould do. After a time the men rose and came along a 
 path leading to the ridge where the two were sitting. 
 The whole band presently emerged from the hollow, and 
 
286 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 stood exposed on the summit of the mountain, with Hofer 
 a little in front. Bromberger could not resist the temp- 
 tation, and determined to have a shot at him ; so laying 
 a handkerchief folded together on the rock to serve as 
 a rest for his rifle, he prepared to fire. ' It is a long dis- 
 tance/ he said, turning to his companion, who, with the 
 glass to his eye, was waiting to observe the effect of the 
 shot; f so I'll aim rather high, and somewhat to the 
 right, to allow for the wind coming up from below. If 
 I take him just between the shoulder and throat, you 
 will see I shall hit in the very centre of his chest V 
 And a second after the rifle cracked, and down rolled 
 the poacher, with the ball crashing through his shoulder. 
 As you may imagine, the consternation of the others was 
 indescribable. Bromberger and young D * * * waited 
 just long enough to see the men carry off their wounded 
 comrade, and then creeping into the latschen, stole away 
 down the mountain, leaving the poachers at a loss to 
 tell whence the shot had come." 
 
 " You said just now he had a narrow escape once 
 already : what was it ?" 
 
 " Yes," I continued, " and it was not long before. 
 The forester at Schlier See caught him in a hut where 
 he passed the night, and had him tried for poaching ; 
 but he got off, as usual, without being punished." 
 
 " How was it he got him ? Was Hofer alone ?" 
 
 " No, there were two of them. The other was as 
 great a rascal as he — Nicolaus Angel by name, or Anni 
 Klaus as they called him. But I must begin at the 
 beginning. Not far from Schlier See is an Aim — the 
 Stocker Alp — and Andreas, the peasant who was there 
 during the summer — or Stocker Ander'l as he was named 
 — was an honest fellow, and one who could be trusted. 
 The foresters used to keep their meal there sometimes ; 
 
MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 287 
 
 and even when he was gone, and the hut was empty, 
 they would leave their frying-pan or other things stowed 
 away in some secret place. Well, they knew that Hofer 
 occasionally passed the night in this hut, when out on 
 his poaching excursions ; so they asked Ander'l if, when 
 lie came again } he would let them know ; for they had 
 often tried to catch him, but never were able. One 
 night he came as usual, and Anni Klaus with him. The 
 herdsman had only a boy in the hut beside himself; but 
 when the two poachers were asleep up among the hay, 
 the boy crept through the window and ran off as fast as 
 he could to Neuhaus — it is on the road to Fischbachau 
 you know — to tell the forester that Hofer and Nicolaus 
 were in the hut. It happened that none of the keepers 
 were at home, so he took with him two of the Grenz 
 Jager,* who were stationed there, and set off. When 
 he got to the hut, he left the two men to watch outside ; 
 and then making a great noise, spoke roughly and told 
 Andreas to get up and make him a fire, that the poachers 
 might not suspect he was in league with the forester. 
 On looking round he saw the two guns and the poles 
 which the men, strangely enough, had left hanging on 
 the wall near the hearth ; and pretending to inquire whose 
 they were, got some evasive answer from Andreas. This, 
 he said, did not satisfy him : he suspected all was not 
 right, and would search the hut. So he went up, and 
 groping among the hay, seized hold of the two men's 
 feet, and in this way he pulled them out of their hiding- 
 place. As they had left their rifles below, instead of 
 taking them with them when they went to lie down, 
 
 * Custom-house officers, who patrol along the frontier, to prevent 
 smuggled goods being carried across. They are, in fact, preventive- 
 service men, but in arms and accoutrements are quite like our Kifle 
 corps. 
 
288 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 they could do nothing. The thing was, I suppose, they 
 felt so sure of being safe in the hut that they did not 
 mind going to bed without their guns." 
 
 " Well, but how did they escape ? What happened 
 to them afterwards?" 
 
 "The forester, who was somewhat hasty, could not 
 wait till it was broad day, but in his impatience set oft 
 with his prisoners at once. It is true they were bound, 
 but not together ; and, as they were going down, Anni 
 Klaus made a spring, dashed into the bushes, and was 
 out of sight in a moment." 
 
 " And the other, Hofer, what became of him ?" 
 
 " He was examined, but, as is always the case, he 
 denied everything. The powder in his pocket he said 
 he had found, and invented a story about looking for a 
 goat that had strayed, to account for his being on the 
 mountain. Of course he would not confess, and he got 
 off scot-free." 
 
 Chatting thus as we went along, we forgot the wet and 
 the rugged stony path. Everywhere something of in- 
 terest to the hunter was to be recounted : the story of an 
 adventure with a poacher, a spot pointed out near which 
 a certain good chamois had been shot, or where, in other 
 days, the red-deer might always certainly be seen just as 
 the sun was getting up over the opposite peaks. 
 
 From afar we now perceived the meadow on which our 
 hut lay. It was still a good distance off, but the smoke 
 was circling upwards over the brown roof, and the grass 
 looked green, and it was cheerful to see the like after the 
 wildness we had left. Moreover, as we went along, I 
 was thinking all the while of the warm breakfast I would 
 cook myself as soon as we arrived there, and of the snug 
 room where I could hang up my clothes to dry. 
 
 Were people to reflect about it, they would often be 
 
MIST ON THE MOUNTAIN. 289 
 
 surprised at the pleasure which, under certain circum- 
 stances, the commonest sights are able to afford them. 
 When therefore the traveller recounts, and dwells upon, 
 some trifling incident — a mere sound perhaps — he should 
 not on that account be set down as trivial. It was not 
 a trifle to him. You will perceive this when you have 
 been a whole day among the rocks, and at last chance 
 upon a spot whence you happen to see smoke curling in 
 the air. Your heart bounds at the sight ; and though as 
 yet you have not even a glimpse of the hut whence it 
 proceeds, in thought you are already in the human ha- 
 bitation. From that moment there is an end of your 
 loneliness, — that handful of blue vapour has rilled up 
 the distance which separated you from your kind. 
 
 And when the mists suddenly clear away, and show 
 you a patch of green, and hard and determined outlines 
 — it matters not of what — how beautiful you think them ! 
 and your gladdened eye flies to the place to alight upon 
 it, after having been for hours unable to find one little 
 spot of earth whereon to rest. 
 
 When we reached the hut, the first thing as usual was 
 to look to the rifles j and then taking off the heavy shoes, 
 soaked with rain like all the rest of my things, I went 
 into the kitchen to see after the bread and milk, or " milk 
 soup,"* as the peasants here call it. I found the neat- 
 herd with a large mass of delicious butter in his hands, 
 just made. In a few minutes I had a blazing fire crack- 
 ling on the hearth, and while a pan full of creamy milk 
 
 * There ought to be a lump of butter put into the hot milk to make 
 the genuine " milk soup," and the cow-herd wanted very much to fling 
 in a piece. He was surprised I could think of eating it without a pinch 
 of salt being added, "for," said he, "if you don't put any, the milk will 
 be quite sweet." He looked rather astonished when I told him that was 
 just what I liked, and by his manner I saw he thought my taste a bar- 
 barous one, though he did not say so. 
 
 U 
 
290 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was boiling, the brown loaf was sliced into the pan in 
 readiness. It was ten o'clock, and I had been out since 
 three ; so that, when at last the frothing milk was poured 
 over the bread, and I had carried it into the room, and 
 sat there comfortably drying in the warmth, I enjoyed 
 to the full the luxury of that plentiful repast. The herds- 
 man too brought a large piece of the fresh-made butter 
 on a clean board, and fetching a pinch of salt, put it 
 down with the loaf on the table before me. What could 
 man desire more ? There is positive happiness in such 
 a meal, and I cannot think that any one who had him- 
 self known the luxury of appeasing his hunger with warm 
 food when cold and famishing, would ever turn away un- 
 kindly from the starving wretch asking alms to buy him- 
 self bread. 
 
 The rain ceased ; the blue sky again was visible, and 
 leaving the hut we turned our steps homewards. 
 
 - 
 
291 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE OLD BUCK. 
 
 Should you ever go up the Oester Berg, you will see on 
 your right hand, quite at the top, and just before you 
 arrive at the first meadow, a little wooden chapel, with 
 a rude bank before it, in order that the passer-by may 
 there kneel and pray. We had just reached this spot, 
 talking as was our wont of matters that most interested 
 us, when Neuner, suddenly stopping in his story, ex- 
 claimed, " There's a chamois ! Come on, don't stop \" 
 he said, as I lagged behind to examine the mountain-side 
 and discover where he was. A few steps further, and 
 we reached the bench beside the chapel, whence with our 
 glasses we could watch the animal without his observ- 
 ing us. 
 
 ' ' "Where is he, Neuner V s 
 
 " Look," he replied, " you see that long strip of geroll 
 coming down from the latschen ; well, to the right is a 
 black spot, — that's he." 
 
 " Ah ! now I see him ; he is looking down at us." 
 
 " Yes, he heard us talking ; but who would ever have 
 thought of his minding it at such a distance ? The thing 
 is, the chamois have grown unusually shy from being 
 hunted about wherever they go. They never have any 
 
 u2 
 
292 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 peace; the peasants are firing eternally, and even though 
 they may not hit them, the noise scares and makes them 
 as wild as possible." 
 
 " 'Tis a capital buck," I observed, examining him with 
 my glass. " Now he is going : he is turning round, and 
 will soon be among the latschen. Now he stops again, 
 — just in the middle of the geroll. How capitally I see 
 him now ! He is looking down at us again. What can 
 he be afraid of!" And at once he disappeared among 
 the rocks and bushes. 
 
 What was to be done ? To reach the spot where he 
 had been standing would take, at the very least, three- 
 quarters of an hour — besides he was gone ; and though, 
 from the way in which he left the open space for a covert, 
 I judged he would not be very distant, still it was an im- 
 possibility to reach the rocks above him without being 
 heard, they were so steep and difficult. 
 
 " The only thing would be," said Neuner musing, " to 
 wait for him up there. He is often where we just now 
 saw him ; a little higher or lower, as may be, but still in 
 the neighbourhood." 
 
 "Do you think he will be out again this evening? 
 Far off he is not, of that I am certain ; most likely in 
 among the latschen, under the wall of rock to the left, for 
 he went away quite leisurely." 
 
 " No, he probably is not far, but whether he will be 
 out again this evening is a question ; besides," continued 
 Neuner, looking*up to the rocks just over the spot where 
 the chamois had been standing, "the way up there is 
 most difficult. It is no joke, I assure you. There is but 
 one place where you can pass, just above the geroll 
 yonder, past the latschen, and so over the ridge of the 
 mountain : that is the only way out. You have to creep 
 up between and under the crags : 'tis an awkward place, 
 
THE OLD BUCK. 293 
 
 and you see there are no latschen the greater part of the 
 distance." 
 
 While I listened to him I was examining the places he 
 was describing with my glass, following him step by step, 
 and looking out to find which would be the best spot 
 to attempt the passage. Once on the commanding crag 
 jutting out over the vale, I should command the whole 
 space where the chamois would be likely to pass, and 
 should have a fair though perhaps a long shot, as he 
 sauntered about on the patches of verdure, or sunned 
 himself on the blocks of stone. 
 
 " I see the place where it would be most likely I could 
 get up," said I to Neuner : " the rock is steep, and the 
 ledge in one part very narrow, but still I think I could 
 manage it." 
 
 "Bauer was there once, and said it was extremely 
 difficult, but I dare say you could do it; however," he 
 added, after a moment's reflection, " I have been think- 
 ing it would be better to try for him in another way. 
 We will go round the mountain, and you," turning to 
 the young forester who was with us, ' c you wait here an 
 hour, and then go up to the ridge, and keep along it for 
 a good distance. Afterwards you must climb along the 
 steep wall of rock above where we shall be standing, and 
 come out at the further end. Make as much noise as 
 you like, but do not start for a full hour. Let me see : 
 it is twelve now by my watch, — at one you can set off; 
 you will want an hour to reach the top." 
 
 " Yes : full that," said the young fellow ; " His scram- 
 bling work there, but in about an hour I can do it." 
 
 We went on, and presently were going to quit the 
 path and enter the wood, but Neuner thought it was 
 better to keep even still further down before doing so. 
 " He may see us," he said, " for the forest has been 
 
294 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 rather thinned here. I know that buck well : he is a 
 most cunning fellow, and so shy that it is the most diffi- 
 cult thing in the world to get near him. Bauer shot 
 at him once, but missed : he has been shot at too by 
 the poachers, so that he is as wary as an old fox." 
 
 " Is that his usual haunt where we saw him today ?" 
 
 " Why he changes his place pretty often. Sometimes 
 he is opposite on the left-hand side, when no cattle are 
 there ; sometimes he will wander round to the Fricker. 
 He ought not to have gone away just now, far below 
 him as we were ; but that comes from being shot at so 
 often." 
 
 We looked at our watch, and found that we had fifty 
 minutes to get to the place where I was to stand ; by 
 that time he whom we left behind would be on the 
 move. Twenty minutes— forty — fifty minutes — at last 
 we are there, but it was good climbing to accomplish it 
 in that time. Just above where we stood an isolated 
 crag rose from the steep side of the mountain. " There 
 you will take your stand," said Neuner; "you have a 
 good view below and above you, and if the buck is not 
 gone he will be sure to pass down here when he hears 
 footsteps coming up the other side. Look ! you see 
 those loose stones : he will cross those, and you can fire 
 as is most convenient, either then or as he passes lower 
 down. But all that you know without my telling you ; 
 so clamber up and choose your place, and keep a sharp 
 look-out, for by this time my comrade will be on the 
 move." And thus saying he left me, to take his stand 
 somewhat higher, nearer the summit. 
 
 With my heels well in the earth, so as not to slip 
 forward, I sat down, rifle in hand, where I could com- 
 mand the depth immediately below me on my right, 
 and at the same time see far up the mountain — indeed 
 
THE OLD BUCK. 295 
 
 nearly to the sky-line. I was gloriously enthroned. To 
 my left the piled-up mountains, grey or snow- covered, 
 with the magnificent Zug Spitz forming the last out- 
 work of the impassable barrier, and the peaks of all just 
 veiled with a thinly-woven cloud ; before me the whole 
 declivity, with broken rocks and precipices and green 
 bushes, stretching downwards to the vale; Farchant, 
 with its red church- spire, its cottages, and road and 
 river; while further off across the pasturage was Gar- 
 misch, at the foot of the Kramer. To the right there 
 was a sweet sight. Through a dip in the mountain the 
 high vale of Ettal appeared, — a beautiful expanse of 
 green-sward, and the stately church too was seen ; and 
 behind this peep in the mountain other distinct peaks 
 were visible, gradually sloping downwards to the plain, 
 and losing themselves at last in the flat land beyond. I 
 looked on all this from my rocky throne, and the sight 
 and the feeling of self-reliance, and of strength in every 
 limb, filled my whole frame with a thrill of exhilirating 
 gladness. And over my broad domain — for mine it was, 
 but without the care of governing — there lay a murmur- 
 ing stillness ; the hum of life that breathed and moved 
 below me in the vale, — of distant cataracts reverberating 
 among the hollow rocks : it hung in the air, or rather 
 was inwoven with it. It was a very different stillness 
 from that of the high desolate mountain-peaks ; for there 
 it is a palpable thing, which clings to your heart and op- 
 presses your chest by its weight ; and it comes upon you 
 surely, like the chill of death, that creeps along the 
 limbs, and cannot be evaded, despite your inmost striv- 
 ing and endeavour. 
 
 It has often occurred to me, when thus looking down 
 upon a land, how solemnly sad must have been the feel- 
 ings of Moses when he went up from the plains of Moab 
 
296 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 to the top of Pisgah, the highest point of the mountains 
 of Nebo. Though he was an old man, how must his 
 heart have swelled at what he saw, — the Jordan and the 
 groves of palms, and the fat pasturages of Basan stretch- 
 ing away into the distance; the mountains with the 
 thick oak-woods of their valleys, and on the plain the 
 herds of the Tribes, while before him he looked over 
 " The City of Palm-trees," Jericho, and away " unto 
 the great sea toward the going down of the sun :" and 
 then the remembrance that he was gazing on that earth 
 for the last time ! But, above all, how in that moun- 
 tain solitude must he have felt his loneliness ! There 
 is to me something quite overwhelming in the thought 
 of going up unto a mountain to die. It is an almost 
 superhuman act, worthy indeed of a Prophet, — of one 
 " whom the Lord knew face to face," — but is not for the 
 men of this generation. 
 
 I sat here with my hand on my rifle for an hour and 
 a half; but the minutes did not pass laggingly : I was 
 all attention, and eye and ear were watching for the 
 slightest circumstance that might betoken the approach 
 of a chamois. Moreover I would every now and then 
 cast a look at the world at my feet, and let the grandeur 
 and the loveliness fill my heart. Fancy besides was 
 busily at work, as is ever the case with the hunter when 
 awaiting the approach of game. At such times, what 
 pleasant visions pass before his brain; what delicious 
 hopes that may be realized ! The buck I was expecting 
 was not only a good one, but a well-known one too. 
 He had been pursued by several, and all had failed 
 to obtain the prize. Many were the shots that had 
 been fired after him, but they all had missed. He 
 had become notorious by his escapes: he was quite 
 an historical personage. And should he now come — 
 
THE OLD BUCK. 297 
 
 yonder, for example, near those stones — and I be lucky 
 enough to bring him down, how proudly should I re- 
 turn home and relate that the old buck had at last 
 fallen ! Then too, in after-times, when the keepers 
 would talk of their exploits, and of the noble stags or 
 sturdy chamois that had fallen here and there, — each 
 one remembered as accurately, with place and date, 
 as a succession of monarchs, — then would this famous 
 buck be mentioned, and they would tell how he had been 
 often followed in vain, and how at last "the English- 
 man "* brought him death. 
 
 And these fine imaginings were all I had, for no 
 chamois came. At length, high up among the latschen 
 the young forester appeared, making his way downward 
 as well as he was able : he had seen nothing, it was 
 therefore evident the wary old buck had betaken himself 
 to some remoter stronghold. 
 
 Such a place as that where I was watching is my de- 
 light — is the delight indeed of every hunter ; for from 
 it I could have seen the game, had any come, long be- 
 fore it reached me. And this is always pleasant ; not 
 only because it gives you time for preparation, but on 
 account of the delicious excitement you feel in every 
 vein, from the moment you espy the coming creature 
 till that other moment when you feel it is your own. 
 Your hopes, your fears, your longings — all that makes 
 up the sum of the enjoyment — is thus heightened by 
 being prolonged. You watch its approach with greedy 
 eyes, and full of anxieties : the excitement would choke 
 you if it lasted long • yet two such minutes — and they 
 seem hours — arc worth whole ordinary days. 
 
 The nutter and nervousness felt by him whose whole 
 heart is in the chase, when he first is in presence of 
 
 * " Dei* Ilcrr Englander," as the people always named me. 
 
298 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the stag, is a curious psychological phenomenon. The 
 Germans have a special name for this state, and call it 
 "Hirsch Fieber" (Stag fever). The excitement you 
 are in quite lames you. Of course it varies in degree 
 with different persons, according to temperament, and 
 the phlegmatic will probably never experience it at all. 
 In me it showed itself in the highest degree. When I 
 heard the rush of the stag among the branches, or saw 
 him approaching at a distance, my heart began to beat 
 audibly, my breath came quickly, every limb trembled, 
 and I felt half suffocated. To take a deliberate aim was 
 of course impossible, for my rifle rose and fell like a 
 bough swayed by the wind. But I remember one in- 
 stance in which a sort of magnetic influence seemed to 
 be exercised over me. I was waiting for a stag on the 
 edge of the covert. Presently I heard something rustle, 
 and the fever began; but only a kid leaped by, and I 
 was calm again. Soon after I heard the step of the 
 stag, and in another second his majestic head looked 
 forth from the green branches. On he came towards 
 me, down a gentle slope, slowly and unaware of my pre- 
 sence. The rifle had been raised when first I heard his 
 approach, and it was levelled still ; the hair-trigger was 
 set, and a breath almost would have been sufficient to 
 move the trigger ; my finger too w r as upon it, and I 
 wished to pull, yet for some cause or other I was unable 
 to do so. There I stood, the magnificent stag opposite 
 me, and I charm-struck and spell-bound. The slightest 
 movement of the finger would have been enough, but I 
 could not move it ; and only when he had disappeared, 
 did my fast-clenched teeth relax, and I drew a long- 
 breath and felt myself relieved. 
 
 Since then I have understood the power of the snake 
 over other animals ; how by fixing its eyes on a bird or 
 
THE OLD BUCK. 299 
 
 rabbit the prey will become so fascinated as to be help- 
 less for escape, but awaits the monster's approach, and 
 even walks into his jaws. The influence, it is true, is not 
 quite the same in both cases ; for in the hunter this want 
 of power to execute his will does not arise from fear but 
 is probably merely an intense anxiety not to miss the 
 mark, — a violent struggle between suddenly aroused emo- 
 tions. In time the " fever " wears off; yet occasionally, 
 though you flatter yourself you are grown stoically calm, 
 and that an old sportsman like you is not to be disturbed 
 by such freaks and fancies, — occasionally, I say, if you 
 are kept long in suspense, you too will get the " fever •" 
 — you will feel it laying hold of you in spite of all your 
 efforts to shake it off.* 
 
 I do not remember any allusion to this extreme state 
 by English sportsmen. They acknowledge being " ner- 
 vous;" nothing however transpires of chattering of teeth, 
 of gasping for breath, or of violent tremblings throughout 
 the whole body ; yet I do not doubt that the presence 
 of the red -deer of Scotland may have the same potent 
 charm as that of his German compeer ; and I am quite 
 sure, if it ever were my good-fortune to get a day's stalk- 
 ing in the Highlands, that such a sight as Sir Edwin 
 Landseer has shown us in his "Drive" would set my 
 heart beating exactly as of old. 
 
 It was now three o'clock, and we turned our steps 
 downwards ; but still, not to give up a chance, we deter- 
 mined to have a look into a deep ravine that yawned like 
 a terrific gash in the mountain's side. It extended al- 
 most to the very summit, — jagged, deep, and frightful. 
 
 * I know a forester who has never been able to get over it. T once 
 saw him when we were out together after a stag. "lie's coming! he's 
 coming!" he stammered, as he caught sight of antlers between the trees, 
 and his eyes stared, and he trembled ae though it had been a ghost. 
 
\ 
 
 300 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 Hither, Neuner said, the chamois loved to resort ; it was 
 a quiet spot, or rather one undisturbed by human neigh- 
 bourhood ; but the roar of the near waterfall resounded 
 in the chasm. We cautiously climbed down towards the 
 brink, and looked over and around. Every crag was mi- 
 nutely examined with scrutinizing eye ; our gaze pierced 
 among the stunted shrubs and the withered stems of 
 ghastly-looking skeletons of trees ; and then we looked 
 high, high up, where the mountain had been torn, and 
 where the savage rent had left a perpendicular wall of 
 glaring stone. But all was without sign of life, — not a 
 creature was to be seen. Suddenly a sharp whistle came 
 across to us over the broken hollow. We started, and 
 each looked at the other in surprise; and then, with 
 widely-open eye and with head bent forward, gazed and 
 stared toward the rocks whence the sound proceeded. It 
 was a chamois that had observed us; but none of us 
 could see anything. At last I did : " There V 3 I whis- 
 pered eagerly, and pointing straightforwards across the 
 chasm. 
 
 ' ' Beyond the first or the second ravine?" asked Neuner . 
 
 " Beyond the second." 
 
 " I see it \" he exclaimed almost immediately. 
 
 "A doe !" said the younger forester. 
 
 We looked a long while, and the chamois sprang up the 
 rocks, and then stopped to browse : it seemed no longer 
 afraid. Any attempt to reach it was out of the question, 
 so we turned homewards. 
 
 Here and there on declivities will be found open spaces, 
 without trees or shrubs, and covered with a long grass, 
 the blades of which do not grow erect, bat hang down- 
 ward with the slope. The sun and air dry the stems, 
 and make their surface as slippery as ice, and these places 
 are perhaps the most difficult of any to descend : if you 
 
THE OLD BUCK. 301 
 
 slip, down you go, till a tree or shrub or some inequality 
 of surface stops your descent. There was no danger now ; 
 but when such a grassy slope or laane ends on the brink 
 of a precipice, it is rather perilous if your foot should 
 glide. Some years ago a dairymaid from one of the huts 
 on the mountains near Berchtesgaden slipped in coming 
 down a laane. She was unable to stop herself or hold on 
 by the long grass, and went over the brink at the foot of 
 the slope into the abyss. When the poor girl was found, 
 the braid of her hair, which she wore twisted in a knot 
 behind her head, was lying in the cavity of the brain. 
 Misfortunes occur almost every year from the treacherous 
 smoothness of these grassy slopes. 
 
 We at last regained the path. It was raining at Gar- 
 misch. The effect of the slanting sun-rays on the thin 
 clouds was of exceeding loveliness. The mountains were 
 arrayed in pearly hues; vapoury horizontal mists were 
 lying lightly on the air near their tops, but their grey 
 and snowy peaks could be seen rising above them. A 
 magnificent rainbow now blushed into existence, span- 
 ning the mountain to the very top with its lofty elliptical 
 curvature : while the part that was earthward rested on 
 the side of the mountain, showering a halo of rosy and 
 violet light upon the trees and bushes. The whole scene 
 was surpassingly beautiful. 
 
 A rugged and broken path leads from the road down 
 to Farchant. We were full an hour descending to the 
 village, and one hour of such descent fatigues and racks 
 the joints far more than a whole morning's climbing : it 
 was a hard day's w r ork, and we had all enough. Tired 
 and dirty as I was, the sight of the inn cheered and glad- 
 dened me. Having first well cleaned my rifle, I attended 
 to myself; and presently, refreshed and with a good ap- 
 petite, went down to the little parlour to sup, where I 
 
302 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 found my two companions and the other worthies of the 
 village.* 
 
 Franz von Kobell has made the fancies and imagin- 
 ings of the hunter, while expecting game, the theme of 
 one of his poems. He has, with his accustomed truth- 
 fulness of delineation, pictured all the hopes and longings 
 which the chamois-hunter will cherish and dally with on 
 such occasions ; and he has given the end of these plea- 
 sant castles in the air, with a quiet humour and, as I 
 have often found by unwelcome experience, with comic 
 truth. And comic enough it often is, if we compare our 
 expectations at such times with the eventual reality. 
 Yet we always weave new fancies, and look at the rocks 
 and bushes and the cool ravine, and think and wish so 
 long, till at last we feel sure a chamois will spring down 
 yonder slope, or that a good stag must soon emerge from 
 the shades of the forest. And at such times all seems so 
 very plausible, and wears so comely an air of truth, that 
 at last good, honest, jog-trot, sober, unimaginative Com- 
 mon Sense yields to the pretty coquetry and winsome 
 ways of Fancy, and believes, and even sees, all that she 
 has been archly whispering in his ear. 
 
 * I afterwards (Feb. 16, 1851) got a letter from ray friend Neuner, 
 containing news of the old chamois buck. He writes : — "The chamois 
 that remain with me the summer through have this winter gone over 
 into the chase of the Eschenlohe peasantry, and have, as I am told, been 
 considerably reduced in number ; so that with me, next summer, there 
 will be but poor sport, and the whole season's shooting will consist at 
 most of but a few head of game. The buck on the Fricker Reisen has 
 not changed his quarters ; he is still alive, and his haunt is in the very 
 same place where it used to be." 
 
THE CHAMOIS HUNTER. 303 
 
 The lines I have here attempted to render in English 
 verse, are written in the original in a Bavarian dialect. 
 
 2Hje Cjjamois punter's ^oltloqug. 
 
 " Ha ! what a glorious deep ravine ! 
 
 Hence I can see far round : 
 Here on this spot I '11 sit me down, 
 
 A better can't be found. 
 A chamois must be up among 
 
 Those latschen near yon blocks ; 
 And if he cross to yonder slope, 
 
 He must pass down those rocks. 
 And down below I tracked a stag 
 
 As big as any cow : 
 He too will soon be on the move, 
 
 And here I 've chance enow." 
 
 So there the Hunter takes his seat, 
 
 The hours roll by apace, 
 And thinks of all that might appear, 
 
 At such a famous place. 
 If only he 'd a little luck ! 
 
 If but a lynx would come ! 
 " Old Johann once did shoot one so, 
 
 And here I know are some. 
 A lynx ! Ay, that 's not easy though, 
 
 The surface is but small." 
 Then he takes aim, and thinks that he 
 
 Could hit one with a ball. 
 " And Michael too, — just such a place 
 
 'Twas where he saw the bear ; 
 Now if he came and trudged along 
 
 Eight down the pathway there, 
 He'd get knocked over the ravine : — 
 
 What would our Eanger say ? 
 And how they'd question me, and stare! 
 
 There 'd be fine work that day ! 
 My lassie would be proud of me, 
 
 She'd tell it all the folk; 
 'Twould bring me seventy gulden too, 
 
 Faith, that were no bad joke ! 
 
304 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 'Twould be in all the papers too, 
 The King of it would hear ; 
 
 Why, who knows but he 'd say, ' I '11 have 
 Him made Head-Forester' ? 
 
 " Should a wolf come, 'twould also do : 
 
 Yes, — wolves they prowl far round, 
 And such a place as this they like, 
 
 Where something's to be found. 
 A bran-new rifle then I 'd have, 
 
 As handsome as could be ; 
 And carved upon the stock a wolf, 
 
 With date, that all might see. 
 And should one at a shooting-match 
 
 Ask 'From the city, eh?' 
 * No, no, 'tis his who shot the wolf,' 
 
 Is what they all would say." 
 
 And so with rifle ready cocked, 
 He sits, and thinks, and thinks, 
 
 Till it grows dark ; but nothing comes, 
 Bear, chamois, wolf, nor lynx. 
 
305 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 
 
 Bauer was to come from Farchant, and meet me at the 
 Oester Berg ; I therefore started alone from Partenkir- 
 chen, and went up the well-known path leading to the 
 hut. As I walked slowly on, with that deliberate pace 
 which, when you have a long ascent before you, it is 
 well to choose, I presently reached a bushy spot, where 
 however a precipitous steep on one side showed the val- 
 ley, with its winding stream and cottages and pasturage 
 lying at my feet. On a sudden, from out the green 
 branches on my right, rose Bauer to his full height, 
 and gave me a cheerful greeting. It was like one of 
 Roderick Dim's men starting up from his ambush of 
 heather.* 
 
 * I must here give some account of the excellent young hunter, whom 
 I greatly liked for his amiable disposition, his kind and gentle manners, 
 his daring courage, and his ever-cheerful nature. His open, honest 
 countenance at once won your favour. He was one of the best climbers 
 far around ; and he longed to attempt some ascent beset with difficulties. 
 I expressed a wish to go up the Zug Spitz, and he begged that when I 
 went he might accompany me. Since then he has been up, and I also ; 
 but his adventurous descent was so perilous that it may here be noticed. 
 
 It was the intention of some of the villagers to plant a large ircn cross 
 on the top of the Zug Spitz (10,094 feet high), to be carried up in parts, 
 and put together on the summit. Accordingly a party set out one after- 
 noon from Partenkirchen, and it was only when Bauer came home in 
 
 X 
 
306 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 " I thought you would soon come," he said ; " so I 
 sat down here to wait for you, and was looking across to 
 my sister's cottage at Ettal. It is just visible through 
 that dip in the hill yonder. She was in the garden a 
 moment ago, and then somebody came in from the road. 
 1 could see all capitally from here." 
 
 We went on, and were soon at our old quarters. I 
 fetched a pan of milk from the cupboard, and slicing 
 into it the bread which I had brought with me, had my 
 supper, and then went to bed. 
 
 The next morning we were out betimes, and, as we 
 mounted higher, saw, soon after dawn_, a couple of stags 
 
 the evening, after his day's round in the mountains, that he learned they 
 were gone. He would not lose the opportunity, so without resting and 
 late as it was, off he set from the village of Farchant, to overtake them 
 at the hut on the mountain-side, where he knew they would pass the 
 night. With his rifle at his back and his dog for companion he walked on, 
 and reached the spot at dawn an hour before the party started for the sum- 
 mit. They soon reached it : the cross was erected, and firmly soldered 
 in a socket of rock, and then all turned to descend the way they had 
 come. But Bauer resolved to try if it were not possible to get down on 
 the north side. All wished to dissuade him ; and indeed, when you 
 look down that almost perpendicular slope, covered as it then was, and 
 is at all times indeed except in the height of summer, with snow and 
 ice, it is hardly conceivable that any one could ever dream of such an un- 
 dertaking. As none would accompany him, he went alone ; and the 
 others turned homewards. After scrambling and sliding down the 
 frightful slope for some time, Bauer at last came to a place where he 
 could get no further. To climb up again was impossible. There he 
 stood in that dreary desert of snow, high up in middle air, where as- 
 suredly till then no human being had ever passed or even thought of 
 passing. He had come to the ridge of a perpendicular waU, down which 
 there was no getting save by leaping below. But something must be 
 done, for he cannot stay there to freeze among the ice. So in order to 
 see if the snow was hard enough to bear him were he to spring down, 
 he took off his rucksack, in which he carried his dog, whose feet had got 
 sore, and flung both below upon the snow-field. The snow bore the weight. 
 He then tried his rifle, for he knew that if this did not sink deep, he 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 307 
 
 and some chamois on one side of the Bischof. What 
 luck ! We crept along over the ground, as though we 
 feared to hurt the blades of grass ; and, carefully avoid- 
 ing the stones, stole softly onwards. And now the spot 
 is reached whence the game will surely be visible, and 
 we shall be able to get a shot ; and lifting our heads 
 slowly and carefully, our eyes sweep over the sides of 
 the hollow, expecting every moment to light on the 
 object of our hopes. But there is no need of all this 
 care, for not a creature is to be seen. We then ex- 
 amined the slot, and found that the stag had, at most, 
 eight points on his antlers ; he had gone over a shoulder 
 
 himself might venture down. At last he too jumps from the brink into 
 the bed of the snow. He flounders out as best he can, and on and on, 
 desperately venturing everything to save himself from a dreadful death 
 of cold and hunger in those regions of torpor and solitude. But it must 
 not be forgotten that he had been walking the whole of the preceding day 
 and night, and again that day, without rest and with but little food ; and 
 it is not surprising therefore that at length his strength succumbed to 
 the overpowering exertion of wading through the snow. And he sank 
 at last, unable to move further. He had reached the lower part of 
 the mountain, just above the Eib See, and here he was found lying by 
 some smugglers, who by dangerous circuitous paths evade the look-out 
 men of the Custom-house. 
 
 Bauer has never been like his former self since this adventure. I 
 met him a year or two ago at Berchtesgaden, where the King had 
 given him a place as under-forester, and the worthy fellow's face grew 
 quite radiant when he saw me waiting for him on the shore of the lake. 
 Nor was I less pleased to meet him again. His frank countenance wore 
 the same mild expression, but it bore deep traces of what he had under- 
 gone. His chest too hurt him. 
 
 But since then another sad accident has befallen him. He was always 
 venturesome, and the most daring of climbers still. At seven in the 
 morning of the 21st of July, 1855, while after the chamois, he fell from 
 a wall of rock — the Kehlstein— sixty feet high, turning over tliree times 
 in his descent, into the Schatzkohl Alpe. He dragged hhnself to a hut, 
 where he was found still alive, though his head and back were terribly 
 mangled and bruised. His fall was occasioned by the loosening of a 
 stone. 
 
 x 2 
 
308 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 of the mountain, and across some splashy ground covered 
 with many traces of both deer and chamois. 
 
 We were advancing slowly up the Krotenkopf, — a 
 mountain somewhat less than 8,000 feet high; on our 
 left the stony Bischof extended its broad side before us, 
 over which was now spread a thin covering of snow. 
 
 " Do you see anything ?" I asked of Bauer, who was 
 looking fixedly across at the opposite mountain. 
 
 "I think it's a chamois!" he replied, with his eyes 
 still fixed on a certain dark spot, and turning his head a 
 little on one side, as if to look at it from another point 
 of view. 
 
 " Yes, it is a chamois," he continued, as we looked 
 through our glasses; "that's all right ! We have plenty 
 of time, for he will not go away. But let us on now : 
 yonder — do you see those rocks — great blocks of stone, 
 just on the shoulder of the mountain ? — well, there I 
 think you had better stand ; and then I will go over the 
 ridge, and roll down stones, to put the chamois on the 
 move ; he will be sure to come round close to where you 
 are, and you can get a famous shot." 
 
 We were a considerable time in reaching the place, 
 yet it did not seem far off. But in the mountains dis- 
 tances are very illusory, and you are sure to fancy them 
 shorter than they really are. 
 
 " How long will you be crossing over the ridge?" I 
 asked of Bauer, as he was about to set off. 
 
 " I can hardly say ; it's a good way up and round to 
 the other side. But I will tell you what ; as soon as 
 the chamois is on the move, I '11 fire off my rifle, so that 
 you may know, and be on the look-out." 
 
 " Very well : this is a good place where I now am. 
 I will keep behind these rocks, and shall thus be almost 
 hidden." 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 309 
 
 "When he comes, he will pass along yonder. Do 
 you see? — just there, where those stones are peeping 
 oift of the snow." And off he bounded with a nimble 
 step, and was soon out of sight, as he took a slanting 
 ' direction over the mountain. There was plenty of snow 
 where I stood ; for the spot being overshadowed, there 
 it lay week after week, safe from the influence of the 
 sun. I brushed some away, and lay down on the rock. 
 I was tired and listless, and then grew angry with my- 
 self for being so. I could not tell what was the matter 
 with me; but, for some cause or other, I strangely 
 enough did not feel the intense interest which always 
 possessed me at such moments of expectation. I took 
 out a crust and ate it, but more for pastime than from 
 appetite. I was annoyed at my own indifference, and 
 at such unwonted apathy. A charm seemed to have 
 been broken, and my eyes now looked at the magnifi- 
 cent forms about me, no longer wonderingly, but as 
 though they were quite common, everyday things. Sud- 
 denly a thundering sound reverberates from the Bischof 
 and rolls up the sides of the Krotenkopf; and then falls 
 back again, like a great wave, that, breaking its massive- 
 ness against the rocks, tumbles to pieces with a low, 
 murmuring moan ; — it was from Bauer's rifle. I started 
 up, and something of the old feelings came creeping on, 
 but sluggishly, and not with a sudden rush as heretofore. I 
 was behind a piece of rock, that covered me entirely up 
 to my chin, and looked right in front, where I expected 
 to see the chamois appear, but nothing came. Presently a 
 stone moved slightly ; and turning my eyes to the side 
 whence the sound proceeded, there stood two chamois 
 at gaze on my left hand, one behind the other : both 
 wore immovable, and looking steadfastly in my direc- 
 tion. T was as immovable as they; it was evident they 
 
310 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 suspected danger, but I did not think they could see me, 
 for they had not whistled as yet ; and there was still a 
 possibility they might, in moving on, come a little nearer, 
 for at present they were a long distance off. There they 
 stood for a time, I all the while hardly daring to move 
 even my eyelids, anxious what the next moment would 
 bring with it. The nearest chamois was the smaller of 
 the two, — it was of a reddish colour, while the other 
 larger one was quite black. But he was the further off, 
 so, if I fired at all, I thought it would be better to take 
 the nearer animal. Thus we remained in presence of 
 each other ; all was still and silent as the very air, — it was 
 as if everything had been petrified by some sudden spell. 
 
 Suddenly the nearer chamois utters the sharp whistle ; 
 but he gazes still, and is motionless. I now knew there 
 was no hope of their coming nearer; in a moment they 
 would be off. There was no time to lose; and, bring- 
 ing my cheek down to my rifle, to take aim, I carefully 
 prepared to fire. The loud report breaks the long silence. 
 " Is he hit ?" I ask myself. " No, they're both going 
 away ! It cannot have touched him ! Yet the one that 
 lags behind — he does not leap up the mountain so lightly 
 as the other ! I don't know though — something seems 
 the matter with him — yet— yes, he's off!" Far as he now 
 was, I still fired the other barrel, and knew at once I had 
 missed. 
 
 I followed their track some distance, to see if there 
 were any drops of blood on the snow, but to my great 
 vexation found nothing. Bauer now came over the 
 mountain, and at once called to ask if I had got one of 
 them. 
 
 " There were two, were there not ?" he said. " I only 
 saw the second after 1 had fired my rifle. You have 
 missed ? What, did not they come near ? No, you can't 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 311 
 
 have missed ! Where were they ?" he continued, as he 
 looked for their slot in the snow. 
 
 " But I have. For a moment I thought I had hit him, 
 but now I see I did not." 
 
 " Where were they standing when you fired ?" 
 
 " Further on. But it is useless to look : I have fol- 
 lowed them already, and found nothing. Further on, — 
 down lower — further still, if you will look," I called out, 
 as he inquired about the position of the chamois. 
 
 " Here's hair enough however," he cried, holding up 
 some in his fingers, as I ran to the place. The long black 
 hair of the back was lying on the snow, and by its length 
 it was evident that it had been shaved off quite close to 
 the backbone. The supposition that one moved as though 
 hurt, which I had a moment entertained, but afterwards 
 given up as a mere fancy, was, I now saw, well founded 
 I had touched him. The ball had just grazed the verte- 
 brae, but so very slightly as to cause only the momentary 
 lameness I had remarked. 
 
 " Look how long they are !" said Bauer, examining 
 the speckled hairs . " Well, that was near ! an eighth of 
 an inch lower down, and he would have dropped at once. 
 'Twas a long shot though, that I must say." 
 
 The mishap was indeed particularly vexatious; for, 
 had they come but a little nearer, I might easily have 
 shot both, — right and left; and it would have been a 
 pleasant thing to recur to in aftertime. 
 
 The rest of the day we saw nothing. At the hut the 
 herdsman foretold change of weather. " The cattle were so 
 wild," he said, " they had broken the pole of the waggon 
 that morning. He was quite sure it would not be fine 
 on the morrow ; it's a sure sign when the cattle are so 
 restless. As to the almanack-writers, they may say what 
 they like, — the cattle are never wrong." 
 
312 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 We now turned our steps homeward. As we went 
 along, Bauer told me how, close to the spot we were 
 passing, he had once met some poachers. " There were 
 five of them," he said, "and I crept through the 
 bushes, and got quite near them unobserved. At last 
 they saw me, and called out that I should make the best 
 of my way off, or they would fire." 
 
 "And did you go?" 
 
 " Of course not. I was lying on the ground behind a 
 great piece of stone, and I knew they could not touch me. 
 No; I stopped, and looked at them well. I recognized 
 them all, and gave their names to the Police, but nothing 
 was clone to them." 
 
 A day or two after I arranged with Bauer to go up the 
 Kramer : though I knew there was little chance of meet- 
 ing chamois there, I still wished to go ; for it is possible 
 to be prepossessed by the face of a mountain, as well as 
 by the human countenance, and this was now the case 
 with me. There was a hut there, — or rather, as it was 
 of stone, a house containing a single room, which had 
 been constructed some years ago for the present King, 
 should he ever seek shelter or accommodation on the 
 mountain. 
 
 " A blanket is there, too !" said Bauer triumphantly ; 
 " and a stove is in the room ; only think, a stove ! The 
 place is snug enough, but it is a long time since I was up 
 there." 
 
 After crossing the meadows we passed at once into a 
 gulley, where the torrent came tumbling along over its 
 rugged bed. The din of waters drowned every other 
 sound, so that we did not hear the approach of Neuner, 
 who suddenly stood before us, on his way down from 
 the mountain. We stopped a moment, to interchange 
 some questions, and to pat old Bursch's head, and then 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 313 
 
 we went on up the steep and narrow path.* As we 
 ascended higher, the wild beauty of the spot became 
 more and more visible. In some places there were 
 perpendicular buttresses of rock, of five or six hundred 
 feet in height, with here and there projecting spots, 
 covered with grass, or a pine-tree that had managed to 
 force its roots into some chance fissure. This was a 
 " Graben," as well as the " Rethel Clam," but very un- 
 like it in appearance and character. Grand as the forms 
 were, the whole was so shut in by the peculiar shape of 
 the mountain, and the parts brought so near together, 
 that verdant nooks were formed, giving the whole a 
 mild aspect ; moreover there was herbage in abundance 
 among the grey rocks, and the foliage of pines and 
 latschen to break the rugged and sharp outlines. Here 
 and there you saw little green spots, that you would 
 gladly have alighted on, had you had wings to fly there. 
 On our path was overshadowing wood ; and the shade, 
 and a languor I could not shake off, soon brought me 
 to a resting-place. It was a delicious afternoon, and, 
 though the 23rd of September, agreeably warm. I 
 looked before me, down into the deep gully, and listened 
 to the waters below, sounding, where we sat, just plea- 
 santly loud enough to tell of their presence, and no- 
 thing more. While I was thus contemplating the scene, 
 
 * One of those mishaps which occasionally occur in the mountains 
 happened to this good dog, just before my departure from Partenkir- 
 chen. Neuner missed him on the mountain, but as he whistled for him 
 in vain, thought he had followed the slot of a roe, and would come back 
 after a time. He however never saw him again, and supposes he fell 
 over the rocks in the ardour of pursuit. For two days Neuner searched 
 the whole mountain for his dog, in case he should have got into some 
 place whence he could not climb out again, and where he might be still 
 alive. He called him by name, as he knew that, if alive, he could 
 answer by a bark or howl. In spite of all his endeavours he could find 
 no traces of him. 
 
314 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 I heard the sound of bells. I listened more attentively. 
 Yes, I was right • but then the thought occurred to me, 
 how could such a peal as that come from Partenkirchen, 
 or Garmisch, or indeed any other village ? I looked up, 
 to see if Bauer's countenance betrayed a sign of having 
 heard them too ; but nothing there told me that he had, 
 and how should he ? for it was the well-known sound 
 of the Bath Abbey bells, that were ringing as merry a 
 peal as I had ever heard them do in the days of my boy- 
 hood. I got up, and stood, and looked round, and con- 
 vinced myself I was not asleep ; but still I heard the dear, 
 well-remembered bells, that were as familiar as the voices 
 of old friends. Now they fell, as if borne away on the 
 wind, and then again came swelling on the ear, as though 
 the ringers were pulling right lustily. It was so real, 
 that, had it been some simple church-bell merely, I might 
 have been cheated into belief; but there was no mistak- 
 ing those of my own dear native Bath. The author of 
 that most delightful of books 'Eothen' mentions some- 
 thing of the sort occurring to him on a journey, — if I 
 remember rightly, when he was crossing the Desert* 
 
 We went on, and still on, and it seemed as if there 
 was no end to our steep ascent. I could hardly drag 
 my limbs along, so weary was I ; and had I been alone, 
 
 * I ought perhaps to mention that I had been at Bath but a week or 
 two before. In both case3 the circumstance arose, no doubt, from the 
 nerves being unstrung by coming illness ; for it was afterwards that I 
 fell sick at Partenkirchen, and the author of ' Eothen,' on arriving at 
 Cairo, had an attack of fever, if not of the plague. I am inclined to 
 think that in every instance, whether such sounds are heard at sea or 
 elsewhere, a state of debility or excitement would be found to be an at- 
 tendant circumstance, were the matter inquired into. If nothing un- 
 toward follow, it is thought no more of; but should the person by whom 
 such music is heard die soon afterwards, it is then looked upon as a 
 supernatural warning, and a friendly summons is recognized in those 
 loud sounds of home. 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 315 
 
 should certainly have lain down to sleep. Bauer was 
 always far in advance, stopping to wait for me, and 
 urging me on ; for though we were now at last ap- 
 proaching the summit, which was evident from the 
 changed character of the scenery, and from the patches 
 of snow that were lying about, we still had a long way 
 to go, and evening was coming on, and in such a place 
 daylight was as necessary as air to breathe. The moun- 
 tain was of vast size ; and, as I looked upwards to the 
 sky-line, and saw the drear expanse, and felt my sinking 
 strength, it seemed to me impossible that I could ever 
 reach the hut. I had never before known such an utter 
 prostration of strength, such a total want of anything 
 like energy. But still I toiled on as best I could ; 
 though I was obliged — a thing I had never in my life 
 done before — to give my rifle to Bauer to carry for me. 
 The evening was drawing in, and we had still far to go, 
 and the places became more rugged and difficult : every 
 minute was valuable. 
 
 u Pray come on ! If we were only down these rocks 
 I should not care. Once out yonder and all is well ; but 
 here, if it gets dark — you see what a place it is ! Exert 
 yourself— do your best — now then, try once more !" 
 And Bauer again led the way. 
 
 It was quite dark before we got to our destination. 
 I hoped that, when I had eaten something, I should be 
 better, and we therefore hastened to make a fire and 
 cook our supper. Bauer fetched water from a neighbour- 
 ing spring, and, in the darkness, this was not so soon 
 accomplished. I meanwhile tried to get the wood into 
 a blaze, — but oh, the torment of that fire-making ! in- 
 stead of flame, the hearth was involved in smoke, and 
 the wind, pouring down the chimney, sent whole clouds 
 into our smarting eyes. In that small space neither of 
 
316 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 us could bear it long. Now for the frying-pan, and then 
 we shall soon have a warm, savoury meal ! But what a 
 state was that vessel in ! Covered full an inch thick 
 with grease, rancid from staleness, and incrusted every- 
 where with dirt and dust, just as it had been left by 
 the last lazy comer. This was indeed disheartening — the 
 last drop in our cup of bitterness. However there was 
 nothing to be done but to clean the pan, and try to 
 make it fit for use. It took no little time to accom- 
 plish this, but it was fairly done at last. After it had 
 been well scoured, and water repeatedly boiled in it to 
 get rid of its impurities, we set it on the fire with a good 
 lump of butter, while Bauer mixed the batter for the 
 schmarren. Now all is ready, and the fair white meal 
 and water is poured into the pan. But what a sight ! 
 it all turns black at once, looking more like the black 
 broth of Sparta than any Christian food. Grievous as 
 this was, the whole had in it something so comic that 
 we could not but laugh. We let it fry however, and 
 then tasting a bit and finding it not so very bad, cooked 
 and ate a part. Luckily we discovered an old iron ladle, 
 and having well cleaned it, boiled some water, and mixed 
 ourselves a ladle- full of grog. This, twice filled, and 
 some bread that I had in my rucksack, furnished us a 
 better supper j and I had still a crust left, just enough 
 for the morrow's breakfast. How different was this place 
 from the hut near Kreuth, which had been made so 
 clean and tidy, and left in such perfect order by " Ca- 
 tharina Hess 1" It was a disgrace to a hunter to leave 
 things in such a state, — nothing washed, the room un- 
 swept, and whatever had been used, lying about as when 
 last employed. On some boards, covered with straw, 
 was our bed ; and putting our joppen and blanket over 
 us, we soon fell asleep. 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 317 
 
 I was still exhausted the next morning, though I had 
 slept soundly ; yet I did not like to give way, and tried 
 my best to keep up, but my step that day was void of 
 elasticity, and altogether it was sorry work. The sight 
 at early dawn from the Kramer was indeed a glorious 
 one. We were almost opposite the Zug Spitz, and seem- 
 ingly quite near it ; and it was as though we looked down 
 upon the mountains and the snow-plains on their tops. 
 And when the sun came, there was a lovely pageantry ! 
 
 We saw only two chamois the whole day. In going 
 home we met a man, who passed us scowlingly, and with- 
 out a word, — a most unusual and strange omission, for 
 here every wayfarer greets the other as he goes by. 
 
 " That is a poacher of Garmisch," said Bauer, as we 
 went on ; " as great a rascal as ever breathed. I have no 
 doubt that his rifle is hidden near, somewhere among 
 the stones or latschen." 
 
 This was the last time but one of my going out. I 
 again passed the night at the Oester Berg, and in the 
 morning went out alone, though the overpowering lan- 
 guor still dragged me to the earth. The ground was 
 covered with snow, and mists were on the hills, and 
 a drizzling rain soon began to make everything wet and 
 miserable. At last I found it was useless to try to go 
 on : I was obliged to give it up, being fairly brought to 
 standstill, and literally unable to drag one foot after 
 the other. I crawled to the hut as well as I could, and 
 lying down close to the stove fell asleep for an hour. 
 I afterwards managed to reach Partenkirchen, where I 
 found, by every one telling me how yellow I was, that I 
 had the jaundice. My languor of the preceding days 
 was now explained. It was a grievous thing to be con- 
 fined to my bed for weeks, and the mountains so near ; 
 and as day after day I turned and looked at them from 
 
318 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 my pillow, their tops clear and distinct against the bright 
 blue sky, I felt doubly the privations that sickness brings ; 
 and yet I was in some measure compensated for the 
 loss, for the scenes themselves were brought to my bed- 
 side, — " transcripts of Nature," as Constable would have 
 called them, fresh from the open air, and in which tone 
 and forms and colour were not copied merely, but felt. 
 I had just before made the acquaintance of Mr. Carl 
 Haag, who was staying here ; and from the moment I 
 was unable to leave my room, he brought me daily his 
 portfolio, and left with me the result of each morning's 
 or afternoon's work. Then there were effects to be 
 talked of and discussed, picturesque figures to look at, — 
 new acquaintances perhaps which he had made in the last 
 walk, — opinions to be interchanged as to which of the 
 masterly sketches laid out before me on my bed might 
 best furnish subject for a picture ; and in this way the 
 hours went pleasantly by, and I found that I was not so 
 greatly to be pitied after all. 
 
 From my window I saw one morning a sight which, 
 touching as it was, had in it much of beauty. It was 
 the funeral of a little child. I heard the chanting of the 
 mourning train, and on looking into the street discovered 
 whence it came. The young child lay in the open coffin, 
 which was carried in the arms of a man ; its placid face 
 uncovered, and nothing between it and the blue heaven. 
 All around it were flowers, on its pillow and on both 
 sides ; and its pretty hands too were embedded on roses, 
 — buds as tender as itself. I had never seen Death ar- 
 rayed so winningly. 
 
THE KROTENKOPF AND THE KRAMER. 319 
 
 gut*. 
 
 The distance a wounded animal will sometimes go before leaving, on 
 the ground over which he has passed, any trace that he has been hit, is 
 most extraordinary, and in some cases appears to me quite inexplicable. 
 But a week or two before penning this note, four or five deer suddenly 
 crossed my path one evening, as I was returning home through the 
 woods. They were a great distance off; but as they stopped to gaze 
 for a moment, I took my chance and fired. I was sure that I had hit 
 the deer, and as they all passed among the trees, I felt still more certain 
 from peculiar motion I observed in one of them. I followed the slot 
 across the snow, but saw nothing. Yet still, not convinced that I had 
 missed, I kept going on and on, and at last saw a single red drop on 
 the white surface of the ground. A little further there were more ; 
 presently, on the side of the slot there was a perfect crimson shower ; 
 and a moment or two after, the deer was seen stretched dead. 
 
 Sometimes a part of the intestines will protrude, and close up the 
 opening which the bullet has made, and then of course it is no wonder 
 the trickling of the blood should cease. But the hemorrhage takes 
 place inwardly, and, after following the slot for many hundred yards, 
 and when perhaps you have given up all hope, you will very likely find 
 the stag in a thicket quite dead, or lying in the middle of a stream, his 
 strength having failed him in making a last effort to leap across. 
 
 It requires an experienced eye however to detect a drop or two of 
 blood, amid the dead leaves with which the ground in the forest is 
 covered ; and where the earth is hard, or strewn with the dry foliage of 
 the preceding summer, it is difficult even to make out the slot at all ; 
 and yet by practice you at last discern the slightest imprint in the 
 ground, and recognize in a moment if it has been made by a deer or 
 not. 
 
 When following the slot of an animal that you think you have 
 wounded, without finding on the ground any traces of his being so^ 
 it is well, should he pass a thicket, to examine the boughs he 
 has brushed against in forcing his way through. The branches hang 
 close upon his broad sides, and a leaf may have swept over the wound ^ 
 
320 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and a single streak of crimson is sufficient to betray all you want to 
 know. 
 
 ct A flower thus stained, to the hunter brings 
 More joy than the reddest rose ; 
 It telleth a tale, to his heart as dear 
 As the blush that doth all disclose." 
 
 Once I remember shooting at a wild-boar, and, on going to the spots 
 found only that he had passed on into the wood. A beater who, like 
 myself, was also looking about, called to me that I had missed, and 
 showed me, in proof of his assertion, the hole my bullet had torn in a 
 young pine close by. But even this did not convince me, and I still 
 followed the track of the boar. At some distance I found bristles on 
 the snow, and a little further the boar also, quite dead, but no blood 
 anywhere except on the spot where he lay, although the ball had passed 
 right through the body before entering the tree. 
 
 But the strangest sight I remember to have witnessed occurred with 
 a fallow-deer — a buck. I came suddenly upon him while grazing in a 
 glade, and fired. I looked to see the result of my shot, but he neither 
 fell, nor dashed away. In a moment he began rocking to and fro where 
 he stood. I went towards him, but he took no notice of my approach, 
 and continued the rocking motion as before. I pushed him with my 
 hand, and he rolled over and was dead. The shot-hole was quite 
 round, and showed no redness, — not the least sign of blood was visible, 
 and the opening was filled up by the chewed grass on which the animal 
 had been feeding. 
 
321 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 PEPl'S COTTAGE. 
 
 In looking through Mr. Haag's portfolio, I one day saw 
 a very fine sketch of a bandit-like figure with a rifle, and 
 which he had treated as " a poacher." 
 
 " Who's that?" I asked. 
 
 " That 's c Schiitzen Pepi,' he replied, " a most pic- 
 turesque fellow. I was at his cottage yesterday, and if 
 you like we'll go there some day together. If we could 
 manage to find out when there was a ' Heimgarten,' 
 'twould be all the better, for that's a curious scene, 
 and well worth seeing." 
 
 "What is a Heimgarten?" I inquired. 
 
 " Sometimes the young people of the neighbourhood 
 agree to go on a certain evening to a house they have 
 fixed on ; and then, when the day's work is done, they 
 all pour in there to dance and sing, and amuse them- 
 selves as they best may. It is a sort of evening party 
 to which the guests come uninvited, just as when a lady 
 opens her salons on certain days, and announces she 
 will be ' at home.' But you will see what it is, and I 
 am sure it will amuse you." 
 
 From all I heard of Pepi, he seemed to be so ori- 
 ginal a fellow, that I set off one evening to pay him 
 a visit. His dwelling was as picturesque as his person, 
 
 Y 
 
322 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and the room and the groups there when we entered, 
 were all that a painter could desire. As usual the ceil- 
 ing and walls were of panelling, quite dark from smoke 
 and age. At a table a young peasant was sitting 
 playing the cithern, and in a corner, near the large 
 green stove, their faces gleaming in the nickering blaze 
 coming from a hearth close by, sat Pepi with his pipe, 
 while beside him wife and daughter were busy with 
 their spinning-wheels. Bare-legged boys were lying 
 around listening to the music, and one of them every 
 now and then would throw some pine-chips on the fire to 
 make a merry flame ; and then the light illumined the 
 whole nearer group from head to foot, spinning-wheels 
 and all. A ruddy flash would play too for a moment 
 round the form of him at the table, and even put the 
 shadows in the further nooks and corners into confu- 
 sion. But Pepi himself deserves a particular description. 
 He had on an old jacket torn and patched, and round 
 his brown throat a kerchief was loosely knotted. His 
 leathern breeches reached only to above the knees, which 
 were bare, for the thick ribbed stockings came no 
 higher than the calf. The old cap could cover but half 
 of the wild hair that straggled from beneath it, thickly 
 intermingled with" grey, like his beard and bushy mou- 
 stache. It looked snug in that dark, low-ceilinged 
 room ; for there is something cheerful in firelight, and 
 the glare and the skipping shadows, which no other 
 illumination can give ; and then too the low humming 
 of the wheels and the plaintive tones of the cithern, 
 each seeming like an accompaniment to the other, so 
 well did they harmonize, fell gratefully on the ear, and 
 gave that indescribable something which carries with it 
 a sweet feeling of " home." 
 
 Pepi's wife wanted him sadly to put on another joppe 
 
323 
 
 in honour of our presence ; but he seemed thoroughly 
 to understand the picturesqueness of the old garments, 
 darns and patches, and would not hear of a change. 
 " Why the tailor could not make such a one as this \" 
 he exclaimed, looking down complacently at the thread- 
 bare surface. The thing was, he had been often painted, 
 and knew very well what looking figure an artist liked, 
 and what would do best for a picture. Pleased as he 
 was to see us, there was a sturdy self-importance and 
 gravity in his manner which was rather amusing; a 
 feeling of his own consequence which peeped forth 
 through the very holes of his jacket. I asked him 
 about his family. There were four children alive he 
 said, but he had had twelve. 
 
 " No, father, eleven," said the boy. 
 
 " Sacra ! one more or less," exclaimed Pepi, " who 
 can be so exact as all that ?" 
 
 There was an old map of Europe hanging up against 
 the wall, which Pepi took down and asked me to show 
 him where I came from. I pointed out Bath, which he 
 then underlined. It was quite extraordinary how soon 
 he found the places he wanted. "There's Havre," he 
 said, "that's where they all go to sail for America. 
 And there's Schleswig, where they are fighting and 
 killing one another. 'Twill all end in nothing; they 
 fight and fight, and the others look on, but if it don't 
 go on as they like, they '11 step in and stop 'em. And 
 here 's Partenkirchen, — what a way from Bath !" 
 
 My companion now began to make a drawing, and 
 nothing could be prettier or more amusing than the 
 group. It had, it seems, been the grand ambition of 
 Pepi's wife to be painted too; artist after artist had 
 come there, and she had never once been asked to sit, 
 while her husband figured in many a portfolio. She 
 
 y2 
 
324 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 had at first only hinted her desire, but when day after 
 day passed and no sitting was spoken of, she herself 
 proposed boldly, and with somewhat of offended pride, 
 that Mr. Haag should paint her portrait, which he, to 
 please her, good-humouredly promised to do. 
 
 And what a momentous affair was that sitting to her ! 
 the first and probably the last time. There she sat, stiff 
 and immovable, full of her dignity, and a pleased smile 
 of triumph on her face, " calling up a look " befitting 
 the occasion. She would not have turned her head let 
 happen what might, for a sitting was an important 
 matter; and whenever the flax on the distaff got entangled 
 she dared not change her position or even cast down 
 her eyes, but called to one of the children to do it for 
 her. The full blaze of the fire fell on her face, the ex- 
 pression of which was the very drollest in the world. 
 Opposite sat her daughter, gazing alternately at her 
 mother and Mr. Haag, while over the shoulder of the 
 latter one of the bare-legged boys was peeping, watching 
 the growing picture and comparing it with the original. 
 It was a delightful group. Presently a loud knocking 
 was heard without, the door flies open, and in bursts a 
 whole troop of youths, singing, shouting, dancing ; they 
 offer no greeting, they say nothing in fact, but, with cap 
 on head, continue their wild song, and dance round, 
 snapping their fingers as they still pour in. " Hush, no 
 dancing ! leave off, I say ! Hans, don't stamp so !" cried 
 Pepi, who was now no more master in his own house 
 than he was over the elements. A wild shout and a 
 louder song was the reply. The first ebullition of mirth 
 over, they stood round the cithern-player, and talked 
 and sang : I all the while remained sitting where I was, 
 heartily enjoying the scene. Presently one of the merry 
 troop came up to me and looking at me from head to 
 
PEPl's COTTAGE. 325 
 
 foot, much as a monkey would at any strange thing 
 thrown into his cage, seemed particularly struck with my 
 stockings. " Where were they made ?" he asked. "At 
 Baierisch Zell." " Die sind schon !"* he said j and then 
 was off again, leaping and dancing, to join the others. 
 
 Presently the whole company stood together in a 
 circle, their arms round each other's neck, and in this 
 way sang to the music of the cithern, whose gentle tones 
 however were overpowered by their louder voices. Stand- 
 ing thus, they continued swaying their bodies backwards 
 and forwards, with a rocking motion, keeping time with 
 the melody, or suiting their actions to the words of the 
 song. Then their gesticulation became gradually more 
 violent : they would turn, and look each other full in the 
 face astonished, or with searching inquiry, as if to be 
 convinced of the truth of what each had said, although 
 both of the parties were singing the same words; Near 
 them were five or six others, linked also together in the 
 same way j these hummed the tune only, and kept time 
 by lifting up their feet in front of them, swaying their 
 bodies backwards and forwards like the others, and by 
 advancing some steps and again retreating. There was 
 something very strange and primeval in this rude min- 
 strelsy. It was like a fragment of a long gone-by cen- 
 tury, cast up at our feet out of the ocean of Time, upon 
 the shore where we are standing. 
 
 The resemblance between this manner of singing of 
 the highlanders of Bavaria and that peculiar to the 
 Highlanders of Scotland, is, to say the least, somewhat 
 singular. "When a song is to be sung/' says Mr. W r . 
 Lcathart,t " the parties all round the room take hold of 
 each other's plaids, or, if an English dress, they employ 
 
 * "How handsome they are!" 
 
 t Sec « Literary Gazette,' No. 1520, p. 223. 
 
326 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 their pocket-handkerchiefs for the same purpose. The 
 song commences, one sings the verse, and all beat time 
 with their plaids or handkerchiefs, rowing, as it were, to 
 and fro ; in the chorus all join, still beating time, and 
 thus the song proceeds. This mode of singing, they 
 call Or an Luathaidh. Shaw, in his f Gaelic Analysis/ ac- 
 counts for it as having originated in the fulling of cloth 
 by the feet, before the improved method was introduced." 
 And now the circle broke up, and the different groups 
 began to dance. " I won't have it \" cried Pepi, " leave 
 off, I tell ye ! it's Friday, for shame !" " Ho, ho ! no 
 matter, we will dance \" And round they went in spite 
 of him and his wife. Why, they might as well have tried 
 to stop the streams that came leaping along down the 
 mountains in spring, as to arrest the whirl of those lads' 
 dancing ! The best dancer had now slipped off his shoes, 
 seized a girl round the waist, and all the others had 
 set off and followed their leader in the dance. Pepi, 
 seeing how utterly vain his words were, put a good face 
 on the matter, and looked on not displeased. He seemed 
 to feel he had done what he could to prevent the revelry, 
 and having thus satisfied his conscience, was at ease and 
 quite content. He relished his pipe amazingly j and as 
 he sate immovable, puffing in sturdy silence, the smoke 
 curling around him, and the mad youths leaping and 
 bending before his presence, it was somewhat like a 
 heathen rite being performed before a god half hidden 
 in clouds of incense. But how describe all those wonder- 
 ful evolutions ! Now in the middle of the dance they 
 would clap their hands, striking one against the other 
 tambourine fashion, while the head was turned knowingly 
 on one side ; and then the palm would descend with a 
 smart slap upon the brawny thigh, which at that mo- 
 ment was lifted high in the performance of some won- 
 
327 
 
 derful step, and in the same moment too would fall upon 
 the broad calf with a hearty thwack, but so quickly 
 that it caused no interruption in the movements of the 
 performers. Then they would snap their fingers, and 
 make a clucking noise with their tongue, and all in 
 time with their steps, and in a sort of tuneful measure ; 
 mixed with these sounds every now and then a shrill 
 cry of delight was uttered, something between a shout 
 and a halloo ; and, before you were aware, before you 
 could conjecture even that such a thing could come 
 within the range of the possible, a head which you 
 had been looking at would suddenly disappear, and two 
 feet were as suddenly in its place; for a second they 
 would perform & pas in the air, and then the missing- 
 head was seen again on a line with the others. As the 
 dancing went round in a circle, he who had kicked off 
 his shoes in order to make less noise, — a thick-set sturdy 
 little fellow, a baker by trade, — had, like the clown in the 
 pantomime, suddenly stood upon his hands, and, flinging 
 his heels over so as to describe a wheel, was again on 
 his feet and going on with the dance before his head 
 was missed. How he contrived this lateral somersault 
 without push or hindrance is to me quite a marvel. For 
 it was not done once only, but every now and then with 
 a sudden plunge down he would go, and you saw legs 
 near the ceiling clapping against each other, as if ap- 
 plauding their own inimitable dexterity. 
 
 " Don't stamp so," cried Pepi, as they beat time on 
 the floor with their heavy shoes; "don't stamp so, I 
 tell ye, 'twill be heard outside, and they'll know ye're 
 dancing !" The thing was, as I afterwards learned, the 
 Bishop had tried to put down dancing on Fridays, and 
 Pepi was afraid of getting into disgrace with the clergy 
 for allowing such wild doings in his house. On any 
 
328 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 other work-day they might, I verily believe, have done 
 what they would, and he would surely not have stopped 
 them. 
 
 " How do you like it ?" said one of the youths to me. 
 " It's fine fun, isn't it ? and beautiful dancing too, eh ? 
 In the flat land one never sees anything like it. Does it 
 please you ? But I'll tell you what," he continued, in a 
 confidential whisper, "you should see me and that man 
 yonder dance together — that would surprise you ! You 
 must tell Pepi you want to see us, and then he won't 
 mind it." I did so, and the two performers began. All 
 the rest sat round, attentively watching them, and it was 
 evident by their silent eagerness that great was their ad- 
 miration. I hardly knew which amused*me more, the de- 
 light and wonderment of the spectators, or the attempts 
 at excellence of one of the dancers ; it was droll beyond 
 description to see his mincing steps, his affected attitudes, 
 and his lackadaisical air, so strikingly in opposition as it 
 was to the natural romping of my bouncing little baker; 
 and then their dresses too, and the surrounding groups 
 must be taken into account, all serving to heighten the 
 rich comic effect of their superabundant gravity. 
 
 " Oh, what a pity it's over \" exclaimed the originator 
 of the dance when it was ended. " But tell me, how did 
 you like it ? We are merry fellows, eh ? Why, when 
 I was at Munich — I went there to draw for the conscrip- 
 tion, I drew the last number but one, — you should have 
 seen how the people stared when / danced. They stared, 
 I tell you, for such dancing they had never seen. There 
 was not one who could keep it up with me : I tired them 
 all down. But here, you see, it's not high enough. One 
 might knock his head if he were to jump high. It's 
 right merry here among us, isn't it ? We are the right 
 sort of lads, eh ? Ay, this is Heimgarten V and away he 
 
329 
 
 sprang to join his comrades and devise some new piece 
 of merriment. 
 
 " A pretty row there was in the village last night I" I 
 said to one of them. " Ha, ha, ha \" burst forth from 
 them all; "did you hear it? Was it very loud?" 
 " Why of course/' I said ; " such a clatter as that would 
 awake anybody. Were you of the party V " Oh no," 
 they answered, " not we ;" though, as I afterwards dis- 
 covered, they all were present ; and then they described 
 the whole to me with a gusto they could not repress, and 
 told me how the party, " so they heard'' had gone all 
 through the place, and stopped and knocked at my door. 
 
 " We're merry fellows, don't you think so?" they all 
 asked. " Don't you like being among us ? Now then 
 we'll sing you a song that'll please you," and they be- 
 gan one in which the joys of stalking were described, 
 every part being accompanied by pantomime. There 
 were the peering looks as if chamois were discovered, and 
 then there was the stealthy advance; the rifle was lifted, 
 and after the shot came the anxious search and the out- 
 stretched neck to see if the game had fallen. It was all 
 dramatic, — a succession of scenes, of simple, natural act- 
 ing. Every gesture was full of life ; and had the crack of 
 the rifle been really heard, the widely-opened straining 
 eye could not have indicated more eagerness or longing. 
 
 All this to me was most delightful. The dance, the 
 songs of the uninvited guests, all was rude, it is true, but 
 it was the healthy wildness of some untamed creature, 
 gambling and tumbling about in its native strength. It 
 was a piece of fresh nature, a bit of unreclaimed land, 
 untouched as yet by " the progress of civilization ;" where 
 no furrow had been upturned, but where you still smelt 
 the wild thyme in the bracing air. 
 
 The noise I had heard in the night was occasioned by 
 
330 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the observance of a custom peculiar to these parts, and 
 which, when a man illtreats his wife, they never fail to 
 put in practice. Mine host of ' The Golden Star' had, 
 it seems, given his helpmate a beating, so it was resolved 
 that night the charivari was to begin. Accordingly at 
 midnight a troop of youths and men assembled before 
 the house of the offender, and having summoned him a 
 set dialogue was gone through. A certain formula is 
 always observed, and the questions put are as follow.* 
 " Today was killing-day, do you want to buy any fresh 
 meat ? What meat will you have ? M And then a re- 
 gular bargain is made about the price to be given. This 
 done, the culprit is allowed to retire; the troop gives a 
 good rattle on the wooden bench before the house, and 
 on they go to the next door, to summon the sleepers and 
 propose the same questions.f To evade the meeting is 
 impossible ; the inhabitant summoned must rise and hold 
 the usual parley ; and were he to refuse to open his door, 
 the inquisitorial band would batter it down. The noise 
 lasted from midnight till four o'clock. 
 
 In Toltz and the neighbourhood there is also a custom 
 very similar to this ; it is however always attended with 
 much greater preparation, and in its observance more 
 caution is necessary. When any person, no matter who 
 it be, has committed some disgraceful act, the young 
 men for many miles round assemble, all armed, and go 
 to the house of the delinquent. He is called out, and 
 he is obliged to appear in the midst. His shameful con- 
 duct is then pointed out to him in terms not very com- 
 plimentary, and when he has been well reprimanded he 
 
 * The German word " Fleisch" is used indiscriminately for "meat" 
 and "flesh," — the flesh of a person or animal. 
 
 f At other houses they say where it was killing-day, in order that 
 every one may be acquainted with the name of the offender. 
 
331 
 
 is allowed to go. Although on such occasions hundreds 
 of youths assemble, no injury is ever done to person 
 or property j and should, through their instrumentality, 
 horses or cattle chance to be killed or hurt, the full price 
 of the same is forwarded to the owner. Should a tra- 
 veller be passing that way at the time that such visita- 
 tion is going on, he is stopped till all is over, when he is 
 allowed to proceed on his road. To guard against sur- 
 prise, they have outposts and patrols in all directions 
 round the scene of their operations, who give the signal 
 in case of alarm j for the authorities are, as may be sup- 
 posed, very averse to such general risings of armed bo- 
 dies, and have taken every means to punish those who 
 share in them. But such is the secrecy observed, that 
 the Government has always been unsuccessful, not only 
 being unable to make a single capture, but even to find 
 out any of the parties concerned. Indeed to prevent 
 such a meeting by force would be very difficult, as the 
 bands assembled are sure to be numerically superior to 
 any that can oppose thorn. Toltz, though a large and 
 populous village, was unable to hinder such a Fehm- 
 gericht from taking place. Troops indeed have been 
 sent to surround and take the parties, but owing to the 
 videttes extending to a great distance, and the scouts 
 being on the alert, all had dispersed to their several 
 homes before the soldiers could arrive. The secrecy 
 with which the day and hour and place of meeting are 
 kept, the extent of their operations, and the perfect suc- 
 cess of their tactics in escaping from pursuit, reminds 
 one of the nocturnal excursions of the Rebeccaites in 
 Wales some years ago. 
 
 Pepi's portrait was now looked at, and all were pleased 
 with it, but his own children were especially delighted. 
 Their admiration was boundless. It was indeed very 
 
332 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 like, and rich in colour, — altogether a masterly sketch ; 
 but what attracted their attention most, and gave them 
 most pleasure, were the nails in their father's shoes. 
 
 One of the lads asked Mr. Haag : " It costs a great 
 deal of money, does it not, to have one's portrait taken ?" 
 As he no longer had much time for sketching, and was 
 besides pretty well supplied with studies of figures, he 
 answered, " Oh, certainly, a very great deal ;" and hoped 
 thus to get rid of him. After a time he returned and 
 said, "Mind, I would not care about paying a fair 
 price. Fd stand a good sum for the picture : now I'll 
 tell you what, I wouldn't mind giving a crown ["* 
 
 But it was getting late, so I took my leave of the 
 party, who crowded round me, and begged me to come 
 soon again. 
 
 The moon was now up, and lighted the pointed gables 
 and the paintings on the house-fronts. All was still in 
 
 * The story that Catlin relates of the Indian who was laughed at by the 
 rest of his tribe because he was painted in profile, and was therefore only 
 " half a man," is not more amusing than many an incident the artist will 
 sometimes meet with in civilized Europe. Mr. Haag once saw a hand- 
 some young person sitting before the door of a little inn and playing the 
 cithern. The youth presented so picturesque a figure, that Mr. Haag 
 wished to make a sketch of him. The lad agreed to the proposition. 
 Next day however he refused. He ivas afraid, he said, his comrades 
 tvould ridicule him if he tvere to be painted. At last, when all his scruples 
 were overcome, he would fain put on his Sunday clothes instead of 
 sitting in his shirt- sleeves, and with his hair curling about his forehead. 
 Finally these difficulties were successfully combated, and when the pic- 
 ture was finished he was mightily pleased with his appearance, so much 
 so indeed that he wanted to keep the drawing for himself. He argued 
 besides that it must be his. He had sat for it, how then could the artist 
 claim it ? Moreover it was his face, it must therefore belong to him, 
 and not to another. To end the dispute Mr. Haag, with his usual good- 
 nature, promised to paint him again, and this time just as he liked, as 
 a present for his sweetheart. He accordingly came, but was no longer 
 the same being as before. He had put on a long coat that reached to 
 his heels, had wetted his hair and plastered it close to his head, and 
 
333 
 
 the village: nothing was heard except the splashing of the 
 fountain in the street, and the occasional chant of the 
 watchman, whose rude verse I always like to hear, calling- 
 down, as it does, a benediction on the sleeping hamlet, 
 and acknowledging a higher protection than man can 
 give. 
 
 <c Hort, ihr Herrn, und lasst euch sage' 
 Die Glocke hat eilfi g'schlage', 
 
 Schutz' uns Gott und Marie !" 
 
 Hardly had I reached my room when the noisy laughter 
 of the merry roysterers was heard in the lane that leads 
 from Pepi's dwelling, announcing that their pleasant 
 ' Heimgarten' was at an end. 
 
 almost choked himself with a cravat. Caricature as he was, the portrait 
 delighted hini and his parents too ; and when Mr. Haag paid his bill 
 on departing, the father said, "We are perhaps in your debt too." 
 " Oil no," was the reply, " the portrait was a little present to your son." 
 "But we don't wish to have things for nothing," was the sturdy re- 
 joinder ; " we are not the sort of persons for that. We can pay, let me 
 tell you — oh yes, we can pay !" and pushed over three six-kreutzer pieces 
 (sixpence English) to Mr. Haag. 
 
PART THIRD 
 
337 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE HINTER BISS. 
 
 I cannot begin this account of the Hinter Hiss without 
 making mention of one who is intimately associated with 
 all my first recollections of the spot, and whose memory 
 I cherish with the warm and sincere regard due to a 
 thorough sportsman and a most kind and trusty friend. 
 Whoever knew the late Prince Leiningen intimately, 
 and had thus an opportunity of learning how many a 
 genial quality made up the sum of his character, how 
 thoughtful he was for those to whom he was attached, 
 and mindful of little things which another would forget, 
 — to such a one it will appear a most natural circum- 
 stance that I should advert to him here, where every 
 path, and ravine, and mountain-top, and so much of 
 the cheerful past is connected with him and his society. 
 Those sojournings alone with him in the wilderness were 
 pleasant times. Extensive as was the chase, he knew 
 well all the localities even in detail, — no easy matter in 
 such a wild mountain range. The haunts of the game 
 were familiar to him ; and no forester knew better than 
 he, where at dawn or at evening, a chamois or good stag 
 was likely to be found. As I said before, he was a tho- 
 rough sportsman : it was not in the mere slaughter of 
 game that he delighted, but its pursuit by fair means, at 
 
338 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 proper times and seasons. A rare quality too was his, 
 he never begrudged another who knew how to appreciate 
 his good fortune a signal success in the chase, but on the 
 contrary was delighted at his luck, and always shared 
 heartily in his exultation. And the same feeling made 
 him allow me to plan my stalking expeditions, going 
 whither I chose, and staying out on the mountain for 
 days together. His love of mountain scenery was a 
 passion, necessary, absolutely necessary for his happy 
 existence; and his shooting -lodges on the hill-top and 
 mountain-side were sure to be built not only with re- 
 ference to the game, but on a site where some magni- 
 ficent view lay open before you, or a romantic glen could 
 be seen in all its wild picturesqueness. 
 
 His experience too in woodcraft, his recollections of 
 past times, when noble stags were shot in Coburg, Er- 
 bach, and elsewhere, — for in those days there were giants 
 in the land, — made him a companion from whom, on such 
 matters, much was to be learned. Nor on these alone; 
 for he had not only seen much, but had known the most 
 eminent men of his own most eventful time ; and his 
 reminiscences of the changes which had taken place in 
 Europe, and of the master-minds who had wrought or 
 had opposed them, made his conversation a singular en- 
 joyment. Would that I still could hear his voice, and 
 receive his friendly welcoming ! 
 
 End of September, 1854. It was getting late, and the 
 stars already began to twinkle brightly, as we entered 
 the narrow gorge between the high mountains that led to 
 the place of my destination. The road sometimes passed 
 close beside the mountain-stream, now wound through 
 the pine-forest, to avoid the torn-down banks and trunks 
 of trees which the devastating torrent had rooted up in 
 its spring-time violence; or occasionally even took us 
 
THE HINTER RISS. 339 
 
 over those beds of loose stones which give such spots so 
 drear and barren an appearance. Just before the even- 
 ing began to sink into deeper gloom, a large bird — a 
 cock of the woods or a black-cock — would rise from 
 the dense underwood, and scared flutter away to some 
 neighbouring tree. Soon however nothing was to be 
 discerned except the dark line of the mountain-ridge 
 sharply cutting the pale star-lit sky ; and the only sound 
 was that deep reverberation of the rushing water, which 
 may be heard so far off, and, in the quiet of night, 
 seems amalgamated with the very air, tingling and im- 
 bued with the sonorous monotonous sound. All space 
 was filled with it : it was on the mountain-sides, and 
 the hollow murmur rose to their lonely summits. 
 
 It produces a peculiar sensation to be moving thus 
 at night through such a gorge, locked in on all sides 
 by high dark masses that defy our scrutiny or any at- 
 tempts to choose a way save that which the gigantic 
 forms themselves prescribe. Being dark the winding 
 of the valley could not be discerned : before, behind, 
 around, all seemed closed; so that it even appeared as 
 though there were no outlet by which to emerge 
 again into our accustomed world. At length a light was 
 seen ahead ; and as the carriage rolled over the wooden 
 bridge, others made their appearance, and I soon recog- 
 nized amid the glare the well-known faces of my friends 
 the Jager, who had come out to see what belated tra- 
 veller had arrived at so unusual an hour. Then came 
 the pleasant welcoming, a question or two about the 
 stags and the chamois, and sanguine expectations of what 
 the next few weeks might see achieved. 
 
 In the morning a grand consultation was held. Being 
 the rutting season I asked about the stags. They were 
 heard, I was told, only at distant intervals ; and if du- 
 
 z2 
 
340 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 ring the night and towards morning a low bellowing 
 resounded across the valley, it would cease at daybreak, 
 and there was no saying when it might be heard again. 
 There never had been such a season as this. Stags, and 
 good ones too, were about in plenty : but if they were 
 silent, how was it possible to come up with them and get 
 a shot ? 
 
 " The weather has been very mild hitherto/' I said to 
 my good friend Hans, who had always been out with 
 me the year before ; " the season is advancing, and we 
 shall surely have a change before long. A clear cold 
 night, and you will hear the stags the whole morning 
 long, for certain. Where do you think were the best 
 place for us to try our fortune ?" 
 
 " Why, I should say 'twere best to go to Baumgarten," 
 replied Hans. " The ground there is good for stalking, 
 and moreover not a shot has been fired there yet. It 
 has been kept quite quiet. And there are some good 
 stags there too/' he continued, with a movement of the 
 head that indicated the word " good " meant something 
 really superlative. " Franzl was there lately, and saw 
 two, — both of them stags of twelve, and perhaps more. 
 But such antlers ! If you could get a shot at them you 
 would be pleased indeed, that I'll answer for." 
 
 That night the weather changed. Thick mists came 
 sailing along between the mountains, shutting out every 
 object from the sight. Then the rain began to pour in 
 torrents, changing soon after to hail, and finally becom- 
 ing a blinding snowstorm. Through the impenetrable 
 gloom nothing was visible. Day and night this cheer- 
 less weather lasted, and there was nothing to be done 
 but fling an additional log on the fire and wait for better 
 days. At moments a rent would show itself in the lazy 
 mist j and then the head or shoulder of the opposite 
 
THE HINTER HISS. 341 
 
 mountain would appear, all white in its robe of snow. At 
 last it cleared up, and a blue sky shone brightly over 
 the whitened fir-trees and the dazzling craggy peaks. 
 So we got ready for our departure. 
 
 As the place we were going to was some distance off, 
 it would be necessary to remain absent about four days, 
 and accordingly a stock of bread and coffee and sugar, 
 with a couple of bottles of wine, were put into our 
 rucksacks. We set off in the afternoon, and soon leav- 
 ing the road, turned aside into the wide bed of a 
 mountain torrent. This Lechbach is one of the most 
 destructive of the streams that pour down their waters 
 to the vale. All around it is desolation. Year after 
 year it carries away the bridge that here spans its bed : 
 for though built with all possible forethought, and 
 though protected by raised dams of large stones, with 
 whole trees for beams, firmly bound together, as soon 
 as the snows melts, the Lechbach comes leaping down, 
 and with one sweep hurls the strong pile away. A nar- 
 row path, broad enough for a single person to walk along, 
 has been cut in the hill-side ; and for nearly two hours 
 we kept on mounting, being all the while within the 
 gorge formed by the waters during many ages. When 
 at last you reach the ridge overlooking the scene below, 
 then it is you see how great the havoc and destruction ; 
 and how the waters, like the scathing fire on the prairie, 
 lay waste all that comes across their path. Not a patch 
 of soil is left on which a shrub could vegetate : a bare 
 waste of stones and sand alone lies bleaching in the sun. 
 
 Having reached the ridge, we came upon a vale formed 
 by a dip in the mountains. In summer this spot must 
 have been enlivened by the herds sent up here for the 
 pasturage; but now the huts were empty, and the 
 ground covered with snow. Here we began to descend, 
 
342 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and following the channel of a stream soon came to a suc- 
 cession of huts, which, late as it was, had not yet been 
 deserted by the Senner. The huts found in these remote 
 places are very different from those around Berchtesga- 
 den or Baierisch Zell. Such are neat, clean, and pretty; 
 and often indeed will fully satisfy those idyllic expecta- 
 tions with which many a tourist sets out to visit them. 
 In these, too, you always meet dairy-maids :* here only 
 Senner are to be found, — men who at first sight look 
 something between a bandit and a savage, with much 
 of both in their dwelling and mode of life. A person not 
 accustomed to these huts would start on being told that 
 it was here he must take up his quarters for the coming 
 week. But you get accustomed to the semi- civilized life, 
 and to the discomforts which, at first, seem to meet you 
 at every turn ; and soon invent clever contrivances, and 
 learn to prize the little conveniences your ingenuity has 
 supplied. 
 
 * It is impossible not to smile on reading the following note, apnt 
 by a Sennerinn from her hut on the mountain to the apothecary inthe 
 
 little town of . In spite of her demand for rouge — to win more 
 
 surely, perhaps, some truant-lover — there is something very unsophisti- 
 cated in the coaxing epistle ; and, being in ignorance of the name and 
 application of what she asks for, she in it betrays her thorough simpli- 
 city : — 
 
 " Ich mochte gern ein solches Ding Wie es so einige Frauen haben 
 die gar so Schon roth aussehen wir nahnen (nennen) sie halt den an- 
 strich oter (oder) zinober wie man es nenen soil sie sollten mir aber das 
 rechte geben sie mochten aber so gut sein und es darin Schreiben wie es 
 sol angewented werten und ich werte inen (ihnen) dafur zur rererung 
 (Erinnerung) Etelweis steckel schiken." 
 
 Of the above, which is an exact copy of the original, the following 
 is a pretty fair translation : — 
 
 "I should like to have that sort of thing that some women have 
 who look so lovely red we call it the paint or vermilion as they say 
 but you must be sure to send me the right but you must be so good and 
 write inside how it is to be used and I will send you in l'emembrance a 
 posy of edelweis." 
 
THE HINTER RISS. 343 
 
 These dwellings are mere log-huts, in one corner of 
 which, beside the entrance, there is a sort of hole 
 about a foot deep. This is the fireplace. A few stones 
 are piled around it, to protect the wooden walls from the 
 blaze, while it is on the ground itself that the fire is 
 lighted. You sit on the floor of the hut, with your feet 
 on this rude hearth ; and the smoke — for there is no such 
 thing as chimney — curls round your face, often causing 
 your eyes to burn and tingle. This is the place of re- 
 sort for whoever has an idle moment : he steps down in 
 the little pit, warms his bare knees at the cheerful blaze, 
 fills his wooden pipe for the hundredth time, takes in his 
 hand a red-hot cinder which he presses into the bowl, 
 and then puffs away until the hour for milking or some 
 other duty has arrived ; unless drawn away beforehand 
 from his ingle nook by the appearance of a goat or a 
 cow looking in at the doorway, when up he jumps, and 
 with screams and threats and denunciations scares the 
 animal back again to the pasture. 
 
 The rafters and all the upper part of the interior are, 
 of course, blackened by the smoke. Dust and dirt lie 
 thickly on every spot. A door at the back leads to a 
 cellar, generally a few feet lower than the floor of the 
 outer dwelling, where the cheeses and pans of milk are 
 kept. Here all is clean. 
 
 The sole furniture of the hut we stopped at consisted 
 of two large iron frying-pans and six battered iron spoons, 
 for everybody's use, which a strip of tin kept in their 
 places on one of the logs j nst above the hearth. A large 
 pail of fresh water is always to be found standing against 
 the wall, with a small wooden bowl or copper ladle hang- 
 ing near, out of which each comer drinks when hap- 
 pening to be athirst. In the cellar, beside the milk and 
 cream, are mountains of butter on clean wooden platters : 
 
344 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 a sack or bowl full of flour will also be found there ; and 
 this completes the stock of food which the herdsmen 
 have for their subsistence. One of the men attends to 
 the in-door work and household duties, among which 
 cooking and the business of the dairy hold the chief 
 place. With no other ingredients than flour, milk, 
 and butter, it would be difficult to introduce much va- 
 riety into the cuisine ; and yet the everlasting schmar- 
 ren is changed occasionally for dumplings, made in the 
 palm of the hand with curds, and fried in butter ; and 
 where bread is to be had, a " Milk Suppe " will be cooked 
 today instead of the old dish of yesterday. A bowl of 
 milk during or after the meal supplies the place of beer 
 or wine. Thus three times a day, for six months or more, 
 they have this simple but nutritious diet. 
 
 As we passed a hut we stopped to ask the. herdsman 
 if he had heard any stags that morning. " Yes, faith ! w 
 was the reply ; " heard them and seen them too. Last 
 night they made such a noise, there was no possibility of 
 getting to sleep. Just before daybreak they must have 
 been quite low down and near the hut ; and a rare bel- 
 lowing it was. Up yonder to the left, on that green 
 slope below the trees/' he continued, pointing upwards 
 to a spot above a deep ravine, ' ' there pretty nearly every 
 day I've seen a good stag moving about. This morning, 
 His true, he was not there, but tomorrow he 's sure to 
 come. As to stags, there are plenty about here." 
 
 " What say you to remaining here, instead of going on 
 to the other hut ?" asked my companion of me. "As the 
 stags have been heard here, we have as good a chance 
 as if we go further." 
 
 I agreed to remain, so we entered, and began to 
 unpack the contents of his rucksack. Seated round 
 and over the fire were four men, bare-legged from the 
 
THE HINTER RISS. 345 
 
 knees downward, their feet resting on the wood -ashes, 
 occasionally using them as pokers to move the embers. 
 Besides the short breeches they each had on a coarse 
 sackcloth shirt, open at the chest, and nearly as black 
 as the charred beams and rafters. When it or the per- 
 sons of the wearers had last been washed, is a question 
 which would have posed any of the company to answer. 
 Their memories would hardly have reached back to so 
 remote a period. Their long hair and shaggy beards, 
 their begrimed faces and uncouth covering, gave them cer- 
 tainly a somewhat savage look ; yet they were friendly 
 and obliging, and were always ready to show me such 
 little courtesies as prove a friendly feeling and kindly 
 disposition. One in particular, who seemed to hold me 
 in especial affection, was always on the alert to do me a 
 service, which he invariably accompanied with a know- 
 ing shake of the head, a sly wink, and a smile so friendly, 
 that it would have made the swarthiest face look bright 
 and winsome. 
 
 Before making ourselves comfortable for the night, 
 Hans and myself went out to listen for the stags. We 
 mounted the steep for some little distance, in order to 
 get beyond the noise of the water below, which, rushing 
 over its rocky channel, entirely prevented any remote 
 sound from reaching our ears. Presently we heard a 
 low moan, which perhaps might have been unheeded by 
 one not accustomed to the peculiar, almost inaudible, 
 murmur. As we ascended higher it sounded most dis- 
 tinctly, — a hollow, dull, angry tone, which came from 
 the mountain far above us. Again the sound was heard ; 
 but this time it proceeded from another direction : there 
 was, too, a difference in the roar j it was in another key 
 from that which had first made us stand still and listen. 
 Thus we knew there were at least two stags about there. 
 
346 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 The stars were coming forth, the night-wind began to 
 be cool, and we went down again to the hut ; and taking 
 off our heavy shoes, sat round the fire. I soon set about 
 cooking my supper, and by eight o'clock was ready to go 
 to bed. 
 
 The cowhouse was on the other side of the pathway, 
 a few steps from the hut-door : so slipping my feet into 
 a large pair of wooden shoes lying near, I told Hans to 
 follow with a burning brand, and light me up the ladder 
 into the hayloft. Such a bed requires little prepara- 
 tion, and covering myself up with a wrapper which I 
 had brought with me, and getting well into the hay, I 
 was soon fast asleep. 
 
347 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 
 
 At a little past three o'clock the next morning I awoke, 
 and lay for some time listening to the distant roar of the 
 stags, sounding solemn and lugubrious as it did in the 
 silence of the night. Hans was soon stirring j and kick- 
 ing aside the hay, I groped my way down the ladder and 
 crossed over to the hut. My friend of the knowing wink 
 was already up, and sat, pipe in mouth, over the crack- 
 ling fire he had made for us. A breakfast of some bread 
 and milk, and then taking down our rifles from the 
 rafters of the hut, we slung the rucksacks over our 
 shoulders and set out. 
 
 We went straight in the direction where we had heard 
 the stag the evening before, feeling our way up the 
 mountain-side till we came to the wooded part. Here 
 we stopped to listen, for it was useless to go on without 
 some sound or token by which to direct our steps. We 
 sat down under a fir and waited. After a time we heard 
 above us a short, impetuous, angry bellow, and we in- 
 stantly rose and proceeded on our way, silently and very 
 quietly, yet with all speed. But the stag did not continue 
 to make himself heard : his roar was intermittent, and 
 at distant intervals only a low moan announced that he 
 was still there. We were obliged therefore to halt con- 
 
348 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 tinually, in order not to advance upon him unawares. 
 Now a louder roar told us he was near : and anon we 
 crept forward with redoubled quickness, but also with 
 redoubled caution. In mounting higher the ground be- 
 came steeper and more broken, and though it was broad 
 daylight, still it was difficult to advance among the roots 
 of trees and get along over the stones, without displacing 
 even a single one. 
 
 The stag was seemingly now quite close to us ; and we 
 got to a tree and awaited there what would happen next. 
 Straight before us the hill-side sloped steeply down- 
 wards, and there on the rising ground we knew the stag- 
 was. I could not see him, but I once saw the tip of a 
 bough bend, though not a breeze was stirring, and this 
 at once told me his whereabouts. Presently I could 
 hear the stag's footsteps on the stony ground, as he 
 moved about in his angry impatience, and signified so 
 much to Hans by moving my fingers over the ground 
 and pointing thither whence the sound proceeded. 
 Hans' s gaze was fixed across the dell. Suddenly he 
 looked at me, his eyes wide open, his lips moving but 
 uttering no sound, and with a slight movement of his 
 head indicating that he saw the stag yonder. — I looked, 
 but saw nothing. 
 
 " Fire ! " he said, in a whisper full of excitement. 
 " Fire ! there he is ! It's not too far ! Why don't you 
 fire?" 
 
 " Where ? — I don't see him." 
 
 " Up there, by the tree ! What, don't you see him ?" 
 
 I looked up to the stem of a tree standing on the 
 declivity, but could discover nothing. Hans meanwhile 
 was burning with impatience. It was indeed vexatious ; 
 for he, it was clear, saw the stag before him all the 
 while, and I was searching for him in vain. But pre- 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 349 
 
 sently looking downward, I saw the large form of the 
 splendid hart crossing slowly some ground uncovered by 
 trees or underwood. I raised quickly my rifle, but just 
 as it was at my shoulder the last of the stag was seen, 
 as he moodily passed into the bordering thicket. Had 
 I but seen him twenty seconds sooner, he would in all 
 probability have fallen to my shot. 
 
 "Of course you could have hit him," said Hans; 
 " why, it was not more than a hundred and twenty 
 yards ! — And we had stalked him so capitally ! Such a 
 chance too ! There he was before you all the while r" 
 
 There was no use in being vexed, or in telling my 
 companion that his "up over there" was the sole cause 
 of the mischance. We slid quietly downwards, and 
 making a detour, endeavoured to get below the stag, 
 who was moving but slowly, and thus try again for an 
 opportunity of getting a shot. We came upon an open 
 space covered with tall rank weeds and loose fragments 
 of rock, and saw several deer which already had got wind 
 of us, or had heard our movements. We stole back 
 again therefore, and, as there was nothing more to be 
 done, turned homewards. The hut where we were stay- 
 ing was so poorly furnished that not even an earthen 
 pipkin — no vessel, in short, except the two iron frying- 
 pans — was to be had. As we passed by another hut I 
 therefore asked the Senner if he had some such thing, 
 which I could borrow to make myself some coffee. He 
 had none either. " But," he added, " the man who has 
 the still/ about a mile from here, has a pipkin, — that 
 
 * In the mountains here, as in Scotland, you will often find in far-off 
 out-of-the-way places a rude dwelling where a spirit is distilled from the 
 roots of the gentian ; and not unfrequently the landlord of such little 
 tenement will be provided with luxuries you would hardly expect to 
 find ; such as a cup and saucer, sugar, coffee, and a store of Tyrolian 
 
350 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 I know;" and so off Hans set to borrow the valuable 
 utensil, that I might cook myself a comfortable break- 
 fast. He returned with a cracked earthen pipkin, bound 
 together by a thick iron wire. The coffee was now soon 
 boiling, and then warming some cream in the iron frying- 
 pan, with bread and large slices of fresh butter, I had a 
 luxurious repast. Sitting by the hearth, the floor of the 
 hut was my table ; but that circumstance in no wise dimi- 
 nished the zest with which I ate my meal. 
 
 Later I went out again, up to the ridge of the moun- 
 tain, and looked down on the other side for chamois. 
 But not one, not even a trace of one in the snow was to 
 be seen. 
 
 Now and then that evening, and during the night, a 
 stag might be heard at intervals, but not continuously, 
 as is the animal's wont at this particular season. This 
 year, indeed, the rutting had a peculiar character, dif- 
 ferent from any preceding years ; for even though the 
 nights and mornings were cold and frosty, the occasional 
 bellows of two or three harts might be heard only just 
 before daybreak, and then perhaps for the rest of the day 
 hardly once to be repeated. At other times the stags, 
 when they had hinds with them, were never quiet for 
 a moment : their voices re-echoed from the hills, while 
 now scarcely one was uplifted in the solitude. From 
 afar, indeed, if you listened with most attentive ear, 
 might be caught occasionally a low rumbling as of dis- 
 tant thunder; but even this soon died away, like the 
 faint mutterings of a retreating storm. 
 
 The third morning we went out again in another direc- 
 tion. It was early, and very dark, and Hans went be- 
 fore with a bundle of thin strips of resinous wood in his 
 hand, which nickered and flamed brightly, and threw a 
 wild glare around our path. And now we reached the 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 351 
 
 brook that came clashing and roaring over the stony frag- 
 ments in its channel : there a light was very necessary. 
 I could not help stopping for a moment to enjoy the 
 picture before me. My companion in advance was stand- 
 ing on the stones in the middle of the torrent, waiting 
 for me to follow. The crackling flambeau threw a red 
 gleam on his countenance and his bare knees, while all 
 the opposite side of his tall spare figure was in deep sha- 
 dow. Stepping from stone to stone, we crossed the brook 
 and wound up the steep ascent. Beyond our own im- 
 mediate circle there was utter darkness : now and then 
 the bright flame illumined the trunk and the gloomy 
 foliage of a fir-tree as we passed, spreading like a black 
 pall over our heads. The lurid glare made the night 
 which was beyond seem unfathomable. A dead branch, 
 a bleached ghost-like trunk, would start suddenly into 
 existence, and then as suddenly recede and vanish, swal- 
 lowed up again by the pursuing shadows that, like a 
 hungry pack, followed on our steps. Add to this the 
 stillness which brooded over the earth at that hour, — 
 for the torrent now reached our ear but as a low hum, 
 and rather harmonized with, than disturbed the solem- 
 nity, — and it will be understood that the scene was one 
 to arrest the attention of even the least impressionable. 
 
 But it was time to quench the flame of the burning 
 wood, for we were getting near the covert, and more- 
 over a dim grey began to be interwoven with the black- 
 ness in which we had hitherto been enveloped. To the 
 right was a wooded slope, between which and us there 
 lay a deep ravine ; and across it now came the hoarse 
 tones of a stag. 
 
 " That's the same one we heard the day before yester- 
 day : there is no mistaking his voice," said I. 
 
 " And he must be a good one too, judging by the 
 
352 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 deep tone," answered Hans, " a much better stag even 
 than we first saw. If he keep about the same ground 
 a little longer, which he no doubt will do, we may ma- 
 nage to come up with him and get a shot." 
 
 We still listened, for it was a pleasure to hear the 
 deep roar. But in our neighbourhood nothing gave sign 
 of life. Hans proposed to go some distance down the 
 mountain-side, and then making a circuit to pass through 
 the thicket, and thus if any game were there, to drive 
 it towards me. I agreed to the plan. We looked for 
 a good place where I might take my stand. The spot 
 chosen was a very steep declivity, covered partly with 
 long tangled grass, and partly with large stones. At a 
 hundred and sixty or seventy yards below me the forest- 
 trees advanced from either side, and left but a small 
 space of open ground, which led down to a distant water- 
 course. Cutting down some branches, I made a sort of 
 breastwork to avoid being seen. But hardly was this 
 precaution taken, when a long cloud of mist came sailing 
 up from the hollow, and as it advanced shutting out even 
 the nearest objects from sight. I did not know whether 
 this vapour might extend further on or not ; and I feared 
 that if Hans continued his drive and the mist did not 
 soon disperse, a stag might pass without my being aware 
 of his neighbourhood. I therefore watched this filmy 
 yet opaque mass as it rolled along, now for a moment 
 growing thin as air and letting the blue sky look in, 
 and then taking threatening forms, flinging over very 
 object its damp and clammy shroud. In half an )-oiiy it 
 had disappeared. 
 
 I had waited an hour and a half, when at a good dis- 
 tance below me a patch of brownish-red colour, as of a 
 stag, became suddenly visible, — and it was one. The 
 antlers grew clearly distinguishable, and he came slowly 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. O06 
 
 on. I should have been glad if he had been nearer, 
 but still 1 was thankful that his movements were not 
 more speedy. T sat down, and putting up the sight for 
 a longer range, took deliberate aim. As he crossed 
 from the wood I fired. He stopped, looked towards me 
 astonished, and I saw by his manner that he was hit. 
 As he slowly moved on I fired the second barrel. He 
 stopped again, lowered his head, and then raising it 
 seemingly with an effort, gazed again and limped into 
 the wood. " The second bullet must have hit the left 
 shoulder ; *t was a good shot [" said I, congratulatingly to 
 myself. A deer, bewildered by the noise, now dashed 
 close up to me, then, scared by my presence, flew back, 
 and finally crossed whither the stag had gone. 
 
 Hans now appeared, and I hastened to rejoin him. 
 He too had seen the stag, and had watched him after 
 the second shot was fired. 
 
 " We shall have him soon, there's no doubt of that : 
 he 's ill enough already, but 'twill be better to leave him 
 to himself for awhile, and he'll get worse." 
 
 "Yes," I replied, "that was my intention, for we 
 have no dog with us, and must be careful," and I ad- 
 vanced a few paces on the stag's track. I had seen that 
 he limped, that he could hardly walk after the second 
 shot, so that I knew he was hit : moreover his whole 
 bearing, and the peculiar movement of his head, left no 
 possible doubt on the matter. It was not therefore as 
 an additional assurance that I looked on the ground 
 for blood, but from mere habit. Strangely enough not 
 a drop was to be found. 
 
 "No matter," said Hans, who had been searching 
 also, "he's hit, that's certain. "Far off he can't be: 
 let us sit down for awhile and then go and look for him." 
 
 I now learned from Hans that he too had observed 
 
 2 A 
 
354 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the mist floating upwards soon after lie had left me ; and 
 knowing that as long as it lasted I should see nothing, 
 he had waited quietly till the brightness re-appeared 
 before commencing to drive the forest. He always 
 thought about what he had to do ; I could safely rely on 
 his executing any manoeuvre with skill and without com- 
 mitting a blunder. He was ever ready to carry out any 
 of my wishes, and as to exertion he was indefatigable. 
 
 We waited what we considered a sufficient time, and 
 then v began to follow the slot of the stag. Over the 
 hard ground this was not so easy ; and when it was soft, 
 and on the grass, there were everywhere the traces of 
 the cows and heifers which wandered hither for pastu- 
 rage. It required the greatest attention to make out 
 and follow the right track : there were moreover the 
 traces, some old and others quite fresh, of other stags 
 in the mire, that had passed backwards and forwards 
 through the thicket. Sometimes I got on a wrong scent, 
 and had to double back again like a hound : the size 
 and peculiarity of the stag's hoof was to be well kept 
 in mind, in order to discover the right footprints among 
 fifty others ; and sometimes one which looked very like 
 that I was following would, on being felt, prove to be no 
 fresh impression, but two or three days old. Hans had 
 gone in another direction. I had made out the track as 
 far as a wet meadow, and over a steep bit of clayey 
 ground. Here the stag had evidently slipped — slipped 
 with the forefoot ; and this made me feel all the surer 
 that I was on the right track. From here the bank 
 sloped down to the watercourse. Noting the spot I 
 went back to Hans, and told him I would not follow 
 further, but send for a bloodhound, and then we might 
 make sure of the stag. " For," said I, " if he is not at 
 rest, the dog will soon come up with him, and bring him 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 355 
 
 to bay. For us to follow him is out of the question : 
 where the earth is soft, all is trodden down with innu- 
 merable footmarks, and in the wood among the dead 
 leaves nothing can be seen. So I will go down to the 
 hut and send off at once to the forester." 
 
 On my way I met the Senner, who said congratu- 
 latingly, " I have seen your stag." By this I imagined 
 he meant to say he had seen him some time that morning 
 on a glade, as was often the case, when looking upward 
 from the valley toward the steep mountain-sides, " You'll 
 soon have him now \" 
 
 " What do you mean ?" I asked. 
 
 " Why," said he, "as I returned from driving out 
 the cattle, just as I was crossing the brook, there stood 
 before me — quite close — not further off than you now are 
 from me — the stag on the bank ; I could have caught 
 him nearly, and with a stick could have knocked him 
 down." 
 
 " But how do you know it was my stag V 
 
 " We heard your shots, and soon after down came the 
 stag to the water, and wanted to cross over to the oppo- 
 site wood. But he could not get along well : one leg 
 he drags, and there was blood, plenty of blood, on his 
 flanks." 
 
 " On which side ?" I asked, in order to see if he 
 were sure of what he was saying, and to test the nar- 
 rator. 
 
 " The left side," was the answer, which was that on 
 which I had fired. 
 
 " And his head," I continued, " how did he hold his 
 head ? Was it upright, and did he gaze at you ? And 
 when he saw you, how did he go away ? Very fast ?" 
 
 " Oh no, not fast at all. I might have overtaken him ; 
 and as to his head, that was drooping, hanging down 
 
 2 a 2 
 
356 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 low near the ground. He has tremendous thick ant- 
 lers . they are not high, but strong, sturdy things like 
 cudgels." 
 
 All this verified what I had thought about the stag 
 being well hit, and I now felt still more sure that with a 
 dog we should soon be exulting over the possession of our 
 booty. One of the men was therefore despatched with 
 an injuuction to make all speed. 
 
 " It is now half past ten : in six hours you can be back 
 again. Lose no time, and start." 
 
 " I shall be here before four," said the man, and was 
 soon out of sight. 
 
 There was plenty of time to think the matter over, 
 and for Hope to weave a brightly-tinted web represent- 
 ing the events that are likely to happen in an hour or 
 two ; but while mentally I saw all lit up by a vivid bow 
 of promise, the real clouds overhead gave signs of bad 
 omen. Low and scowling they came on over the hill- 
 tops, and presently bursting poured down a heavy deluge 
 of rain. Nothing could be more unfortunate : all traces 
 would be effaced from the ground and the scent utterly 
 destroyed. However to repine and be discontented is 
 always the worst that, under any circumstances, we can 
 do. Things might, after all, not turn out so unfortunately 
 as this change of weather seemed to indicate. 
 
 It is not yet four o'clock, and yonder comes the mes- 
 senger at a good pace, with Feldmann in a leash trotting 
 behind him. We were soon in the wood, and the blood- 
 hound was laid on the scent where the stag passed just 
 after the shot. He took it up readily, but he soon grew 
 cautious and occasionally was at a loss what to do. He 
 would stop at times and smell the bushes and low boughs 
 hanging near the ground bordering the path the stag 
 had taken. Thus he tested the correctness of the track 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 357 
 
 he was following, and verified also the assertion of the 
 herdsman that the animal was wounded on the left side ; 
 for it was on this side always that the dog raised his head, 
 cautiously and with no overhaste, sniffing a straggling 
 bramble or trunk of a fir. Eventually he led us to the 
 clayey spot whither T had traced the footprints, and near 
 which the peasant had met the wounded animal. Here 
 the dog was also at fault. We took him down to the wa- 
 ter-course : he led us some way up the brook ; but after 
 smelling about for a time he gave up the search. It 
 was too much to expect that under such circumstances 
 he should follow the slot : indeed what could he do there 
 amid the plash of those eddying waters ? The good dog 
 had done his part well ; and indeed it was most interest- 
 ing to watch him, now ardent and impatient, pressing 
 forward against the leash when the scent for awhile was 
 good, now carefully doubling and again going over every 
 inch of ground when at fault, and making sure he was 
 right before setting off in a new direction. 
 
 Indeed to watch a good bloodhound follow a wounded 
 animal, and observe how, if in difficulty, he seems to 
 weigh one probability against another, — to mark his 
 resources when at fault, and see how he will steadily keep 
 on the trail of the animal he is pursuing even though 
 crossed quite freshly by others, — this is one of the many 
 episodes in hunting life which are full of interest and 
 excitement. 
 
 However some resolution must be formed, and a con- 
 sultation was held. 
 
 It was the opinion of Hans that the stag, after being 
 driven back by the herdsman, had made a circuit, re- 
 turned to the brook higher up, and crossing it had made 
 for the forest. He was strengthened in his opinion by 
 having found some traces leading thitherward. Now I 
 
358 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 was not of his opinion ; urging that a stag, wounded as 
 this one was, would not seek the high ground ; and I did 
 not believe, lame as he was, that he could get up the 
 steep bank where Hans believed he had seen fresh traces. 
 That he sought the water was, I contended, quite natural ; 
 and, had he not been disturbed by the peasant, would 
 either have remained near the stream, or following its 
 course have got lower down into the wood at the foot of 
 a neighbouring mountain. 
 
 It was too late however to continue our search that 
 day, so we turned homewards. At the hat we found two 
 more keepers, who had stopped there for the night on 
 their way to some distant hills to look after the game, 
 and, if possible, drive it from the border. As we sat 
 over the fire that evening the whole affair was again 
 rehearsed, from the moment of firing the first shot till 
 we had lost all traces of the wounded animal ; and many 
 a sagacious question was put by one or the other relating 
 to something seemingly unimportant, but from which, in 
 reality, useful information might be educed. It would, 
 I think, have interested even one of the uninitiated to 
 have heard the various opinions as to where the stag 
 should be sought, with the reasons on which they were 
 founded ; based as these opinions were not only on an 
 attentive observation of the habits of red-deer generally, 
 but on the habits also of certain well-known individuals 
 among them. 
 
 " If it is the stag which, from the description of the 
 antlers, I think it is," said Franz, one of the jager who 
 had joined us in the hut, " then I have no doubt he is 
 gone back again whence he came, and is in the low wood 
 on the hill-side. All last summer that was the ground he 
 kept to : I have often seen him, and know him well. He 
 has short antlers, but very thick : he is a stag of ten, but 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 359 
 
 up to the points even the branches are thick and strong. 
 He would be sure to make for his old summer-haunt : it 
 is dense there and shady, and moreover he would have 
 water. Tomorrow when I see the slot I shall know for 
 certain if it is his : he has a long and narrow hoof and 
 very pointed." 
 
 " Yes/' I replied, " unusually long." 
 
 " That's the stag, you may be sure," continued Franz. 
 " There were two there a year ago, and the slot of each 
 was peculiar. I should know both again easily. One 
 of the stags disappeared, but the other remained, and 
 was always in the same neighbourhood. Besides, if he 
 is hit as you say he would never take to the high ground, 
 but keep in the valley." 
 
 Thus we kept on discoursing, as we sat all eight of 
 us round the blazing logs ; and it was resolved that 
 the next morning the wood was to be scoured in all di- 
 rections to find the stag, which it was not unlikely 
 might already be lying dead. It was long past seven 
 o'clock, and we began to think of turning into the hay ; 
 so leaving the bright fire we crossed over to the loft, 
 and scrambling up the ladder — Feldmann too managing 
 to mount — we were in a minute all ensconced in our 
 warm bed. 
 
 "When you stand on the mountain-side and see the 
 dark forest stretching around you, and call to mind the ra- 
 vines and gullies and declivities which intersect the wide 
 space ; and when you tell yourself in that tract before 
 you a stag is somewhere lying which you are to find, the 
 task seems a hopeless one, and you are almost inclined 
 to give up the attempt. My companions however were 
 confident of success ; and Franz and his comrade set off 
 to scour the woods in one direction, while Hans, who 
 
360 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 still clung to his former opinion, went upwards in a con- 
 trary line. I took up my station on a spot where, should 
 the stag be disturbed and come forth, I could not fail 
 to see him, and probably to bring him down. As I sat 
 there quietly waiting in the silence, I dwelt admiringly 
 on the energy and perseverance of my three companions, 
 gone forth as it were on a voyage of discovery. " I shall 
 go up yonder," Hans said on quitting me, " and pass 
 through that wood. I shall then come downwards, look- 
 ing well through the whole breadth of it as I descend. 
 If the stag is not there, you may be sure we shall have 
 little chance of finding him," thus working out for him- 
 self a way of many miles. Such a search is hard work; 
 but it was undertaken with a readiness that showed how 
 great the interest each took in its success. 
 
 However it did not prove successful ; and some hours 
 after I discovered Hans above me, forcing his way 
 through the branches, and the others soon appeared 
 coming up from the ravine. Thus passed another day. 
 Regret at losing so good a stag was felt by all, by no 
 one so intensely as myself; but it w r as one of those 
 unfortunate incidents which occur occasionally, baffling 
 alike skill, experience, and perseverance. Franz, who 
 was a good cook, now made some dumplings with curds 
 and flour; and before long we were all sitting round 
 the fire, the frying-pan on the floor in the midst, each 
 one with his iron spoon choosing the smoking brown 
 morsels which pleased him best. 
 
 I have been rather minute in this account of our pro- 
 ceedings, although they were followed by no result, in 
 order to show the mischances that attend such moun- 
 tain expeditions, the little incidents on which success 
 will sometimes depend, and the difficulties which the 
 vast extent and character of the ground bring with them. 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 361 
 
 The same excellent sportsman whom I have already 
 quoted, — Prince Leiningen, and who for a great part of 
 his life had been accustomed to mountain sport, — once 
 told me he had gained a conviction that mountain stags 
 were much fleeter in their movements than those of the 
 plain. This, he asserted, was especially observable in the 
 rutting season ; and he accounted for it from the cir- 
 cumstance that, the distances being so great, there was 
 so much more ground to be got over, requiring an ad- 
 ditional degree of speed in order to reach the various 
 spots within a reasonable time. The correctness of the 
 opinion was verified to me the following day. In the 
 morning, as we were on the point of starting, we heard 
 the loud, hoarse bellowing of a stag close to the hut. 
 Pie was so close indeed, that, but for the impenetrable 
 darkness, I could have shot him from the threshold. He 
 was still there some time after, when we went forth to- 
 ward the hill- side. Presently we heard him in front of 
 us, and then away to the right : anon he w r as further 
 ahead ; then his voice came rumbling through the pines 
 high, high up on the mountain ; and at last, after climb- 
 ing awhile, we could but just hear it, far away, — a low, 
 almost inaudible murmur. The space he had cleared in 
 that short time was quite extraordinary. 
 
 I determined to try for this stag, and continued to 
 ascend. At last the bellowing grew more distinct, and, 
 no longer continuing to recede, was heard proceeding 
 from the same spot. The stag, which before in passion- 
 ate impatience had been scouring the whole mountain 
 in search of deer, had now, it seemed, found some, and 
 consequently remained where they were. We got nearer 
 and nearer, and the stag's voice now reached our ears 
 with delightful distinctness. His occasional low mut- 
 tering even could be plainly heard. Now there came a 
 
362 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 groan, rising as it seemed from the very inmost depths 
 of his body, followed by a short, quickly -repeated, loud, 
 angry snort, — impetuous, defiant, with all the madness 
 of voluptuous rage. Then all was still. I now felt sure 
 that we should be able to get near him. For although 
 as yet no creature was to be seen, I could easily picture 
 to myself all the dalliance, and behold with mental vision 
 the now-appeased wooer triumphant in the middle of his 
 serai 1. 
 
 " Hist ! I see him \" whispered Hans, bending down 
 to the earth, cautiously turning to see that I too com- 
 pressed myself into the smallest dimensions possible. 
 " Lie down, lie down ! don't lift your head ! He has 
 several deer with him, and they are looking this way." 
 
 The spot where we were was a very steep Lahne, in 
 the middle of which a sort of gutter had been formed by 
 the rains : letting ourselves slide into this, up we went 
 on hands and knees till we reached the ridge. A mighty 
 fir had been torn oat of the soil by some tempest, and 
 lay there, forming an excellent shelter behind which we 
 could watch the deer grazing quietly on the slope oppo- 
 site ; while between them and us was a dip in the hill of 
 some hundred yards, and uncovered by bush or tree. The 
 stag was stalking majestically about in the background. 
 
 While thus watching, a chamois came bounding down- 
 wards from the uppermost ridge of the mountain, leaping 
 lightly over the latschen and then disappearing among 
 them. Hans had not observed him. I pointed to the 
 spot and told him of the circumstance, which was strange 
 enough ; for in that neighbourhood we had not expected 
 to find a single chamois. At all events we felt certain 
 it must be a buck, strolling thus alone quite away from 
 the herd. For a time we saw nothing more of him, and 
 continued watching the movements of the stag. Pre- 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG: 363 
 
 sently, on turning my eyes, I saw just above me the head 
 of the chamois projecting beyond the latschen, and look- 
 ing with an inquisitive stare at the two human beings 
 he thus unexpectedly had chanced upon. His surprised, 
 droll face made me smile, and I touched Hans, that he 
 too might see him. "It's a buck," he said under his 
 breath ; " quick ! fire !" 
 
 I did so, and the animal turned and disappeared. But 
 he was hit, and we saw him some minutes afterwards 
 about a hundred and sixty yards off. Another shot, and 
 we were soon beside him, as he lay stretched out on the 
 grass. 
 
 " A very fair buck," said Hans, looking at him as he 
 lay before us ; and both were satisfied that it was a buck. 
 We now turned over the chamois to clean him, when 
 to the surprise of both we found it was a doe, — a yeld 
 one and very old, and of a most masculine appearance. 
 Not only was the head very male-looking, but along the 
 back was a ridge of long hair, usually to be found only 
 in bucks. The horns were corrugated and covered with 
 resin, indicating the very respectable age of their pos- 
 sessor. 
 
 We had one day passed before the hut, where it had 
 been first our intention to take up our quarters. There 
 was a Sennerinn here, which was rather unusual, and she 
 with her two brothers attended to the cattle and dairy. 
 I very much doubt whether a person to whom the un- 
 becoming dress which the women on the mountains fre- 
 quently assume was unfamiliar, would, at first sight, 
 have recognized the sex of the individual in question ; 
 and yet she was womanly in demeanour, despite her 
 horrid costume, and she had a pretty smile and a mild 
 blue eye. Happily too — for there is nothing so disgust- 
 ing as dirt in a woman — her face was clean and bright ; 
 
364 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and her hands, I observed, were always washed before 
 meals. Equipped as she was in full male attire, so that 
 at a short distance I could not distinguish her from her 
 younger brother, she needed this palliative of cleanliness 
 to lessen somewhat my unconquerable distaste to her mas- 
 culine attire. 
 
 In such out-of-the-way places you may often perceive 
 a human form stalking along the hill-side, which you 
 very naturally take for the herdsman. On approaching 
 the Esquimaux-looking figure — Esquimaux-like both in 
 filth and dress — you perceive it is not a man, and yet 
 you can hardly bring yourself to believe that the rotund 
 bundle before you has any claim to the name of woman. 
 It seems to you such a sad desecration ; and indeed it is 
 so, for every appearance of womanhood is gone.* 
 
 On leaving this dwelling I could not help exclaiming 
 to Hans, " What a nice hut ! Why it has a table ! did 
 you see it ? And there is even a sort of bench to sit on ; 
 — it looks quite comfortable." 
 
 The thing was, our present abode was so rude that 
 even this trifling accommodation of a board on four legs 
 as a seat, seemed to me a luxury. The interior of the 
 hut was also neater than the one where we were staying, 
 owing probably to the presence of the Esquimaux-look- 
 ing sister. 
 
 Thus, after all, comfort, like happiness, is quite a re- 
 lative idea. Had I seen this out first, with its poor 
 contrivances, it would not have seemed to promise great 
 things ; while now I was really anxious to remove to it, 
 in order to profit of its superior accommodation. And 
 
 * It need hardly be said that this dress is assumed for convenience 
 sake ; as the woman's usual attire would be but little adapted for the 
 mire of the cowhouse, or the dews and plashy meadows and tangled 
 underwood of a mountain sojourn. 
 
TRACKING THE WOUNDED STAG. 365 
 
 we did so ; taking care to carry the cracked pipkin with 
 us, for my coffee ; for here nothing was to be had for 
 cooking but the usual iron frying-pan. In this Franzl 
 made a savoury mess of the chamois liver, and, with 
 some potatoes brought up from the valley, we had a per- 
 fect feast. The table was hardly larger than the frying- 
 pan which was placed upon it, but still it was a table ; 
 and as we sat round the iron vessel, all eating out of it 
 at the same time, the additional comfort of such a piece 
 of furniture was indeed most enjoyable. 
 
 I had almost forgotten, however, to speak of something 
 we had here which was really a great luxury, — a light. 
 There was a small oil-lamp, throwing out as much bright- 
 ness as a rushlight ; and by thrusting a lath into the cre- 
 vices of the wall, 1 made a bracket just over our supper- 
 table, on which the lamp was placed. The reader may 
 think this a mere trifle : however it is not so ; for it is 
 inconvenient to be obliged to carry always a lighted piece 
 of pine- wood aoout with you, or to hold it in one hand 
 while with the other you eat, if desirous of not taking 
 your meal in darkness or twilight. To sit there, in the 
 fullest sense of the words, " at table," with a lamp to 
 light us, was in truth as much as the most exigent could 
 require. We were very comfortable ; my only fear was 
 that the little tin lamp might suddenly tip over and 
 tumble into our frying-pan. 
 
 I went out again, but was unable to get a shot ; there- 
 fore after five days' absence I returned home. 
 
366 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 THE KARWENDEL MOUNTAINS. 
 
 The weather being favourable, I started with my trusty 
 companion for the Eng, a narrow valley between high 
 and abruptly-rising mountains at some distance off. We 
 left soon after noon, and the evening was just setting in 
 when we saw a light twinkling through a crevice in some 
 hut, and knew we had arrived at our destination. The 
 dwellings here are much the same as those where we 
 had lately been. I had been here before, and was there- 
 fore prepared for their primitive arrangements. 
 
 Day was already coming up over the snowy tops of 
 the mountains opposite when we went forth next morn- 
 ing. On going further we reached a knoll at the outlet 
 of the valley, and here the grandeur of the scenery 
 showed itself in all its vastness. Before us rose the 
 peaks of the Karwendel, broken, sharp, and jagged, — a 
 ridge impracticable save for the eagle or vulture. The 
 mountain was a stupendous barrier : on the right it took 
 a semicircular sweep, hemming you in and shutting out all 
 hope of egress, — no possible outlet, visible at least, any- 
 where. It seemed like the boundary of a world, and 
 yet just below on the other side lay the Tyrol, the lovely 
 valley of the Inn. 
 
 The scene is the more striking, because you come upon 
 
THE KARWENDEL MOUNTAINS. 367 
 
 the grandeur and desolation quite suddenly, emerging 
 as you do from between the rocks of the picturesque 
 pass. 
 
 The huge shoulders of the mountain receded gradually 
 a considerable distance, forming large plains of snow, 
 dazzling and resplendent with the brilliancy of the rising 
 sun. From out this high frozen field rises suddenly the 
 precipitous wall that forms the torn and blasted crest, 
 which even the boldest climber could never reach. Over 
 the cold wide expanse brooded that awful silence which 
 always reigns in mountain solitudes. The very sharp- 
 ness of every outline against the blue sky, the distinct- 
 ness in which the whole is spread before you, added, I 
 thought, to its character of desolation and loneliness. 
 There was no blending anywhere — nowhere a shadow: 
 there was no room left for self-delusion. You were 
 shown clearly and unmistakably that not a single thing 
 had there a being; and while the glaring light disco- 
 vered every part it gave no warmth, but only showed how 
 frigid, and unsympathizing, and dead was all that lay 
 before you. Within the vast amphitheatre on the right 
 the ground was broken by great chasms ; and here all 
 looked very dreary. It was thitherwards we took our 
 way : it looked the more gloomy now from being 
 entirely in shade. Seating ourselves, we gazed down- 
 wards and around. We peered long into every part in 
 vain. " It's a strange thing/' said Hans ; " I would have 
 wagered anything we should have seen chamois here. I 
 was never here yet without meeting them. Two bucks 
 were here regularly for some time past, and now they are 
 missing ;" and he peered still more searching]? into every 
 recess, and up among the rocky shelves, but still in- 
 effectually. A long silence followed. " I see him \" he 
 exclaimed suddenly, putting up his telescope ; " there he 
 
368 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 stands on the field of snow, right in the midst. It would 
 be impossible to get near him, but we may drive him. 
 Come along, let us try !" and we descended the slope and 
 into the stony bottom. Here lay whole banks of earth 
 torn down by the floods, and fragments of rock and up- 
 rooted trees and bushes. Through these we went, and up 
 on the other side. Once here, what before had seemed 
 from a distance an even surface of snow, showed itself 
 full of rifts. From time to time we came suddenly on 
 a chasm, that descended straight down eighty feet and 
 more, and so abruptly, that the merest slip of the foot 
 would send you to the bottom. At best it was but bad 
 walking here. The slopes were so steep that in going 
 round them — for we were obliged to choose these places 
 and keep below the ridge, to avoid being seen — we were 
 forced to dig a footing with our poles for each coming 
 step as we proceeded, the snow being deep and not to be 
 trusted. Hans, who went first, would sometimes, if he 
 himself were standing firmly, thrust back his pole with its 
 iron point under my foot, in order to steady it and make 
 doubly sure, for now and then it was perilous work. Once 
 we went along a narrow path — perhaps eighteen inches 
 wide — worn in the side of the rock, just above a chasm. 
 The rock overhung the path a little, and at a turn pro- 
 jected so much that, the better to get by, I rested my 
 right hand on the jutting mass, as I bent my body 
 slightly outwards on the opposite side. Just as I was 
 turning I felt the rock I held by giving way. I had but 
 time to stand firm and quietly, and try to preserve my 
 equilibrium. Instinctively as the crumbling fragment 
 fell ; I guided it so as not to let it strike my chest or 
 shoulder, which would have sent me over; but caused it 
 to fall lower down, so that I was able to withstand the 
 shock. Down rolled the loosened stones, dashing over the 
 
THE KARWENDEL MOUNTAINS. 369 
 
 rocks below, reminding me where I should have gone if 
 at the critical moment I had been the least flurried, or 
 otherwise than collected and calm. The position was 
 rather an awkward one, and that Hans thought so was 
 evident by the anxiety with which he watched the re- 
 sult. 
 
 At last we reached a spot where I was to wait while 
 Hans returned the way he had come, and by making a 
 detour reach the extremity of the Kahr, as such spots are 
 called, and drive the chamois towards my resting-place. 
 It was a knoll about two hundred yards from the base of 
 the wall of rock. 
 
 " He will come along below the rocks, and at farthest 
 'tis always within shot. Keep a sharp look-out, but be 
 careful not to be seen. Make yourself comfortable, for 
 'twill be a long while before I get round." 
 
 " The wind," I said, " is now blowing down over yon- 
 der dip in the ridge, — that's all right j but later, when.- the 
 sun gets higher, and the wind comes from below, don't 
 you think the buck may remark it ?" 
 
 "No; the sun never shines in here. The wind we 
 now have will blow in the same direction all day. Come, 
 lie down," he continued, kicking away the snow, " and 
 above all don't raise your head too much. Adieu, and 
 Weidmann's Heil !"* 
 
 I took off my riicksack, in order to stretch myself upon 
 it, and wrapping my joppe closer round me, for I was in 
 a perspiration from our quick climbing, chose my place, 
 and lay down with my rifle beside me. It is always well, 
 when you are waiting at any spot for game, to recon- 
 noitre the ground, and to note the different places where 
 it is likely to come. By doing so you are not taken 
 by surprise when it does make its appearance, whether it 
 * Synonymous with " Good sport !" 
 
 2b 
 
370 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 approach over the knoll to your right, as you think it 
 most likely will, or even though it show itself emerging 
 at a greater distance from a hollow on your left. Having 
 acknowledged to yourself the possibility of its moving 
 along yonder, you are not flurried or anxious when you 
 suddenly do see it appear there, as you might be if the 
 distance had not already been measured by your eye. 
 The ground having been well conned too, you know how 
 far you may let the game advance without danger of 
 its escaping you by taking another direction. You have 
 also marked the spot where the stag or chamois will be 
 best seen and most exposed as he steps along ; or you 
 tell yourself, " If he come down yonder I will not fire, 
 but will wait till he reaches the opposite side, which is 
 so steep that he must go slowly in mounting it ;" and 
 thus you are not taken unawares, let the game show it- 
 self on which side it may. If you are lying down, or in any 
 unusual position, this forethought is the more necessary, 
 in order to be able to bring your rifle to bear on this 
 side or that easily, and without such a total change of 
 posture as to risk frightening the animal. To turn your 
 head even would sometimes not be permissible. You 
 must therefore manage your limbs and body so that, 
 whether standing, seated, or lying down, directly the 
 creature is seen your bullet may fly to meet him. More 
 than one good stag have I lost by my carelessness, by 
 being unprepared for him when coming in a direction 
 other than had been expected. Indeed on this particular 
 subject, "The hunter at his post awaiting game," a long 
 and useful chapter might be written. 
 
 It began to get cold in that vast amphitheatre, sur- 
 rounded as I was by snow and ice, and the wind that blew 
 straight down upon me added to this feeling. When 
 Hans left me I had forgotten to look at my watch : it 
 
THE KARWENDEL MOUNTAINS. 371 
 
 seemed however a long time since he started. I could 
 not see him at a distance, though I carefully scanned the 
 fields of snow before me. After a time I grew uneasy, 
 and fancied that he might perhaps have missed his foot- 
 ing in returning by the narrow ledge, or had gone over 
 the brink of one of those yawning clefts which opened 
 here and there so suddenly. I waited, but still saw and 
 heard nothing. It was quite inexplicable ; for more than 
 enough time had elapsed to enable my companion to 
 make the round, and I ought to see him, at least from 
 afar. The buck too had disappeared. I resolved to wait 
 one hour more, and then, following Hans' s footsteps in 
 the snow, set out in search of him. 
 
 The time had nearly elapsed, when in the far dis- 
 tance, where the gloomy cauldron closed round, I saw 
 a black something which moved. Yes, it was a man, and 
 on closer examination I found it was Hans, carefully 
 descending into the hollow. It was a great relief to 
 know he was safe, though his appearance still so far 
 off puzzled me the more. I got my rifle ready, and kept 
 a sharp look-out ; trembling all the while with cold, and 
 partly may-be with expectation. Presently at a dis- 
 tance the old chamois came sauntering along over the 
 snow. He had seen Hans no doubt, but he was not 
 alarmed. On he came in the expected direction : I lay 
 close and watched him well. He suddenly bore for the 
 rocks, and instead of keeping on the broad snow-field, 
 chose to step along the slightly-projecting ledges, where 
 no animal but a chamois could find a footing. He 
 moved on, still very saunteringly, like the veriest 
 lounger who has nothing in the world to do. He Avas 
 further off than I had hoped he would be ; but, though 
 a long shot, he was within range. I put up a second 
 sight, aimed, stretched out at full length on the snow, and 
 
 2 b 2 
 
372 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 fired. At the same moment I felt that I had missed him : 
 and it was so ; — he gave a hound and disappeared. 
 
 Hans soon came, his honest face looking pleased and 
 inquiring. " He's not hit ; I know Fve not hit him." 
 
 " Where did he come ?" asked Hans, and we went to 
 the spot where he was standing at the moment I fired. 
 « H — m ! there's the mark of your bullet in the snow : 
 and here he stood. The ball must barely have passed 
 under his shoulder. A little higher only, and you'd 
 have had him. You ought to have hit him too at that 
 distance," he added, looking back to the knoll where I 
 had been lying, " for it's not so very far after all." 
 "I aimed just at the middle of his shoulder." 
 " Aye, but you did not make allowance for the wind 
 that bears right down from above here. Such a gust as 
 that presses down a bullet several inches ; and if you did 
 not allow for it, no wonder you missed." 
 
 He now told me why he had been so long absent. 
 After going round and descending into the hollow, he 
 looked for the chamois at the place where he had first 
 seen him, but he was gone. He examined attentively 
 every spot, and at last saw far away behind him, at 
 the very further end of the hollow, a chamois at rest 
 on a ridge of rock. It was probably not the one we 
 had first seen. He had therefore to retrace his steps, 
 mount the opposite hill, and thus come down upon the 
 buck so as to ensure his moving off in my direction. 
 After hearing how much trouble he had taken, I was 
 doubly sorry it should have been to no purpose. 
 
 We now went higher up towards a point whence a look 
 might be obtained over another wide expanse. In going 
 along we saw a bridge of solid ice thrown across a wide 
 cleft. The arch was of considerable span and height, and 
 had a curious as well as bold appearance. 
 
THE KARWENDEL MOUNTAINS. 373 
 
 It was hard work wading upwards through the snow, 
 and by the time we reached our destination I was fairly 
 tired out. Nothing was to be seen to reward us for our 
 pains. Stretching away to the right, the snowy slope 
 rose in a bend to the ridge of the mountain. We de- 
 termined to return. At this moment I observed a black 
 speck or two in the distance, motionless on the white ex- 
 panse. Presently one speck moved, and then another. 
 They were chamois. I pointed them out to Hans, who 
 asked if I would go after them. It was a great way up : 
 it would take nearly two hours. However we set off, and 
 after resting several times on the way, we got to a rock 
 behind which we thought the herd must be. Amid that 
 deathlike stillness the slightest sound would betray us ; 
 and at each step a stone rising through the snow and 
 meeting our heel risked to make our labour in vain. I 
 now advanced alone, and cautiously looked over the rock. 
 No chamois were to be seen, although the snow in front 
 was marked by their traces. The next moment a doe 
 with her kid bounded from a hollow and away over the 
 expanse. But where were the others ? I heard a whistle 
 and looked round just in time to see a buck standing at 
 gaze for a second, and then vanish. 
 
 Thus it is with the chamois hunter : he often spends 
 hours in toiling up to a desired spot and at last gets 
 there unperceived ; the game is within reach, the wished- 
 for object attained. A moment only and his finger will 
 have pressed the trigger ; but in that short interval a 
 something occurs that defies his precaution, the game 
 is already far off, and the labours and watching of half a 
 day have been in vain. 
 
 The magnificence of the scenery compensated me in 
 some measure for my disappointment. I had the plea- 
 sure too of falling in with a covey of ptarmigan, — a bird 
 
374 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 of beautiful plumage, being quite white except the fea- 
 thers of the wings, which are bordered with black. Ac- 
 cording as the moon is on the wane or is increasing 
 in size, so Hans asserted, do these birds lie quiet on the 
 snow, or rise before you can get within shot of them. 
 When it is nearly full moon, they are so wild as to be 
 quite unapproachable. 
 
 " Is it possible to pass the ridge, think you ?" I asked, 
 turning to gaze once more at the wilderness we were 
 leaving. 
 
 " Yes, it is just possible to get out by yonder rent, ex- 
 tending further downward than the rest. It is a narrow 
 cleft, and steep, but still possible ; and the poachers from 
 the Tyrol know the way and occasionally come across. A 
 year or two ago I saw one making for it, when stand- 
 ing where we are now." 
 
 " Had you never any adventures with poachers ?" 
 
 "Yes, once when I was going out before daylight 
 after black-cock. I had a lantern with me to show the 
 way, when suddenly some one gave me a tremendous blow 
 over the head, and jumping forwards caught hold of my 
 gun. Luckily I held fast, but we had a good struggle 
 together, during which some how or other his gun went 
 off. More than once I thought it would go against me, 
 but at last I got him down and wrenched my gun away." 
 
 " Did you never fire at one in any of your expedi- 
 tions on the frontier ?" 
 
 " No, never. I never shot one in my life ; and I am 
 very glad of it, for even in self-defence it is a thing I 
 should not like to think of. I could have done so more 
 than once, but I never did." 
 
 We reached the hut at last ; and putting our shoes 
 to dry, which, thick as they were, were saturated like a 
 glove, cooked some supper and soon went to bed. 
 
375 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 ON THE GEMS JOCH. 
 
 The sides of the valley were beginning to grow dis- 
 tinctly visible as we set out on our expedition. We 
 passed opposite a spot where, the year before, I had 
 climbed after a chamois; and now in looking at the 
 place from below, I Avondered how it had been possible 
 to get up there. We pressed forwards toward the bed 
 of a stream which had torn for itself a channel out of 
 the side of the mountain. Up this we went, stepping 
 from stone to stone as each rose out of the splashing 
 water. It was pleasantly cool in this watercourse, which 
 we were about an hour in ascending. We then crept 
 along till we reached the edge of a kahr, and taking 
 off our hats peeped cautiously down. Chamois were 
 there. Suddenly Hans sank to the earth, making his body 
 as flat as possible, and signing to me to do the same ; 
 while his eyes bade me look opposite, where on the sum- 
 mit of a rock — a pleasant green table-land — a chamois 
 was standing : a fine fellow he was too. With our chins 
 close to the ground, we wound our bodies backwards, till 
 a dip in the hillside prevented our being seen. 
 
 Resuming then a more human posture we consulted 
 on what was to be done. "That's a rare buck!" said 
 Hans, " and well worth trying for ; but how to do it, 
 
376 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 that's the thing. Even were we to go down again and 
 round the other side, all is so open there we could not 
 approach him." 
 
 " And he'll hardly come down and join the others/' 
 I said ; " he'll stay where he is, quite alone. But the 
 others, — did you see if a buck was among them ?" 
 
 " Yes, one was a buck, but nothing like him opposite. 
 However, if you like I will try to drive them, and it is 
 not impossible that he may join the others and come with 
 them. What is your opinion? Don't you think if I 
 get round and appear on the other side, they will pass 
 up here within shot ? They surely will never go up the 
 yonder, so come here they must." 
 
 I took the same view of the case as himself, for un- 
 less the chamois turned back, which was not likely, 
 they could not do otherwise than seek an egress near 
 to where we were lying. " Well, I '11 be off," said Hans, 
 "the sun is shining, so be careful not to let your 
 telescope be seen, — it glitters so. I remarked that the 
 other day, and such sparkling is visible afar, and would 
 be sure to be seen by the chamois. It will take me an 
 hour and a half to get to the summit, and about half 
 that time to come down again, so be on the watch then." 
 
 As Hans began toiling up the mountain, I could not 
 help thinking, while looking after him, what an indefa- 
 tigable, good-tempered fellow he was. No fatigue, no 
 difficulty or privation ever for a moment prevented him 
 from starting off to serve me ; and he was always cheer- 
 ful, never out of humour, even though I missed the 
 buck which after an infinity of trouble he had managed 
 to make move towards me. 
 
 It was a delicious spot where I lay ; I was comfort- 
 ably ensconced between two large stones, which, while 
 they formed a sort of easy-chair, screened me from the 
 
ON THE GEMS JOCH. 377 
 
 view of the bright eyes which were on my left. The 
 kahr where the chamois were, may be compared to an 
 enormous quarry ; but a quarry, be it observed, occupy- 
 ing the whole broad face of a mountain, and deep in 
 proportion to its breadth. On one side rose a vast steep 
 slope of rock, extending in unbroken surface up to the 
 topmost ridge. How great the height was, I first fully 
 comprehended when, some hours later, Hans appeared 
 on the summit, and his whole form showed itself in clear 
 relief against the sky, not bigger than an infant's. 
 
 Before us, stretching away in seemingly interminable 
 distance, lay the world of glacier and everlasting snow. 
 Peak upon peak, plain adjoining plain, rising and re- 
 ceding one behind the other, till at last the furthest 
 misty outline was so very far, that it was no longer 
 possible to say what was snowy desert or mere float- 
 ing cloud. Occasionally I turned to watch the buck on 
 the small table-land, enjoying the green pasturage ; but 
 once, when looking for him again, he was no longer to 
 be seen. He had found perhaps some shady nook, and 
 was enjoying the solitude. 
 
 At last I saw a small moving figure high up against 
 the sky, — it w ? as Hans. I watched him with my glass, 
 and could remark what caution was necessary in coming 
 down over that steep, smooth slope of stone. But why 
 come down there at all? Why not keep more away, 
 so as to come upon the chamois from the opposite side, 
 instead of approaching them thus? It was inconceiv- 
 able to me how Hans, who always showed such judg- 
 ment, could commit such a blunder. He was more than 
 three parts of the way down before the chamois per- 
 ceived him. As usual they stared, moved forwards un- 
 decided what to do, and then — to my astonishment, and 
 that of Hans too, for he stopped and looked after them 
 
378 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 with great surprise — dashed boldly up the face of the 
 rock, where we both had decided they would certainly 
 not go. But it took even the chamois a good time to 
 reach the summit, for to the very top they went, and 
 then disappeared over the other. On my companion 
 reaching me I learned why he had come at once over 
 the rock. He had seen chamois on the other side, and 
 had therefore kept this side the shoulder of the moun- 
 tain, in order not to be perceived. 
 
 We set off after them, and climbing down into the kahr, 
 and crossing it, mounted the green declivity still higher. 
 Advancing cautiously we approached the edge of the 
 chasm, and lying fiat on the earth looked over. Many 
 chamois were there scattered in various directions, but 
 all as yet beyond our reach. Two we marked as being 
 bucks. There was nothing to be done but wait, and see 
 if they came nearer. \¥e thought they would, and in 
 some hours' time, pass out of the hollow over the rocks 
 near where we lay. Hans meanwhile took an hour's 
 nap, and I dozed and watched the chamois by turns. 
 They strolled carelessly about, and as I observed them 
 hour after hour, I was convinced more than ever how 
 little foundation there was in the stories generally told 
 about the sentries and outposts that keep strict guard 
 against the approach of an enemy. 
 
 The sight and hearing of the chamois are so good that 
 they are in reality in little need of sentinels : they are 
 at all times watchful, and the sound that one of them 
 could hear would be heard by all. Nor would the taint 
 of human neighbourhood borne down to them on the 
 breeze reach one only, to be announced then by a shrill 
 sound to the rest. They all would look up and scamper 
 away at the same moment, as though an electric shock 
 communicated at once with all their bodies, the moment 
 
ON THE GEMS JOCH. 379 
 
 the current of air came rippling among them. There 
 would be no need, no time indeed, for any such an- 
 nouncement. The sharp whistle moreover is not in- 
 tended as a signal, for when the animal is quite alone 
 the sound is still uttered : it is rather an expression of 
 wonderment and of fear, — may-be also of displeasure. 
 A deer, if it come upon some strange object suddenly, 
 and quite unable to make out what it is, will gaze, stamp 
 on the ground, and utter a grating noise : and the roe 
 too, when very frightened, has a most discordant cry. 
 But these are all expressions of personal feeling, without 
 reference to others of the herd j though of course such 
 token of alarm uttered by one makes all vigilant ; and 
 though the rest see nothing, it will cause them to scam- 
 per away more scared than if they knew from what 
 they were running. In the present instance not one 
 was watching. 
 
 Quick as are the eye and ear of the chamois, these 
 organs may be termed coarse in comparison with the 
 sense of smell these animals possess. Watchful and alert 
 as they are, I have sometimes passed in places unob- 
 served by them, when they ought to have seen me ; but 
 never on any occasion did the slightest breath of air 
 flutter round or move only in a direction from me to 
 them, without their marvellously fine sense perceiving 
 it, and making them alive to the danger. I am con- 
 vinced too they rely for safety more on the sense of 
 smell than on that of sight or hearing. 
 
 At last three came nearer the rocks. " That first one 
 is a buck," said Hans; " don't you think you could hit 
 him ? it's not so very far. That other is a buck too, 
 but he is much further." Lying down at full length on 
 the ground, I tried my aim. " I think I can manage it," 
 I replied, and fired. " Well done ! he's hit, well hit \" 
 
380 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 said Hans, as the chamois made a few uncertain steps. 
 The other was still standing on the same spot as before, 
 looking up quite bewildered at the thundering report, 
 which seemed to shake the very sides of the vast hollow, 
 and was still heard faintly in rumbling echoes. I aimed 
 steadily, and taking him rather high in the shoulder, 
 fired my second barrel. He made one step forward, and 
 then rolled off the ledge where he had been standing on 
 the loose stones below, and continued thus rolling, turn- 
 ing over and over for about two hundred yards. But 
 the other though wounded was still on the move, out 
 of sight immediately below me. I quickly reloaded, and 
 stole some paces lower to look over the brink. There I 
 saw the head of a chamois in listening attitude, and the 
 animal was evidently undecided whether to come on up 
 the rocks or to retreat below. The horns were thick and 
 high, and believing it was a buck I had not yet seen, 
 waited to let him advance, so as to get a better shot. 
 Meanwhile a yearling buck sprang along the rocks not 
 twenty paces from me, and stood and gazed for a moment 
 in great amaze at the immovable human figure it had 
 suddenly alighted on. But I did not fire, waiting for, 
 as I thought, the third prize. By going down the rocks 
 some paces I got sight of the chamois, whose head only 
 I had before seen, and quickly firing sent him rolling 
 over. "That's number three," I exclaimed exultingly 
 to Hans, as the animal fell ; and I began to look for the 
 one I had first shot at. But my companion, who from 
 the spot where he was standing could see better into the 
 depth than myself, told me I had but two ; my first and 
 third shot having been fired at the same animal. This 
 was rather a disappointment ; however it was a pleasant 
 sight to see the two chamois lying stretched out on the 
 slope before me. 
 
ON THE GEMS JOCH. 381 
 
 We now clambered downwards, and crossed the geroll 
 towards our booty. "A good buck I" shouted Hans, who 
 was the first to reach the lower chamois, and on he hasted 
 to the other. After examining it I knew at once by his 
 silence it was not a buck. " 'Tis a doe I" he exclaimed, 
 " a very old doe ! There's not much difference between 
 them in size; and look at the horns too, how high they 
 are I" 
 
 We cleaned the two chamois, and slinging the ruck- 
 sacks which contained them over our shoulders, set off 
 for a hut that lay on our way homewards. 
 
 To cross geroll is at no time pleasant walking, and 
 when carrying a load a firm and. careful step is necessary 
 to get along at all. We returned by the way we came, 
 passing through the kahr where we had first seen chamois. 
 Here was a place that made you feel the difference be- 
 tween carrying a weight of some forty to fifty pounds 
 behind you, or having nothing at all to bear. The path 
 was a narrow ledge, and to get out of the kahr it was ne- 
 cessary to step on a piece of rock about as large as the 
 palm of your hand, and then swing yourself upwards. 
 There was no difficulty in the passage; but the dead 
 chamois pulled you back, and prevented the elastic bound, 
 without which you could not reach the spot for your next 
 footstep. 
 
 In about two hours we gained the hut, which was now 
 quite deserted. 
 
 The next morning betimes we set off, and reached 
 home in about four hours and a half. In crossing a 
 mountain-stream I nearly got a ducking. The mountai- 
 neers often throw a couple of saplings over the water, 
 from one bank to the other, and on these the passenger 
 is naturally obliged to move sideways, a step at a time. 
 Being young trees, they bend and rock at every move- 
 
382 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 merit you make. Moreover as you stand sideways, your 
 heels are on one tree and the forepart of your feet on 
 the other. Now if one stem happens to be weaker than 
 its neighbour, or if you press more heavily forwards than 
 in the contrary direction, or if you raise one foot rather 
 quickly, — if in short all is not kept in perfect equilibrium, 
 a jerk is occasioned by one tree or both, and your bend- 
 ing bridge of a few inches in breadth will inevitably play 
 — you such tricks that over you go into the rapid torrent 
 beneath. We had to cross such a bridge, and a day or 
 two before without anything at my back it was easily 
 accomplished ; but this time the additional weight made 
 the slender stem sink and rise again as if bent on mis- 
 chief, and now I was in danger of going backwards into 
 the water, and now forwards on my face. However 
 neither happened, and we reached home in right merry 
 humour and well pleased with our sport. 
 
383 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 THE TYROL. — SCHARNITZ. 
 (1856.) 
 
 Arrived at the Riss Thursday evening, October 16th. 
 Found the castle pretty full of guests, and for me a letter 
 from Prince Leiningen, who was on Sattel Eck. On Sa- 
 turday we go to the Wechsel. Many chamois pattering 
 on the rocks above our heads, but none shot. 
 
 Some days after to the Hagel Hutte, where we all 
 stay a week. Shot in the Todten Kar one good buck. 
 At dinner one day, the Duke proposed to me and G — 
 to go to Scharnitz and stay there as long as we like. We 
 gladly accepted the proposal ; for, in the first place, the 
 territory was new to us, and we knew that the features of 
 the country there were of the wildest character. More- 
 over, it was much more to my taste to go out stalking, 
 than with beaters to drive the game : for thus, much of 
 the charm is lost ; you are not dependent for success on 
 your own skill or venturous daring; and the thousand 
 incidents which attend your steps while approaching the 
 chamois, — all the breathless excitement of expectation 
 and disappointment, — these are in a great degree want- 
 ing when you have but to wait quietly at an appointed 
 stand. Stalking too might be preferred for another rea- 
 son : it causes less disturbance among the game ; and, be 
 
384 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 it never forgotten, quiet is the most essential thing to be 
 preserved in every chase. 
 
 The road through the mountains to Scharnitz lies amid 
 the grandest scenery. At the end of the valley called 
 the Eng, a rampart of silvery-grey rock, with zigzag 
 summit, rises to bar all egress in that direction. In 
 turning into the Karwendel Valley the same vast forms 
 are now on either side of you. The line of stone is only 
 interrupted by a rent in the mountain chasm, and you 
 are able to look up and into the awful hollow where De- 
 solation and Death seem to dwell together. There a 
 slope of loose time-bleached stones stretches from reced- 
 ing peaks down and down in almost endless sameness to 
 the foot of the mountain, and leads out of that crater- 
 like place, where the sunlight never enters, into the glad 
 face of day. And over the steep upland huge blocks of 
 glaring stone lie tossed about in disheartening confusion, 
 crushing and obliterating all vegetation, and testifying 
 to the fearful throes of some long-gone century. Per- 
 pendicular walls of rock, bare as slabs of marble, are 
 more frequent here than in the Hinter Riss. Here all 
 is wildness, and every rock you look on speaks to you 
 of convulsion, of fiery pangs and suffering. The gerbll 
 too extends here in much longer lines than in the Riss, 
 and there are few objects which impress so mournfully 
 as such tracts of barren stones. Being late in the season, 
 the herdsmen and milkmaids had all left the pastures 
 with their cattle, so that neither the cheery shout of the 
 peasant-boy nor the sound of the sonorous bells was 
 heard to enliven the valley as we passed. 
 
 Arrived at our little inn, after a walk of ten hours and 
 a quarter, the first thing was to consult with the keepers 
 about what was to be undertaken. As we sat at supper 
 our companions were watching with scowling glances a 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 385 
 
 party at another table; every word on the subject of 
 game was uttered in a low whisper, and we learned that 
 yonder in the corner sat a poacher, who would be on 
 the watch to catch up any word that might give a hint 
 of our intended movements. It was curious to see how 
 Bradler, who had himself been a noted poacher, watched 
 the others from beneath his eyebrows, casting glances 
 which, could mere hate kill, would have destroyed his 
 enemy over and over again. This keeper was, indeed, 
 the terror of all the poachers in Scharnitz, and there 
 were plenty of them ; for they knew his daring, and 
 were sure, moreover, that were they and he to meet they 
 need expect no mercy. He once heard a shot in the 
 mountains, and suspecting a certain cottager to be the 
 delinquent, waited near the man's hut at nightfall, to see 
 if he would return. He came as expected; but having 
 perceived in the dusk the dark figure against the white 
 walls of his cottage, flung down his rucksack and took 
 to flight. Bradler pursued him, but fell unawares down 
 a bank into the brook. He soon, however, gained on 
 the poacher, who turned and called to the keeper to stop, 
 or he would fire. For this threat Bradler cared little. 
 It enraged him the more; so rushing on the man he 
 knocked him down into the stream with one blow from 
 his rifle, rendering him for a long time insensible ; and 
 had the poacher not been dragged out of the water he 
 would inevitably have been drowned. A chamois which 
 he had shot was afterwards found in his rucksack. 
 
 " And if you call to a poacher to lay down his rifle/ 5 
 I asked, " and he does not, what then ?" 
 
 " Why that at once tells me what his intentions are, 
 and I don't wait long. Should I be near him, and he re- 
 sists when I take his rifle, and tries to wrestle with me, 
 then if I am not able to manage him I feel for my knife, 
 
 2 c 
 
386 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and stab him where I can. It will never do to trust these 
 fellows. While I was at Brannenburg a keeper lost his 
 life by such imprudence. He met a poacher, and called 
 to him : he did as if he intended to give himself up, and 
 when the other approached, attacked him. They strug- 
 gled together; and each making use of his knife, one 
 was stabbed in seventeen, the other in eighteen places. 
 Both staggered to a village hard by, and there, each in 
 his own house, they died within an hour of one another." 
 
 The following morning we three went out together. 
 On reaching halfway up the mountain, we saw on the 
 other side of a broad chasm a chamois grazing. 
 
 " He has something the matter with his hind leg," I 
 observed, after watching him attentively. " He tries to 
 spare it each time he moves." 
 
 After waiting half an hour to see what he would do, 
 he lay down. The spot where he was, formed a small 
 ledge, with a young birch-tree growing on it, about 130 
 yards below the ridge that overtopped the chasm. It 
 was a sure spot; so my companion retraced his steps, 
 while we lay down to watch his proceedings. After a 
 while I saw him opposite me, his figure diminutive in 
 the distance, creeping upwards. And now he is peering 
 over the brink into the depth below to look for the cha- 
 mois. It seems he cannot discover him among the thick 
 herbage, for the stillness is yet unbroken. But now the 
 report of his rifle crashes from rock to rock : he fires 
 again. We start to our feet, and see the chamois rush- 
 ing down the Smooth rock and coming towards us. 
 
 "He has missed him \" cries Bradler, and at the same 
 moment springs down the steep immediately before us, 
 to try and intercept the chamois. To see him make 
 this Curtius leap was really frightful. The declivity over- 
 grown with trees and bushes was most precipitous, and 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 387 
 
 where it abruptly ended there was the deep abyss. But 
 it must have been more frightful to look at than to do, 
 for dashing after him with my rifle in one hand and 
 swinging from branch to branch with the other, I was in 
 a moment at his side, and craning over into the chasm. 
 Down there stood the chamois amazed and bewildered. 
 
 " You might fire now I" cried Bradler. But to stand 
 upright on that slope was impossible, and without a firm 
 footing 1 could not fire. 
 
 " Quick ! lean against me I" said B — . " I 've got one 
 knee against this old tree-stump. I'm as firm as a rock ; 
 there's no fear, only lean !" And doing so, I fired straight 
 downwards, just as the buck was looking up to discover 
 what this hubbub could mean. " He's down ! Quick ! 
 There he is ! Don't you see him ? Close to that rock ! 
 Quick, another shot !" and I fired a second time. 
 
 My companion from his eyry opposite was now, in his 
 turn, watching our proceedings ; too far away however to 
 take any part in the affair. 
 
 " Now climb back carefully : only take care not to 
 slip," said Bradler, " and I will go round and get down 
 to the chamois." 
 
 He soon returned. My first shot had entered just above 
 the shoulder, and the second, further forward, had passed 
 through near the neck ; that of my friend had merely 
 grazed the skin. The cause of the animal's lameness was 
 now discovered, a quite recent shot — fired by a poacher* 
 — had shattered the hind knee-joint ; yet notwithstand- 
 ing this the buck had been able to pass down the steep 
 rocks with unabated rapidity. 
 
 We returned home, and an hour later my companion 
 came back, bringing a capital buck he had shot higher up 
 on the Bronnenstein. 
 
 No keeper having fired a shot there lately. 
 
 2c2 
 
388 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 For the following week it was arranged that one of 
 us should go to Gleirs Thai, and the other take up 
 his quarters at a hut in the Karwendel valley. On 
 Monday morning therefore I was up by half past three, 
 and at four was on my way passing along the banks of 
 the noisy Isar, which alone broke the stillness of the 
 bright starlit night. 
 
 It was about half-past seven when, as we were going 
 slowly up Gleirs, I suddenly saw a chamois, feeding right 
 in front. Bradler saw him too at the same instant. 
 Dropping to the ground, and as quickly as possible — for 
 there was no time to lose — I fired. The buck sprang 
 forward a few steps, and rolled on the earth. But what 
 exclamations of wonderment and gratulation arose when 
 my two men looked at him stretched on the greensward ! 
 He was indeed a splendid animal, jet black and with 
 hair some inches long waving down along his back in 
 the morning breeze. And how we passed our fingers 
 through it exultingly, and smoothed his glossy coat ! We 
 could not sufficiently feast our eyes on the sight. There 
 was no end to the delight. 
 
 " You may go out for many a long year," said Wrack, 
 " before you will shoot such another. I have shot five 
 hundred in my time, but have not yet seen one to be 
 compared to him." 
 
 He weighed, when cleaned, seventy-five pounds (Aus- 
 trian weight). 
 
 We left him hidden under a bush, and went on up the 
 mountain. Many chamois were to be seen, but it was im- 
 possible to get near them. They all moved away, and 
 one after another disappeared in the "Wand." Soon 
 after, when approaching this place, we saw a buck, at 
 rest on a small ledge projecting from the steep side of 
 the mountain. It was but little out of the perpendicu- 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 389 
 
 lar : the only places for tlie foot to rest on were the nar- 
 row prominences here and there where the strata were 
 broken ; much the same as if in the wall of a house some 
 bricks, carelessly laid down, were sticking out from the 
 rest. What made the passage more difficult was that 
 fresh snow was lying on the rocks, which not only caused 
 the footing to be less secure, but prevented you from 
 seeing what you had to tread on. But we got on 
 well some distance in the Wand; and with one foot 
 as firmly planted as T could manage, and leaning my 
 whole body against a heap of snow which had accu- 
 mulated in a nook, I fired, just as the chamois, sus- 
 pecting danger, had started to his feet. It was a long 
 shot, and my position cramped and incommodious, and 
 I missed him ; though by the hair found on the snow 
 where he stood the bullet must have grazed his body. I 
 was afterwards glad I missed, for had the chamois been 
 hit, he would have fallen to a frightful depth, and re- 
 bounding from precipice to precipice, would have reached 
 the bottom an indistinguishable mass. 
 
 Of all the difficulties a chamois hunter may have to en- 
 counter, the most trying is undoubtedly climbing along 
 a "Wand/' or wall of rock. Nerve is very necessary, 
 and a steady head and foot. Your position looks, and 
 in reality is, so fearful as you creep along some ledge — 
 seeming a mere speck, full-grown man as you are, on 
 the vast rock's face — that if you dwell on the thought, 
 and allow the peril to stand before your mind in its 
 reality, you must, I think, be inevitably lost. The 
 danger is so palpably evident to your senses : it stands 
 before you bare and in its very nakedness, that there is 
 no means of self-deception; and while clinging to the 
 rock's face, like a bird to a house- wall, you feel and know 
 you are utterly cut off and away from everything like 
 
390 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 help. Above your head, high, high up, nothing but bare 
 stone ; before you, on and still on before you, bare stone 
 again j and beneath, perhaps you cannot see to the bottom 
 on account of some projecting crag, but occasionally a 
 stone your foot has dislodged goes whizzing through the 
 air, and leaping over the promontory is heard, though 
 faintly, still rolling in the gulf below. How far down 
 it is ! How little every object looks at the foot of the 
 mountain ! Houses and trees are dots ; but up here all 
 is of tremendous size, — all except yourself, — and you in 
 your own eyes seem the very smallest of dots. Your ac- 
 tual position, moreover, is so peculiar. On one side of 
 you, — quite close, touching your hip at every step, — is 
 the rock, so that there is no room for free action there ; 
 while on the other is air, nothing but air, so that here 
 too, not having wings, you are shut in also. 
 
 Your disposition on the particular day or at the mo- 
 ment will often enable you to attempt such passage or 
 warn you to desist. What you may do today, you 
 may not be able to essay even tomorrow. You feel you 
 have not the heart to venture, nor do you. A few days 
 after going into the Wand where the chamois was, I came 
 by the place again. There were no chamois there ; but 
 by passing along the Wand and coming out further on, 
 I should have emerged in the neighbourhood of a herd 
 in front of me, and which it was impossible to approach 
 unperceived in any other way. But although the last 
 time I had gone on without a moment's hesitation, I 
 had not the least inclination to go there now : for some 
 reason or other I did not like it ; and the more I thought 
 about it the less it pleased me; so I turned away and 
 went on. The view from the summit of this mountain 
 is not only very grand, but is also peculiar. It is so si- 
 tuated that you see into the whole of the Leutash Vale, 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 391 
 
 towards Seefeld, and look down as well on the Hinter 
 Au Vale. All lies before your eyes as distinctly as a 
 map in relief. You see the mountain-chains diverging 
 from each other and forming new valleys : the moun- 
 tains themselves too are beheld from their very base on 
 the plain clear up to their summits. This point of view 
 is most interesting. 
 
 It was getting late, so Bradler went to fetch the dead 
 chamois, while we turned downwards in order to reach 
 the path before night came on. We sat down at a turn 
 in the road to await our companion, whom we at last 
 heard in the distance, the irons on his feet clattering 
 among the stones. He could testify to the weight of our 
 prize ; it pressed heavily on his back as he descended the 
 broken mountain- side. 
 
 The next morning we started again at four, and took 
 the same path as on the preceding day. We had seen 
 chamois, and as they were still on the mountain or among 
 the precipices on the north side of it, it seemed to me 
 there was every chance of getting a shot. We had more- 
 over arranged that Bradler was to go into the Hinter 
 Au Yale, which was at the foot of the Gleirsch Joch — 
 it was on this valley I looked down when in the Wand 
 the day before — and thence climb upwards through the 
 chasm to where we should be near the summit of the 
 mountain. If chamois were 'there, they would be dis- 
 turbed by his presence, and would move slowly for- 
 wards, and I should be enabled to get a shot as they 
 came out over the ridge. By one o'clock, when I ex- 
 pected to reach the top of Gleirs, Bradler was to begin 
 his ascent. When later I looked down into the abyss up 
 which he was to come, I sincerely repented the arrange- 
 ment, so truly frightful did the place appear. It seemed 
 an absolute impossibility for any human being to scale 
 
392 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 such towering heights of smooth rock. Yet he did so, and 
 seemed to think nothing of it. ". Only once," he said, 
 " he did not know how to get further while he held on 
 to the bare stone, and above and below was nothing but 
 the liquid air." The chamois came — fifty-nine of them 
 — slowly one after the other, but not at the place I ex- 
 pected, and so far off that a shot was impossible. 
 
 Later we saw a buck below us. Down we went, and 
 taking off our shoes crept over the stones towards him. 
 But there was no possibility of getting sufficiently near ; 
 and after we had watched him for an hour crouched 
 down on the ground, he moved away. 
 
 We now went to a hut lying in a deep glen beside a 
 torrent, that came tumbling in many a waterfall over the 
 rocks. It was a wild spot ; and later when Wrack went 
 out with a handful of blazing pine to light him, and the 
 red glare flickered over the foam, the whole had a Frei- 
 schiitz air ; and had the AVild Huntsman come yelling 
 through the air with his spectral crew, it would hardly 
 have been out of character. There was abundance of 
 wood, and our first act was to make a roaring fire, which 
 soon gave a look of cheeriness to our little dwelling. 
 Potatoes were set to boil, and from some mysterious 
 hiding-place Wrack produced a piece of chamois liver. 
 Here was abundance and luxury ! Meat even, which no 
 one would have expected. And a pitcher of delicious 
 water was fetched from the spring. We peeled and ate 
 our potatoes, fried the liver, sliced more potatoes into the 
 pan, and had a supper good as man could need. 
 
 What especially pleased me was the delight which 
 Wrack's countenance expressed at my satisfaction with 
 all his arrangements and cookery : nor should the thou- 
 sand little attentions he showed me be forgotten. He 
 did the honours of the simple dwelling with zealous and 
 
THE TYROL. — SCHARNITZ. 393 
 
 kindly care ; for lie considered this a duty that devolved 
 on hini, as for weeks together in the summer-time this 
 hut was his home. He had accumulated here all sorts of 
 useful articles, — pots and pans and pipkins ; and at hand 
 in a cellar was a store of potatoes, some carrots, and 
 even celery. It was a Robinson Crusoe sort of house- 
 hold, and Wrack himself was as uncouth in appear- 
 ance as the poor solitary could have been. But he took 
 thought of everything for my comfort, made a bed for 
 me with scrupulous care, and covered me over to ensure 
 my being warm enough, as tenderly as if I had been a 
 child. Yet he was a wild-looking fellow. Indeed his 
 very birth and infancy seemed belonging to a savage 
 state. He was born in a cavern below the rocks, 
 close to the foaming stream we had passed in the morn- 
 ing; and this place, reached by a ladder, was his abode 
 winter and summer for the first years of his existence. 
 Here, like the young goats, he had scrambled over the 
 rocks; and not having broken his neck or rolled over 
 into the stream, learned in time to pass along a pre- 
 cipice as fearlessly as over a bridge. He had lived in 
 the woods and grown up among the wild animals, and I 
 can well believe they were not afraid of him, but looked 
 on him as one of themselves. War was raging at his 
 birth ; foreign soldiery were pillaging and ravaging his 
 native village, so his parents fled from Scharnitz and 
 found an asylum in the cave, since called by his name. 
 
 Wrack's last service that night was to bring me a 
 draught of ice-cold water, and I soon fell asleep despite 
 the incessant tumbling and noise of the torrent close to 
 our dwelling. 
 
 At daylight next morning we started for the valley 
 leading to the Solstein, a mountain somewhat more than 
 9000 feet high. It is rounded in form, and of bare 
 
394 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 stone, without the slightest trace of vegetation. At 
 the foot of it we saw fifteen chamois, but after having 
 spent some hours in trying to approach them were 
 obliged to desist. Later we saw eleven, but they too 
 were unapproachable. That night we returned to the 
 hut, and the following day started for our old hunting- 
 ground, Gleirsch Joch. I knew we were certain to see 
 game there, and though the ground was most unfavour- 
 able for stalking, I still hoped to get a shot. On our 
 way we saw five and afterwards six chamois. 
 
 From a distance we saw the herd disporting them- 
 selves on the ridge, then disappearing among the pre- 
 cipices, then emerging again from the " Wand." Most 
 of them, no doubt, were on the ledges on the precipi- 
 tous north side. The only thing to be clone was to send 
 Bradler in where I had been a day or two before, and so 
 disturb the chamois and cause them to come out on the 
 summit. Downwards they were sure not to go. So I set 
 off for the place, and making a sort of screen before me 
 of the stones lying about, I sat and waited. By-and-by 
 I could just see on my right, above me against the sky, 
 a head or two and crooked horns. Then more and more. 
 The herd was moving, but unluckily instead of emerging 
 from the Wand where I expected they would, a little 
 further off in front of me, they were all making their 
 appearance so much to my right that I could but glance 
 at them from the corner of my eye, though at last I did 
 gently move my head a little more round. But to turn 
 so as to bring my rifle up to my shoulder was out of the 
 question. They would have been off and down the pre- 
 cipice on the other side in a moment. There they stood 
 on the sky-line, twenty or more together, looking down 
 towards me. I thought they would never have done 
 staring. Some strolled here, others there, but not any 
 
THE TYROL. — SCHARNITZ. 395 
 
 where I wanted them to go. How cordially I was abu- 
 sing them to myself all the while ! At last a yearling 
 buck thought he would see what strange animal had 
 come up into their haunts, and walked down to have 
 a better look at me. He turned his head to the right 
 and to the left, but it was evident he grew no whit the 
 wiser. Then he walked further down, and stopping op- 
 posite me stared full into my face. But he could not 
 make it out, for I was motionless as a stone ; my eyes 
 even did not move. He seemed determined to give it 
 up, and was moving, when, as I saw there was no hope 
 of the others coming in that direction, I fired at him. 
 He bounded away for a few yards, but soon I saw him 
 rolling over and over down the steep mountain, till 
 stopped at last by a stone. I went to fetch him, and 
 then up to the ridge. This was the highest point. From 
 here you looked down into deep craters, jagged, gloomy, 
 horrid. I stepped across to a narrow ledge, and holding 
 by a pinnacle of rock, got round it, so as to see down 
 into the chasm. It was a horrible place ; I do not 
 think I have seen any so frightful. From the spot 
 where I stood the rocks went down perpendicularly like 
 a shaft for 150 feet; a narrow, appalling descent. All 
 was calcined and brittle as if from fire, and crumbled 
 away in your hand or beneath your foot. Further out 
 rose from the abyss broken barren rocks, and at their 
 foot were depths your eye could not penetrate. On such 
 a jagged ridge were now about a dozen chamois. They 
 had gone thither after my shot. But even they now 
 could get no further. There was no passage, no egress 
 beyond, and not a chamois could leap down such pre- 
 cipices. They saw and heard us, as we saw them. There 
 they stood gazing, wondering, and scared. It was too 
 far to fire, besides had I shot one, it would have been 
 
396 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 impossible to fetch the carcass out of the bottomless pit 
 into which it might have rolled. Bradler was watching 
 them too, but lower down. I saw him running for- 
 ward towards the brink, and knew by his manner he saw 
 a chamois somewhere within shot, and was just calling 
 to him not to fire, or to wait, when I heard the report 
 of his rifle. On reaching him he told me he had hit the 
 chamois; it was lying in yonder chasm, and he could 
 just see its head. I told him how foolish it was to have 
 fired, as he would not be able to get the animal after 
 all. 
 
 " Not today," he said ; " it's too late, for I want a 
 whole day for that ; but tomorrow I shall come and fetch 
 him." 
 
 " You intend to go after that chamois ! " I exclaimed, 
 not crediting I had heard aright. 
 
 " Yes : I shall get down that place where you were 
 looking yonder, and when I have found the chamois, clam- 
 ber up again the same way." 
 
 " Good Heavens ! you don't surely mean to try to get 
 down there ! Why, it is utterly impossible ; it is quite 
 perpendicular, and so crumbling you have nothing to 
 hold by. You can't do it \" 
 
 " Oh, but I can," said he, laughing ; while for my part, 
 the mere thought of the attempt made me shudder and 
 disquieted me. 
 
 " I only know," said I, e ' that were it my chamois, no- 
 thing should make me let you go for it, and I would 
 take good care too you did not. I should never forgive 
 myself for letting you undertake such a thing for me." 
 
 But he went after the chamois quite alone, and got it 
 too, as I learned from the head-forester some weeks 
 later, though how is to me still an inexplicable marvel. 
 
 In the six days I had been out at Scharnitz I had 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 397 
 
 seen one hundred and sixty-four chamois, and yet was 
 able to kill but three bucks. In the five days' shooting 
 in Hinter Riss one good buck had fallen to my rifle, — the 
 only shot I had fired during that time. These particu- 
 lars will show how uncertain the chase of the chamois 
 is, and on how many chance incidents success depends. 
 
 On our way homewards Bradler asked me if I knew 
 a certain forester in Baierisch Zell. I said I had seen 
 him, and inquired the reason of the question. 
 " He had a malheur" was the rejoinder. 
 " Yes," continued Wrack, " he shot my brother." 
 It was a matter of surprise to me that both my com- 
 panions spoke of their former lives as poachers without 
 the least reserve. 
 
 " In one year I shot forty-seven chamois," said one, 
 as we were slowly going down the hill-side. "For I 
 was ' a shot/ you know," he added, addressing me (a' 
 Schiitz br' i' g'wesen) . 
 
 " And I," rejoined his companion, " shot forty-six in 
 one year. 'Twas the most I ever did." 
 
 ' f And did you never meet any keepers ?" I asked of 
 Bradler. " Did you never get caught ?" 
 
 " No, never," he replied. " I always preferred going 
 out alone: moreover I went into places where few 
 would have dared to venture, so that there was little 
 chance of falling in with the forester there. Once only, 
 on the Plau Berg, I had shot a chamois, and was 
 coming along with it, when I saw a keeper advancing 
 and going up the mountain. With all my might I ex- 
 erted myself to reach the ridge before him, and by great 
 exertion I did so. I then flung down the chamois, and 
 rifle in hand, went straight towards him. Being above 
 I had the advantage. When he saw me he turned aside 
 in another direction. 
 
398 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 "* And since you have been a keeper, have you never 
 shot any poachers ?" 
 
 " No/' was the answer ; " but I was once present 
 when two were killed. It was near Branneburg, and I 
 and another were going to shoot a roebuck. I was 
 just passing round a small thicket, while my comrade 
 took the other side, when suddenly I heard a shot. I 
 turned back a step or two, and saw a man running 
 away, and at the same moment almost a second shot 
 sent him staggering to the ground. On I went to the 
 other keeper, and on coming in sight of him, saw a 
 poacher making towards him, gun in hand. However, 
 my unexpected appearance made him turn back ; and 
 running to the dead man, he took his rifle and escaped. 
 My comrade had shot two : one dropped at once, and 
 the other we found some distance oft* in the forest." 
 
 The poachers round Scharnitz knew that from him 
 they need expect no mercy, if he caught them in their 
 depredations. He had said, and he told me so too, that 
 should he ever meet one out on the mountain who 
 resisted instead of surrendering himself instantly, he 
 would fling him over the precipice if they happened to 
 be near one. And they all knew he w r ould infallibly keep 
 his word. This dread of the man kept the territory, vast 
 as it was, which was under Bradler's care, pretty free 
 from predatory incursions. Though he was here today, 
 that was no reason why tomorrow he should not be on 
 the mountains at the other end of the valley : they were 
 never sure of him except on one point, — that once on 
 their track he would follow them unto death. They 
 dreaded him as though he were some incarnate fiend. 
 
 That the animosity is mutual, and that the severity of 
 the gamekeepers toward the poachers is not unfrequently 
 to be accounted for by preceding acts of refined cruelty 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 399 
 
 to themselves or their comrades, the following story will 
 go far to prove. Its hero lived, up to the summer of 1846, 
 in a cottage on the borders of the pleasant Starem- 
 berg Lake, close to the country-seat of one of my friends, 
 who knew the man well,* and who had listened more 
 than once to the terrible recital, and had seen the marks 
 of crucifixion which his feet and hands ever after bore. 
 
 Zacharias Wagner, or " Zacherl" as he was familiarly 
 called, was one of those handy fellows who was expert 
 at almost anything he attempted, — at carpentering, gar- 
 dening, fishing, bird-catching ; but what he loved best 
 was to be out in the woods or on the mountains watch- 
 ing the game ; and, if an opportunity offered, without 
 danger of being caught, to test perhaps the steadiness of 
 his aim and the range of his trusty rifle. At last he got 
 a place as keeper in Reichertsbayern, and it was one 
 evening in June, when returning from his usual rounds 
 in the forest, that his adventure occurred. He had seen 
 nothing, neither stag nor chamois that whole afternoon, 
 but it was too early to turn homewards; and so, in- 
 tending to be out early on the morrow, and with hopes 
 of better luck than he had had hitherto, he determined 
 to pass the night in one of the log-huts which are always 
 to be found on the high-up pasture-grounds. 
 
 Here, snugly ensconced in the sweet hay, with his dog 
 beside him, he soon fell asleep. 
 
 An hour, or may-be two, had hardly passed, when 
 Waldmann began a low bark, which awoke his master ; 
 but he, thinking the dog was dreaming, took no further 
 notice of it, and turned to sleep again ; when at the same 
 moment he hears a rush towards and into the hut where 
 he was lying, and he had scarcely time to seize his rifle 
 
 * It is to this friend I owe the admirable likeness of Zacherl, done 
 to the life, at the end of this chapter. 
 
400 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 before three men laid hold of him, exclaiming, "Eh, 
 my lad, so we've got you now \" Out they dragged him, 
 and one beat him soundly with a cudgel while the other 
 two held him fast ; but before long he sank down quite 
 insensible. On coming to himself, — roused by the sharp- 
 ness of a new pang, — he found that the men, poachers 
 all three, whom he once before had caught and taken 
 before a magistrate, were raising him up against the 
 wooden walls of the hut, and, extending his legs and 
 arms, were nailing them to the boards. Having no nails, 
 they had cut pointed wooden pegs, which they drove 
 through each hand and foot ; and so they left him on the 
 mountain upreared — crucified. 
 
 "My dog, Waldmann/* to continue the story in 
 ZacherFs own words, " ran after the men, but soon he 
 came back again to his master. I was too exhausted by 
 agony to call out, and I scarcely took heed of anything ; 
 still I can remember how anxious and sympathizing my 
 poor dog seemed. At last I beheld before me, as I hung, 
 the sun slowly coming up behind the mountain- tops ; 
 and I was glad to see it again, though for the last time. 
 f Your morning prayer today/ thought I to myself, ' will 
 be a prayer for the dying V and I was in despair with my 
 sufferings and the thought of perishing by so miserable 
 a death ; and I began to think of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ, who died on the cross, and of his agony. 
 But I soon grew insensible ; and all I know is, that when 
 1 came to myself I was lying on the grass. The thing 
 was, Waldmann's barks and howls had brought a boy to 
 the place, who was out with his cows on the pasturage. 
 He ran to get help, and then began the descent from the 
 cross. I was taken down, and with water from a spring 
 close by my wounds were washed ; but I could not 
 stand, and some wood-cutters carried me down into the 
 vallev. 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARNITZ. 401 
 
 " In three weeks I was able to go out, but my hands 
 were still bound up, and as to the scars, they of course 
 will remain to my dying day. It was lucky that no 
 nerve or sinew was injured by the wooden nails j but 
 so it was, and right thankful am I to Providence that I 
 escaped so well. 
 
 (: As to the three men who crucified me, I have often 
 seen them since in the inn-room and out in the fields ; 
 but I thought ' I won't be their judge J* However, should 
 I meet them in the wood or on the mountain in my ter- 
 ritory, then I shall do as I have always done yet."* 
 
 The mountains here abound in black-cock and ptar- 
 migan. Of a morning we continually heard the call of 
 the former, and the latter beautiful bird we frequently 
 surprised on its bed of snow. 
 
 The vulture, even more perhaps than the poacher, is 
 the redoubtable foe of game in the mountains. The 
 flocks too suffer by his presence, and the number of 
 lambs carried away every year from the pastures by these 
 birds is almost incredible. Hence every effort is made 
 by the keepers to catch or shoot them. The latter 
 method is seldom successful; for it is chance merely 
 that brings the sportsman in such proximity to them as 
 to get a shot. 
 
 Wrack's cousin, who is noted too for his skill in imi- 
 tating and catching every sort of bird, told me some 
 curious details about the vulture. He had caught a 
 young one, and hoping to make this a means of catch- 
 ing the old bird, he fastened a strap to its leg and te- 
 thered it to the ground on a mountain-top. For three 
 or four days the old birds did not make their appear- 
 ance, probably not having found out where the young 
 
 * There is something quite matchless in the self-complacency ex- 
 pressed in these last lines. 
 
 2d 
 
402 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 one was. At last one of them comes, bringing a hare for 
 its offspring. The next day a lamb was brought, ano- 
 ther time the greater part of a chamois kid, and once 
 only a ptarmigan. Thus the old birds continued, now 
 one and now the other, for several days to feed the pri- 
 soner, without it being possible for Wrack to surprise 
 them ; for wheeling high in the air, they always scan 
 well every spot before approaching the earth, and the 
 least change from its usual appearance, or any new ob- 
 ject, makes them distrustful. 
 
 The young bird was always aware of the parents' ap- 
 proach, so Wrack related, long before he was able to 
 discern the vulture in the air; and at such times would 
 grow restless, scream, and flap its wings, as impatient of 
 their coming. 
 
 One morning however Wrack was there before them, 
 and from his hiding-place of piled-up stones, shot the 
 old vulture just as it alighted on the mountain. It mea- 
 sured seven feet from wing to wing. 
 
 The Hinter Au Thai is, so these men told me, one of 
 the most difficult places in the Tyrol. I looked down 
 upon it and its declivities of rock, from the top of the 
 Gleirsch Joch. Everywhere here, they said, are smooth, 
 steep slopes of bare stone, so that you can hardly get on 
 otherwise than on hands and knees. To walk on them 
 is next to impossible. 
 
 Another valley near Achensee, where I had been two 
 years before, is very beautiful. The rocks on its sides, 
 however, are broken and crumbling and pointed; and 
 there in the midst of them you might fancy yourself in 
 an extinct Etna or Vesuvius. Even the hunter who was 
 with me there could not help exclaiming, as we looked 
 over the brink into such a chasm, " Es ist grausig !" But 
 I mention this Fallthurn Thai, because it was here I 
 
THE TYROL. SCHARN1TZ. 403 
 
 witnessed the most magical, most wondrous effect I have 
 ever yet seen, or perhaps ever may see again. 
 
 It was still dawn when we left the house, and a dense 
 vapoury covering hung low over the meadows. By the 
 time we reached the Fallthurn Thai it was day ; but the 
 mists still filled the vale, although the brightness of the 
 rising sun penetrated through them somewhat, and the 
 morning breeze drove them trailing along over the pas- 
 ture. Presently the whole world of cloud in which we 
 were moving began to lose its whitish-grey hue, and to 
 assume a leaden colouring merging into blue, but as 
 yet dark and opaque. Suddenly, however, on raising 
 my head, there stood before me at the end of the valley, 
 high up above the rolling vapour, an opening into the 
 blue sky ; and thereon rose two high peaks, not of rock 
 seemingly, but rather of opal, or some wondrous sub- 
 stance that could catch and give back with softened 
 lustre the sun's effulgence. There on the deep azure 
 they gleamed, silvery-grey in colour, but radiant as the 
 spot might be where an angel of God had stood. Just 
 so, methought, might have shone in lucid splendour 
 the gates of Paradise. Below and around, the mists still 
 shrouded every object, yet you could not but perceive 
 that the whole was becoming of a bluer tint, and the 
 upper layers more transparent. And now before me 
 through this thin, floating, half- transparent veil there 
 shines a vision, as yet however so waveringly indistinct, 
 that it is not possible to recognize a form. But a glo- 
 rious burst of blue sky is visible through the vapour, 
 which is now every moment growing brighter, and the 
 top of the Sonnen Joch appears. And through the vast 
 rolling mass, half opaque, half transparent, an outline 
 of brightness grows into existence, and from the silvery 
 point, which is already glowing in the light 8000 feet 
 
 2 n 2 
 
404 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 above you, you are just able to trace it downwards, and 
 to make out that it is the sharp shoulder of a tremen- 
 dous pile of rock. As yet it is half hidden in sunbeams 
 inwoven with the mist : a divine halo-light is in the 
 air, as though that mountain were a divinity, and only 
 thus veiled might show itself to mortal eyes. 
 
 But what before was trembling, and dreamy, and un- 
 certain, grows each minute more defined and real ; the 
 clouds fall aside, and the vast form of bare rock is before 
 you in all its size and brightness. 
 
405 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 CHAPTER THE LAST. 
 
 To be upon the mountains is always an inspiring, an ex- 
 hilarating event ; and the further you penetrate amidst 
 them, the greater is the feeling of delight. It is a pecu- 
 liar sensation you experience when climbing among them : 
 and I know nothing like it, except the thrill of gladness 
 and exultation which fills the heart when you have given 
 yourself to the waves, and are forcing your way onward 
 over the open sea. For mighty as are the forms which 
 rear themselves around, and sensible as I always am of 
 their vastness, on me they never exercise an overwhelm- 
 ing power : on the contrary, all my best energies are 
 called forth by the sight, and by the difficulties to be 
 grappled with : the mind seems to expand and grow, — 
 to rise, as with newly- awakened strength, till it is on a 
 level with the grandeur that it beholds. 
 
 On the mountain- top the same silent joy possesses my 
 whole being as when in presence of the ocean; and as I 
 have sat on the rocks of the Lizard or Land's End, look- 
 ing out for hours over the Atlantic, and watching the 
 long waves that heaved their ponderous weight along, 
 awe was in my heart, it is true, and a tremendous sense 
 of God's omnipotence ; but there was no feeling of little- 
 ness : on the contrary, within me rose an elate conscious- 
 
406 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 ness of power, an exulting joy that, vast as was that ocean, 
 my human mind could still encompass it, — in thought 
 could traverse it to its very utmost verge : — a great re- 
 joicing, deep and unspeakable, that I, even I, was able 
 to take in such immensity. 
 
 And this effect, the grandest appearances of Nature 
 always produce in me. They do not crush the mind into 
 nothingness, but cause it rather to feel 
 
 "An equal among mightiest energies." 
 
 They incite it to action, and call on it to put forth its 
 strength. For then, when thus face to face with sub- 
 limity, one mighty sensation, like an instinct, becomes 
 always suddenly quick within it, — a glad, triumphant con- 
 sciousness of inalienable divinity. 
 
 But there are besides many other minor sources of 
 joy, for the mountains form an exclusive world of their 
 own, — a world with its own delights, phenomena, and 
 wonders ; and not only the things themselves, but even 
 their very names have often a strange charm, that awakens 
 the fancy and sets it busily to work. For he who lives 
 constantly with Nature, watching all her moods, nor 
 loving her less, but rather the more, for her changing 
 and waywardness, will not give to familiar things, and to 
 places that are dear to him, a barren name ; but remem- 
 bering each as connected with an event — call it how he 
 will — the word he chooses will have a meaning, a signi- 
 ficance. The wider our world, the less sympathy have 
 we for individual objects ; but if we make a valley our 
 home, we become as intimate with every part, and with 
 aj 1 belonging to the dale, as we are with the children, 
 and the men and women that inhabit it. And, where 
 this is the case, such objects become a part of us ; they 
 live in our heart, and we invest them with attributes, and 
 we speak of them almost as though they had feelings 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 407 
 
 like ourselves. Hence the personifications which we find 
 in the talk of the mountaineer, — the vapours, the storm, 
 the torrents, the deep lake, are to him not inanimate 
 things : he has heard or looked on them with dread or 
 with complacent joy ; and he knows the ways of each, as 
 though it were a living creature which he himself had 
 reared. And this is the beginning of poetry. 
 
 I have often asked the name of a peak, or field of snow, 
 only in the hope I might hear that it was some " Spitz," 
 or " Kopf," or " Firner." The positive pleasure such mere 
 names afford me is greater than I can say. "Wetter 
 Spitz," "Teufels Horn," "Uebergossener Alp," "Gems 
 Wand," "Sonnen Joch," " Steinernes Meer," — what 
 painting there is in these words ; what scenes they call 
 up, and how they invest the dead, senseless rock with a 
 living interest ! Yonder peak becomes, for me, more 
 than a mere mass of dumb stone, when I hear that there 
 the wild elements come together and hold their meetings, 
 and descend thence in storm and tempest upon the lower 
 world. Another, perhaps, has a dread story locked up in 
 its name, and as you hear it your fancy conjures up a 
 tale of terrible retribution, overtaking some great sin. 
 
 The mists also, as seen on the mountains, are differ- 
 ent from anything of the sort ever witnessed in the plain : 
 they sometimes come clothed in loveliness, but they will 
 rise too dread and dimly, and with a fearful and unspa- 
 ring power. Here they assume great forms, and are a 
 reality, a presence. They rise up, and pass slowly by 
 you, like sad ghosts, or come rushing on along the sides 
 of the mountain, a long array of muffled shapes of super- 
 human bulk. It is an impressive, a very impressive sight j 
 and not only on account of their vast proportions as they 
 sweep through the air, but because of the change that is 
 wrought by them j for they separate you at once and en- 
 
408 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 tirely from that dear world which you look upon as your 
 home. There you stand, cut off from humanity, and as 
 lone as though you were on the broad sea, a thousand 
 miles from any shore; At such time I think that even 
 one who called himself a misanthrope would acknowledge 
 a returning love of his kind, and feel that he belonged 
 to them, and would long for but one glimpse only of his 
 and their dwelling-place. And when such glimpse at last 
 is caught, through a rent in the dense volume of cloud, 
 how fair the earth appears ! it seems fairer and brighter 
 than ever it did before. 
 
 One feeling, moreover, was always present to me; 
 and, whether lying down to sleep on the mountain-ridge 
 at noon, or when sitting of an evening with my peasant 
 friends in a cottage or Senn Hiitte, that pleasant consci- 
 ousness, like a merry, laughing face, that peeps in upon 
 you, go where you will, was ever in my thoughts. It was, 
 to use the words of the author of f Eothen,' — for he 
 had felt it too, — the delight at being beyond the reach 
 of " respectability." I often quite hugged myself at the 
 thought, "Not one ( respectable ' person near me, look 
 where I would !" and this thought imparts always a sense 
 of freedom, quite distinct from that which the boundless 
 space and the fresh breeze bring with them : it is the 
 sense of liberty, which he feels who has escaped from 
 heavy thraldom, who has slipped off his handcuffs, and 
 got away over the walls of his prison, and laughs to find 
 himself in the fields and beyond pursuit. There is a 
 feeling of self-satisfaction in the heart, and a very wan- 
 tonness in your contentment and glee, as you repeat 
 again and again the assurances of your^safety, — of being 
 beyond the reach of either the "genteel" or the "re- 
 spectable." 
 
 As I have observed in a preceding chapter, it is not 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 409 
 
 the mere killing which affords him pleasure who stalks 
 through the forest in pursuit of game. Besides the na- 
 tural appearances which will meet him at almost every 
 step, and which contribute so largely to his delight, he 
 has another interest, — the observation of the habits of 
 animals. In dense forests this is not so easy ; but in the 
 beech-woods, where there is less undergrowth, and where 
 too the sun can penetrate more easily through the spread- 
 ing boughs, and so illumine the leaf-strewn ground and 
 the beds of green and brown moss, there you often can 
 observe the creatures in their forest- home, and get well 
 acquainted with their family or household life. It is a 
 pretty sight to watch the care of the doe for her fawn, or 
 to see the two playing together, as a happy human mother 
 will do with her baby; or, if very still, you may steal 
 forward near enough to see the majestic stag himself at 
 rest in the shade, and may observe how he enjoys the 
 coolness of the spot, and, with a languid Sybarite air, 
 now lifts, now turns his head, and puts back his vast 
 antlers even upon his broad sides and shoulders. But he 
 hears a sound ! or did the breath of air that rustled 
 through the leaves carry to his nostrils the taint of your 
 neighbourhood? He is no longer the slothful Sardana- 
 palus he was before, but with bold front and head erect, 
 is now " every inch a king." 
 
 Amonff a familv of wild-boars I have sometimes re- 
 marked one — generally a weakling, and more helpless than 
 the rest, for with boars, as with men, the strong like 
 to show their power — who was buffeted and ill-treated 
 by all his brothers and sisters. Do what he would, no- 
 thing was right; sometimes the mother, uttering a dis- 
 approving grunt, would give him a nudge, to make him 
 move more quickly, and that w r ould be a sign for all the 
 rest of his relations to begin showing their contempt for 
 
410 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 him too. One would push hiin, and then another ; for, 
 go where he might, he was sure to be in the way. It is 
 true such poor little unfortunate was generally the most 
 awkward of the family ; but then constant ill-treatment 
 is enough to make any one embarrassed and awkward. 
 
 The caution with which a stag, particularly an old 
 one well versed in the ways of men, will emerge from 
 a thicket into the open space, is very great. With his 
 head almost on the ground, he steals forth as stealthily 
 as a fox. You do not hear a dead leaf rustle, so noise- 
 less are his movements : with his nose low down, and 
 advanced as much as possible, he will stand immovable 
 for some minutes, with no part of him visible except the 
 nostrils and the large bright eyes, — these alone move ; 
 and when the ground has been thus carefully recon- 
 noitred, without however at all turning his head, the 
 rest of the creature then steals forth, and with a fleet 
 step he flits across the road, and into the shelter of the 
 opposite thicket. It is a mystery to me how a stag is 
 able to pass through the intricate foliage with his wide- 
 spreading antlers, without disturbing the boughs, — so cau- 
 tiously indeed as not even to cause a twig or the trem- 
 bling of a leaf to betray his approach. He is aware of 
 the danger, and flings them back quite low behind him : 
 when in full flight through the forest he does the same, 
 lest he strike them against the overhanging branches in 
 his headlong haste.* 
 
 One thing too will have struck every person who has 
 had opportunities of observing wild animals ; the quick - 
 
 * " Now on again comes another herd, 
 They follow their leader's track ; 
 I' the van their chief, his embattled crown 
 Filing down on his velvet back." 
 
 Veese : Ballad of the Hot/al Hunt 
 in the New Forest. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 411 
 
 ness, namely, with which the wounds they have received 
 generally heal. When however we consider their mode of 
 life, and the simple food they eat, there is less difficulty 
 in accounting for it. Fresh grass and. herbs and pure 
 spring-water as diet must necessarily act favourably on 
 the state of the blood j add to which, a life passed in the 
 open air, inhaling health at each respiration, and our 
 surprise diminishes at what we here see Nature do when 
 left wholly to herself. 
 
 It is not at all uncommon to find old rifle-balls in 
 deer, and the marks of shots that failed to bring them 
 clown at the time. But where a bone has been shattered, 
 and the animal has still managed to escape, it is really 
 interesting to see how the splintered parts will loosen 
 and fall away ; and the wound then nicely closing, the 
 limb presents the same appearance as if it had been 
 amputated by a skilful surgeon. I once saw a deer that 
 had been injured, no doubt by a ball, in the fore knee- 
 joint j the stump had healed, and was perfectly covered. 
 Last winter (1851) I watched a boar that had also lost 
 the fore-leg; but in this case it was high up, close to 
 the shoulder. It was shot some weeks later, when I was 
 out in the forest, and so perfectly had Nature performed 
 her work, leaving behind no trace of a former fracture, 
 that some were present who insisted the animal must 
 have been thus maimed from its birth. There was no 
 scar, no unevenness of surface, to indicate that the bone 
 had once been broken, which however was the case. 
 
 But the hardiest animals I have met with are the 
 fallow-deer: it indeed takes a good deal to kill them. 
 I have myself seen bucks with several balls in their 
 body, feeding some hours afterwards as quietly as if 
 nothing had happened. A roe is a very delicate crea- 
 ture, and can bear little ; a shot almost anywhere will 
 
412 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 bring it down. I have sometimes met one in the wood 
 running away from some real or imaginary danger ; and 
 it was quite pitiable to see its condition, agitated and 
 exhausted with exertion, the exquisitely fine limbs trem- 
 bling beneath its body, and its flanks palpitating as it 
 gasped for breath : every movement showed how little its 
 fragile form was able to endure any unwonted rough- 
 ness. The chamois is less susceptible than the roe, but 
 a wound soon makes it sicken ; when struck, it will im- 
 mediately climb to some solitary spot, and there remain. 
 If by chance you shoot one that still carries traces of a 
 former wound in the body, you may be sure it was slight 
 and of little importance. But chamois even, as well as 
 red- deer, often get bad falls ; and the antlers of the one 
 and the horns of the other frequently bear evidence of a 
 headlong tumble over the rocks. 
 
 In old works on Venery strange stories are related 
 about the habits of animals of chase.* In former days 
 the pursuit of the stag and wild-boar was a royal pas- 
 time, and those animals which afforded such noble sport 
 were on that account elevated to a rank above the more 
 common brutes. They were — without offence be it said 
 — the aristocracy of the animal creation. For in bar- 
 barous times the attributes of the sovereign are always 
 exaggerated ; and, as " the fountain of honour," his en- 
 nobling influence is extended to the elephant that carries 
 him, the steeds that draw his chariot, and even to the 
 beasts of the forest which he happens to take especial 
 
 * " Plutarch lias put the question, Why the flesh of a sheep bitten by 
 a wolf be more agreeable to the palate ? And he says that it happeneth 
 because a wolf's breath is so hot and fiery, that the hardest bone in 
 its body will become soft and tender. Therefore the flesh which his 
 breath hath touched becometh soft and tender. On this account the 
 dainty livers of olden times strove to obtain sheep that had been torn 
 by a wolf." — Abraham Santa Clara. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 413 
 
 pleasure in pursuing. Hence, therefore, such are pro- 
 tected from being molested by an ignoble hand. Now 
 as soon as a person or thing is hedged about by privi- 
 lege, as soon as a halo is thrown round either, an un- 
 usual interest is at once excited, and with it comes vul- 
 gar curiosity. When this is the case, be sure that Fable 
 will henceforth have more to tell than Truth. We may 
 suppose too that the wonderful tales which thus grow 
 current, are rather grateful than otherwise to the pride 
 of him for whom alone such marvellous animals are re- 
 served. 
 
 "The stag," so writes Isidorus, "is the foe of ser- 
 pents ; and when he is old and sick, he goeth before the 
 serpent's hole, blows and respires therein, so that the ser- 
 pent may creep out, which then he presently stampeth 
 on with his feet and devoureth. And he goeth straight- 
 way to the water and drinks, so that the poison may 
 spread through his whole body • and as soon as he feel- 
 eth the poison, he cbmmenceth running hither and thi- 
 ther in such wise that he getteth warm and fain would 
 sweat, and hereupon he is so purged and purified by the 
 oper|g.ion of Nature, that he retaineth nothing more in 
 his tody, and so becometh renewed and young again, 
 and changes his old hair. Music he loveth much, and 
 is well pleased and joyful when he heareth a piping or 
 the sound of a flute, or any gentle song. 
 
 " A stone is to be found in the deer after she hath 
 dropped her calf: she did eat it before to assist the 
 birth. The stag liveth to be one hundred years old. 
 Three hundred years after Caesar's death one was found 
 with a golden collar round its neck, and graven thereon 
 ' Csesar me fecit.' The stag hath a large heart, and a 
 bone therein. The stag is ashamed when he is without 
 his horn.""* 
 
 * Abraham Santa Clara, who turned every natural fact as well as 
 
414 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 In those ancient books, in which the noble Art of 
 Venerie is bravely upheld, as inferior only to the science 
 of war, and the excitement of the chase deemed scarcely 
 less heart-thrilling than a battle, much weight is always 
 laid on the qualifications of a hunter. " And the hun- 
 ter " — so it is written in a quaint old volume of some 
 centuries ago — " shall be strong of body, bold, and of 
 gay disposition : in body not too stout, in order that he 
 may bear work, and in time of need follow well afoot. 
 Nor should he be too spare of habit or meagre, in order 
 that he may have strength in him, and so go to meet 
 the wild animals with greater safety. The manly hunter 
 followeth the praiseworthy pastime of the chase, nor 
 doth he let himself be withheld by snow, cold, rain, 
 water, mountain, valley, desert, hunger, thirst, heat, un- 
 rest, vigils, work, trouble, nor danger." 
 
 Whether on the plain, in the forest, or on the moun- 
 tain, he who has tarried much with Nature, and made 
 her his companion, will, unless duller than a clod, have 
 at times experienced strange emotions in the solitude ; 
 familiar shapes will have assumed unwonted forms, and 
 awe will have seized on him, and great fear; he, will 
 have heard "low breathings coming after him," or 
 "steps almost as silent as the turf they trod;" and 
 things, even low sounds, have been to him as ti Pre- 
 sence, and he will have felt sorely troubled. And this 
 not merely in the darkness, but in the broad light of 
 noon ; when the stillness of midnight seemed hanging 
 in the air, yet the sun-rays were streaming silently down 
 the stems of the beeches, and there was no living crea- 
 
 every superstitious belief to account, alludes to this bone as follows : — 
 " A pious and sensible woodman may derive a lesson from the animals 
 of the chase. The stag carries in the middle of his heart a little cross 
 of two small bones ; this may cause the woodman to remember that he 
 should never shut out the cross, nor Him crucified, from his heart." 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 415 
 
 ture to be seen. At such times I have watched and 
 listened, — listened long and earnestly, not willing, not 
 venturing rather, to break by my steps the profound re- 
 pose. Once, I remember, on an autumn day, when in 
 a wood in Suabia, I suddenly looked round, and behold ! 
 right before me, on a clear space amid the bushes, stood 
 a deer at gaze. To me then it seemed no ordinary crea- 
 ture, but of gigantic size, the like of which I had never 
 seen before. There it rose above a little knoll, encircled 
 in golden light, and its vast form surrounded with a 
 glory. We gazed for some time at each other in great 
 astonishment ; and had I beheld a bright cross gleaming 
 over its head, such as St. Hubert saw, I could not have 
 been more amazed. Suddenly it bounded away, and the 
 spell was broken. 
 
 Wordsworth, in his ' Prelude/ describes with won- 
 drous truth such visionary appearances, and the mental 
 organization that called them forth. He tells how in 
 the dusk some peak, as " with voluntary power instinct," 
 upreared its head, and growing still in size, and seem- 
 ingly " with purpose of its own, strode after him." And 
 very fine, because so very true, is the picture of him who, 
 " in majestic indolence," wanders on the hills, and sees 
 objects, in portentous size, looming through the mist. 
 Indeed no other poet has passages so full of the spirit 
 of mountain scenery as Wordsworth. It is true they 
 are the phenomena of such heights only as Westmore- 
 land and Cumberland present ; but though these are not 
 high mountains, they have a solemn character of their 
 own, and the mists assemble there, and silence is round 
 them, except when the sough of the wind is heard. The 
 generality of persons tarry amid the grandeur but a 
 short time, and then describe their impressions of its sub- 
 limity and their own great wonderment. But it is not 
 
416 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 by mere passing visits that intimate acquaintanceship 
 can be formed : he only who lives with Nature long and 
 frequently can obtain an insight into all her hidden 
 ways. Nor does she reveal herself but to him who truly 
 loves her : he must learn to interpret her changeful 
 countenance, not by scientific rules, but by the force of 
 sympathy, — the sympathy of deep affection. And it is 
 such familiar intercourse that forms one of the great 
 charms experienced by him who, with rifle at his back, 
 stalks up the mountain, or sits watching on its summit. 
 The forest, like the mountain, has a delight of its 
 own ^ — a peculiar, mysterious influence, which grows 
 around the heart, and holds it with the power of a 
 sweetly-influencing spell. The voices and breathings 
 there are different to those heard among the rocks, — 
 that peculiar rustle, as of passing wings, still heard 
 when not a breath is stirring, — the murmur among the 
 branches, and the whisper which floats above the ground, 
 as though the spirits of the flowers were moving about 
 with a hush in that forest world,— all this keeps the 
 eye, and ear, and mind vigilant, and you tread with cau- 
 tion and expectancy among the creeping sunbeams and 
 quickly-flitting shadows. You hear steps now, and the 
 low footfall sounds strangely in that solitude ; but it is 
 retreating, and soon is lost in the surrounding silence. 
 You saw nothing, and it is this very circumstance which 
 imparts mystery, and makes you listen still when the 
 pattering sound has quite died away. Or in strolling 
 on, you will suddenly look round, and from out a thicket 
 see two large bright eyes and a hairy face meet your 
 gaze, and looking fixedly upon you. It is as though the 
 woods were once more peopled with their ancient inhabi- 
 tants, and the fawns and satyrs again returned to their 
 old leafy home. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 417 
 
 Every people while yet young, while their instincts 
 are still fresh and their sympathies keen and alive to 
 natural influences, has made the forest their temple; 
 choosing, if they built an altar, the dense interlacing 
 branches of venerable trees for the roof that was to 
 shelter it. They felt how solemn was the subdued light, 
 and the trembling stillness: the low murmur attuned 
 their simple minds religiously, and a presentiment awoke 
 within them that there " was a spirit in the woods." 
 
 And now even in the songs you hear the young 
 hunters sing, while sitting round the hearth of an even- 
 ing after a good day's sport, the forest and its delights 
 play a prominent part. Among the northern nations 
 the forest may be said to have had, and indeed still to 
 have, a poetry of its own. There were the "Wald- 
 Marchen" and " Wald-Lieder," and in its gloom many 
 a mythe was born. The Germans have an appropriate 
 word — Waldlust — to describe the peculiar delight which 
 the woodland imparts ; and as such solitude is also dif- 
 ferent from that experienced any other where, for it too 
 there is a particular designation — Wald-einsamkeit. 
 
 But, as many a story in the preceding pages will have 
 shown, there are other far more stirring causes of ex- 
 citement, contrasting strangely enough with the calmer 
 pleasures I have just attempted to describe. From time 
 to time a report will come of the depredations committed 
 by poachers, or that one of the foresters has been badly 
 wounded, or that a Tyrolese has been shot who had 
 come across to fetch a chamois in the Bavarian moun- 
 tains. Or perhaps, according to a preconcerted arrange- 
 ment, on a certain day all the gamekeepers will be on 
 the look-out for miles round, in expectation of meeting 
 the marauders ; and, if you also go out, the report of a 
 rifle from some neighbouring mountain fills you with 
 
 2e 
 
418 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 expectation, well knowing that on such an occasion the 
 foresters would not fire at game. It must therefore 
 have been at a man, unless indeed the shot was from a 
 poacher stalking in his old haunts ; if so, he will hardly 
 escape now. for the keepers will close in upon him and 
 cut off his retreat. Meanwhile the rocks opposite, and 
 the well-known passes, are carefully scanned with the tele- 
 scope, to see if any human being can be discerned among 
 them. 
 
 On the frontiers of Bavaria and the Tyrol a sort of 
 border warfare was constantly kept up, much the same 
 as in former days was carried on in our own country 
 in the Northern Marches. And as " the Perce owt of 
 Northomberlande" did make a vow " to hunte in the 
 mountaynes of Chyviat," just so would occasionally a 
 band of armed peasants from the Valley of the Inn set 
 off to drive the chamois on the Plau Berg or the Mie- 
 sing. 
 
 Many a deed of boldest daring occurs at such times, 
 when the foresters, coming up with the freebooters, at- 
 tack them at once, often without heeding their own in- 
 feriority in number. But a dauntless bearing, a know- 
 ledge of the ground, a quick eye, and a readiness in 
 seizing every available advantage, will nearly always ob- 
 tain the mastery, even when the odds are most dis- 
 proportionate. Tales of such sudden encounters with 
 poachers, or of long and patient watchings for them at 
 some well-known pass, are never-failing subjects of con- 
 versation ; and told too, as they not seldom are, in the 
 living words of passion, and with the energy and elo- 
 quence of strong natural impulse, you become aroused 
 as the narrative proceeds ; you share all the excitement 
 of the stealthy approach or the unequal strife, and feel 
 an ardent longing to join in the affray. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 419 
 
 The following incident, that occurred a few years ago 
 near Brannenburg, will show what daring and reckless- 
 ness of human life these feuds inspire. 
 
 One of the keepers, while out on the mountain, saw 
 three Tyrolese cross the Inn. He at once suspected 
 what was their intention, and instantly set off for a pass 
 among the rocks, where, if he were right in his conjec- 
 ture, he knew they would surely come. For an hour or 
 more he waited, without hearing or seeing anything of 
 them. At length however he espied the poachers ad- 
 vancing up the mountain, and, keeping close to avoid 
 being seen, let them approach. The place where he 
 stood was a narrow path, with rocks rising on one side, 
 and on the other a precipice. When the men were at a 
 short distance from him, he stood forth and called to 
 them to lay down their rifles. As they did not obey, he 
 shouted that, cowards as they were, lie would lay down 
 his, and challenged them, if they dared, to do the same 
 and come all three of them armed only with their poles. 
 They did so, and the three advanced upon him. Calm 
 and collected, he watched his opportunity, and, as they 
 approached, thrust his iron-shod pole two inches deep 
 into the breast of the foremost man, and sent him top- 
 pling down into the abyss. The others, terror-stricken, 
 sprang back to seize their rifles, but the keeper was too 
 quick for them : he had already grasped his own, and 
 levelling it threatened to send a bullet through the first 
 who should dare to raise his weapon. There was nothing 
 left them now but to retreat ; and as they did so the 
 keeper fired at one, sending a charge of coarse shot into 
 his back and wounding him badly. 
 
 The keepers, on the other hand, well know that, should 
 they fall into the power of their enemies, the retribution 
 will be terrible. An instance of this sort was told me 
 
 2 e 2 
 
420 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 by a friend who well knew all the parties concerned. I 
 give the story in his own words. 
 
 " Meier, the forester stationed at Gmund,* was one day 
 out on his usual rounds, when suddenly he heard the 
 crack of a rifle. He went towards the place, and there 
 — it was on the Gschwendter Berg — he saw a poacher 
 standing over a stag which he had just shot. Meier 
 dashed at him ; they struggled long together, but at last 
 he overpowered the fellow, and binding his hands toge- 
 ther, took him as prisoner to Miesbach, to the house of the 
 head-forester. Here he got a light cart and horse, with 
 a lad for driver ; and making the poacher seat himself 
 beside the boy, Meier walked along near the cart, with 
 his rifle over his shoulder. As the man's hands were 
 tied firmly together, he thought there was no danger of 
 his attempting to escape. 
 
 " You know the road from Agathenried to Miesbach, 
 and how hilly and rough it is? Well, just as they 
 reached the steep hill, the poacher gave the lad who was 
 seated next to him a shove, and sent him out of the cart ; 
 then taking hold of the reins, which he could very well 
 do although he was handcuffed, made the horse set off 
 at full gallop down the hill. Meier, who was a little 
 behind, seeing the impossibility of overtaking him, le- 
 velled his rifle and shot him right through the middle of 
 the back. The man rolled out of the cart quite dead. 
 
 " This circumstance, as you may suppose, called forth 
 feelings of deadliest hate. All the poacher's friends were 
 mad with rage at their comrade's death. Month after 
 month this state of excitement lasted, and time did not 
 seem to abate their fury in the least. They only waited 
 for an opportunity to take their revenge. 
 
 * Gmund lies at the northern extremity of Tegemsee, on the border 
 of the lake. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 421 
 
 " It was perhaps a year, or may be a year and a half, 
 after Meier had shot the poacher, that he and Probst and 
 Fuchs caught a couple of peasants out stalking on the 
 Schuss Kogel; and having taken away their rifles, and 
 bound their hands behind them, marched both off to 
 the Justice at Miesbach. On their way (it was a most 
 incautious thing to do, and I cannot conceive how they 
 could act so) they stopped to rest on some moss in the 
 wood. It was a glade-like place, some few yards in 
 extent, with trees all round. They were sitting here 
 with their prisoners, their rifles beside them, when sud- 
 denly a band of armed men rushed out of the wood : 
 they had followed the keepers through the forest, and 
 had stalked close up to them unobserved. What could 
 three men do against such a number, attacked too as 
 they were quite unawares? The poachers beat them 
 dreadfully, and only left them when they thought all were 
 killed. * 
 
 " After a time Probst came to himself, and lifting his 
 head and looking round, saw the others covered with 
 blood, lying motionless on the ground. He got up and 
 tried to rouse them, but he found both were dead — 
 so at least he thought. He then, still bleeding and co- 
 vered with wounds, tottered homewards. After he was 
 gone, Fuchs recovered a little, and observed that Probst 
 was gone. He spoke to Meier, but found him dead. 
 Stunned and bewildered, and staggering, he still tried to 
 reach the nearest house, and made his way to Gmund, 
 which was about an hour and a half s walk distant. 
 Meier lived here, and Fuchs went straight to the cot- 
 tage to tell his wife what had befallen her husband, and 
 that he had been killed in the wood. Hardly had he fi- 
 nished his story when he fell forward, and dropped down 
 dead on the floor. The sudden change of temperature on 
 
422 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 coming into the warm room out of the fresh air, added 
 to the exertion and loss of blood, was no doubt the cause 
 of his instantaneous death. Probst survived, though the 
 wounds in his head were terrible. He had recognized 
 most of the men, but when thay were called upon for 
 their defence, each proved an alibi ; one bringing wit- 
 nesses to swear that on that day he was at a shooting- 
 match in a village some miles off, and another that at 
 such time he was in the Tyrol ; and thus they all managed 
 to escape." 
 
 It was my intention, had my indisposition not pre- 
 vented me, to have gone from Partenkirchen to Berch- 
 tesgaden, and endeavoured to obtain a day's stalking 
 there. I was particularly desirous to do so, not merely 
 on account of the abundance of game, but chiefly because 
 the mountains are different in feature to those where I 
 had hitherto been. They are wilder and more rugged,* 
 and the difficult places far more frequent. Narrow paths 
 along a ledge overhanging a precipice are sometimes not 
 to be avoided : they must be passed in order to proceed 
 further. In more than one place a wall of rock shuts 
 out all advance : a path is impossible in such a spot, 
 and yet if you could scale that perpendicular face of the 
 mountain, you would then be able to pursue your way 
 according to your pleasure. You have come so far, but 
 further no living thing, except a bird, can get unaided. 
 Nor is there any other spot where you may pass : this 
 wall of rock forms a break in your path of, it may be, 
 a dozen yards or so, and which but for this barrier 
 would have suffered no interruption. If you cannot 
 surmount the obstacle, you must retrace your steps 
 
 * Das steinerne Meer ("The ocean of stone") is here, — so called 
 from the jagged rocks that, rising up one behind the other, and extend- 
 ing on and on, look like the waves of a petrified sea. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 423 
 
 for hours, and climb up the other side of the moun- 
 tain. But to prevent the necessity of this, in such 
 places bars of iron have been driven into the rock and 
 left projecting sixteen or eighteen inches. They are 
 placed slantingly one above another, and by them, as on 
 the steps of a ladder, the hunter mounts up the steep 
 face of the rock. He must of course be careful that 
 his rifle does riot swing against it, and that nothing hap- 
 pens which might make him lose his balance while thus 
 hanging in the air. It is essential too that he should 
 observe which foot and hand he begins with ; for if he 
 put the wrong one first, he will hardly be able to go on ; 
 the bars being so arranged to receive, as he mounts, this 
 one the left, that one the right foot, and those above the 
 grasp of the right and left hand accordingly. To go up 
 such a place is not quite pleasant, but coming down is 
 still less so ; for in descending you are obliged to look 
 below to find the projecting piece of iron on which to 
 place your foot at the next step, and in doing this you 
 cannot prevent your eye perceiving the terrific depth be- 
 low ; and, as I said before, this is never agreeable. More- 
 over when coming downward it is somewhat embarrass- 
 ing to relinquish your hold of one iron bar, in order to 
 grasp the other below. 
 
 There are places in Berchtesgaden where a whole 
 mountain-ridge has but a single outlet, — one spot only 
 by which even a chamois can pass out. If therefore this 
 be stopped up by artificial means, a natural enclosure of 
 rocks is at once formed, shutting in, like a park-wall, 
 the game for many miles. This circumstance shows at 
 once the abruptness of their formation. The stags, that 
 might otherwise cross the lake by swimming, are pre- 
 vented from doing so by poles moored in deep water, and 
 left to float on the surface. "When the deer have reached 
 
42 -A CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 the poles, their progress is arrested ; for, being out of 
 their depth, they are unable to climb over them ; and 
 turning, swim back again to the shore. 
 
 It was here that Count Arco performed an exploit 
 which hardly the boldest hunter could surpass, — a deed 
 so very perilous that I never think of the several circum- 
 stances attending it, without feeling something like giddi- 
 ness and being ill at ease. Yet there is a strange charm 
 in danger; and as a child will ask for a tale to be re- 
 peated which it has already often heard and been fright- 
 ened at, so I inquired again about his adventure when 
 the other day we were once more together. 
 
 " Will you tell me," said I, " the story of your going 
 after the buck you shot near the Konigs See, — the ter- 
 rible place, you know, where in coming back you grew 
 giddy and sat down, and thought you would never be 
 able to get out again ?" 
 
 " That was on the Ober See where you mean, just op- 
 posite Thai BergWand ; but I thought you knew the story 
 already."* 
 
 " So I do," I replied ; " you told it us all a long time 
 ago, one day after dinner ; but I don't remember the par- 
 ticulars exactly, and I should like to hear it again." 
 
 " Well," said he, " this was how it happened : — I had 
 wounded a chamois, and as usual he climbed up and 
 passed along a wall of rock, where we lost sight of him. 
 We knew that he would not be able to get out further 
 on, for it was a terrible place, I can tell you." 
 
 " And very high up, was it not ?" I asked, interrupt- 
 ing him, — " right over the lake." 
 
 " Three thousand feet," he replied ; " not an inch less, 
 — that I am certain of: it was a perfect wall of rock, and 
 
 * The spot itself where this occurred is called Sailer Statt, and is on 
 the Walcli Hutt Wand. 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 425 
 
 below was the lake. But I do not mean to say that the 
 water was directly at the foot of the rock, though from 
 the great height it looked as if it were so. It was per- 
 haps fifty or sixty feet off, but that did not make much 
 difference. Nor was the wall of rock, though it looked 
 so, as perpendicular as a plummet line; sometimes it 
 receded, and then advanced again, as is always the case. 
 If you had fallen, you might have bounded off from 
 some projecting crag once or twice, but would at last 
 have dropped into the lake, though not quite at the foot 
 of the mountain. Well, we all said that the chamois, if 
 left quiet, would be sure to come down again, and that it 
 was better to leave him now and not follow him. The 
 thing was, I believe, if the truth were told, none of us 
 had any wish to go along that narrow ledge ; and we 
 therefore persuaded ourselves the best thing would be 
 not to disturb him. But we first made a fire, to prevent 
 his coming back, and thus had him safe where he was till 
 the morrow." 
 
 " This was in the afternoon ?" 
 
 " Yes, and we then went home. The next day, when 
 out stalking, I looked across with my glass from a moun- 
 tain opposite to where I thought he must be ; and sure 
 enough I saw him on a projecting ledge, leaning against 
 a pine that grew out of a crevice in the rock." 
 
 " Was he not dead then V' I asked. 
 
 " Yes, he was dead ; but he must have expired while 
 leaning against the tree, for he was sitting exactly as if 
 alive; had no tree been there, he would have rolled 
 over, and we should never have seen anything more of 
 him. Well, I then went to see about fetching him out, 
 but they all said it was quite impossible to get along the 
 ledge. However the chamois was there, and I was de- 
 termined not to lose him, without at least making a trial 
 
426 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 to reach the place. So I went first, and a young forester 
 and one of the wood- cutters followed." 
 
 " How broad was the ledge?" I asked. 
 
 " It was nowhere broader than from here to there," 
 he replied, pointing to two lines in the flooring of the 
 room, marking a space of seventeen inches wide; "broader 
 than that it was nowhere — of that I am certain ; but in 
 many parts it was not larger than this border," pointing 
 to some inlaid woodwork, seven inches wide ; " and on one 
 side, rising up above you, the wall of rock, and on the 
 other a depth of three thousand feet down to the lake. 
 We went along some way, when there, right before us, 
 was a gap, — not very broad, it is true, but still too wide 
 to step across, or even for a jump. The cleft was perhaps 
 five and a half feet wide, and below in the chasm it was 
 wild and frightful to look at." 
 
 " But how was it possible to pass ?" 
 
 " We had a tree cut down, and flung the stem across, 
 and went over one after the other. At last we reached 
 the place where the chamois lay. It was a green spot, 
 just large enough for us three to stand upon, — as nearly 
 the size of this round table as may be (forty-two inches 
 in diameter) , only it was rather longer at one end, which 
 gave us more room to open and clean the chamois. Now 
 we had to return, and to carry the buck with us ; that 
 was the most difficult part of our undertaking." 
 
 " It was in going back you grew giddy, was it not ?" 
 
 " Yes, for the first time in my life. It was not ex- 
 actly giddiness either, but rather fright, — a feeling that 
 now it was all over with me, and that I should never 
 come out again. But there was no time to lose, or it 
 would really have been all over with me ; so pulling out 
 my flask, I took a long draught of the spirit that was in 
 it, and sat down to recover myself." 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 427 
 
 "But where? — not on the narrow ledge surely?" 
 
 " Yes, on the ledge, with my feet hanging over. I 
 was obliged to sit down. I sat there for about a quarter 
 of an hour. But then came the getting up, — that was 
 a difficult piece of work ; for as the ledge was narrow, I 
 could not turn, as I should have done anywhere else ; 
 for, if I had, my shoulder or elbow or head might have 
 knocked against the rock behind me, and that, causing 
 me to lose my balance, would have sent me over; so I 
 was obliged to get first one foot up very carefully, and 
 then at last the other, and when that was done, all the 
 rest I managed well enough. Nothing on earth however 
 should ever induce me to go that way again." 
 
 " How long was the way altogether ?" I asked, — " the 
 ledge that projected from the face of the rock?" 
 
 "Altogether about two hundred yards. But then 
 you must not think it was everywhere so narrow as this 
 strip of wood, though often it was not broader ; nor was 
 the rock at our side everywhere quite perpendicular; 
 but sometimes it sloped back, now more, now less, which 
 of course made it much easier for us. If it had been 
 the whole way so narrow, nobody in the world could 
 have borne it ; and the rock was not everywhere quite 
 smooth ; but here and there, exactly perhaps where the 
 ledge was narrowest, would be a little roughness or pro- 
 jection, on which we could hold with our fingers; and 
 that, you know, was quite enough to make the passage 
 possible. For example, at the gap across which we flung 
 the tree ; there, rising up from below, was the point of 
 a rock. We could just lay hold of it, by stooping down 
 as we crossed our narrow bridge. This was a lucky 
 chance, for without such help we could not possibly have 
 passed, there being nothing on either side to steady our- 
 selves by : the cleft in the rock went all the way up, and 
 
428 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 to walk across that fir-tree like a rope- dancer, three thou- 
 sand feet high in the air, was no joke. As it was, that 
 chance piece of rock helped ns over capitally." 
 
 "But the rock, I suppose, rose some height beside 
 you, did it not ? for, if not, it must have been very diffi- 
 cult to make an aid of it in crossing." 
 
 "No," he replied, "the rock only came up just to 
 about the tree. That was the difficulty: we had to 
 stoop down, almost sitting on the ground, and planting 
 one foot firmly on the ledge, to slide the other forward, 
 till we thought we could manage to reach as far as to 
 the point of rock, without losing our balance. We 
 tried first of course, then stretched out one hand further 
 and further, till at last we had reached it. Once in our 
 hand, it was all right. Then the other foot was to be 
 gently advanced close to the first ; and again slided care- 
 fully forwards to the opposite ledge ; and when it was 
 firmly planted there, and we thought we were well ba- 
 lanced, the bit of rock was let go, and the foot still on 
 the middle of the tree was quickly brought up beside 
 the other. Luckily the rock rose just in the centre of 
 the gap ; for if it had been nearer one side or the other 
 we could not have accomplished the passage, as it would 
 then have been impossible to reach and lay hold of the 
 stone, while one foot was still on firm ground." 
 
 " When you came back, how did you lift the chamois 
 over the gap?" I inquired. "You surely did not carry 
 him over ?" 
 
 " No indeed, it was as much as we could do to get 
 over ourselves, without having a dead weight like that 
 at our backs. When we had him so far, we pushed him 
 forwards on the tree, till one of us on the opposite side 
 could lay hold of his fore-legs and pull him over ; but 
 we tied him first to a rock : we dared not trust to our 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 429 
 
 being able to bold him ; for bad he slipped wbile in our 
 hands, be would have pulled us over too." 
 
 " But/' said I, " to me it is unintelligible how it is 
 possible to get along a ledge so narrow, when you have 
 a wall close beside you. Your own shoulder or hip, 
 knocking against it, must make you lose your balance. 
 It is all very well when the face of the rock inclines 
 away from you ; but when straight up, — that is what I 
 do not understand." And I tried to move alongside the 
 wall of the room with my body close against it. 
 
 " In that way of course you cannot," said he, watch- 
 ing me. " For it is an old joke to place a person with 
 one foot close against a wall, parallel with it, and to 
 tell him to lift up the other. He is unable to do it of 
 course ; he loses his balance at once ; but move your 
 foot a little, with your toes to the wall, and heel over- 
 hanging the ledge," he continued, and trying the ex- 
 periment himself, while he spoke, — " no, that is not 
 quite enough yet, — a little more, — ah ! yes, that will 
 do now. You see now I can lift up the other foot." 
 And turning with his face to the wall, he moved a 
 step in advance. "And then, as I said before, the 
 wall is seldom quite straight, and one can hold on a 
 little here and there. But it was not merely ourselves 
 — there was the tree — we had to go back and drag the 
 tree along the ledge." 
 
 iC I only wonder that you found any one to accom- 
 pany you. I am surprised that, when the others saw 
 you were determined to venture, they did not let you 
 make the attempt alone." 
 
 " No, no," he replied, " they would not do that ; first 
 they think that they climb better than any one else; 
 and that, where a gentleman goes, they can also. Beside 
 this, I must say, all those fellows in the mountains never 
 
430 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 desert you in time of need : they have a feeling of ho- 
 nour, which I never met with in a like degree elsewhere ; 
 / went, and that was enough ; they then would be sure 
 not to stay behind." 
 
 " It is the only time you were giddy : I suppose it is 
 the ugliest place you ever were in, is it not ?" 
 
 " Why yes, I cannot remember having been in any 
 more dangerous. But what was so disagreeable in this 
 case, was having to return by the same path : that makes 
 the matter a thousand times worse. In going the first 
 time, if you do feel uncomfortable, you have the conso- 
 lation of knowing that you are leaving the danger be- 
 hind you, and that every step brings you nearer the ac- 
 complishment of your undertaking. Besides, the first 
 time the difficulties are all new ; you are not aware how 
 great they are, till you are in the very midst of them 
 and they are half over ; and, before you have time to get 
 ill at ease, they are nearly passed : but in coming back 
 again the same way, you have a foreknowledge of the 
 danger to be incurred; you remember what you felt 
 when in the difficult situation the first time, and have 
 an unwillingness, a thorough disinclination, to endure 
 the same once more. All is so fresh in your mind, that 
 you hang back when called on to do it over again. And 
 as you proceed, in approaching some ugly place, your 
 thoughts are occupied with it all the while : instead of 
 being calm, you are excited, and fancy makes the diffi- 
 culty greater even than it is. If fear once gets hold of 
 you under such circumstances, you are almost surely 
 lost. It was fear, not giddiness, that overcame me, and 
 made me sit down ; for had I been giddy, I could not 
 have looked, as I did, into the depth below ; but it was 
 a feeling of horror at the place I was in, a shuddering 
 dread that I could not shake off. What I drank saved 
 
CHAPTER THE LAST. 431 
 
 me : without it I should not have been able to free my 
 self from that overwhelming anxiety." 
 
 But it is time this last Chapter should come to a close. 
 In it I have dwelt purposely on the particular sources of 
 joy for him who follows the game upon the mountain and 
 in the forest, and the varied excitements that from time 
 to time will stir up his heart. I have spoken of the feel- 
 ings which the grand appearances that hourly present 
 themselves awaken in his soul ; of the power which the 
 stupendous forms that everywhere uprear themselves 
 around him exercise over his mind. In the others it was 
 my wish, while describing the art of chamois-hunting, to 
 give some account of mountain life ; to introduce it as a 
 fitting background, although not absolutely necessary to 
 bring out the principal objects of the picture. 
 
 With regard to the accounts of each day's stalking, it 
 must be remembered that, except in the Tyrol, I hunted 
 always in places where the chamois had been harried in 
 the preceding years, and where consequently scarcely a 
 head of game was left. Success therefore was difficult 
 of attainment, though all the sweeter on that account 
 than it would have been under more favourable circum- 
 stances. It is perhaps well that it often was so uncer- 
 tain, for repeated fruitless attempts teach more than the 
 brightest good-fortune j and, after all, one learns nothing 
 really well except by such experience. Be it not thought, 
 hovrever, that in saying this I mean to exalt myself into 
 an authority ; I am well aware that, between my expe- 
 rience in chamois-hunting and that of a sportsman like 
 Count Max Arco, there is about as much difference as 
 might be found in the military knowledge of a lieute- 
 
432 
 
 CHAMOIS HUNTING, 
 
 nant who had served a campaign, and that of a Wel- 
 lington or Radetsky. Such as it is, however, the record 
 is a faithful one ; in no one instance am I conscious of 
 exaggeration, or that a single assertion may be found 
 which is not truth. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 2 F 
 
435 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Note. — Page 50. 
 
 Although since 1848 the chase in all parts of Germany has 
 suffered severely, the quantity of game in various parts of the 
 country is still great. In the chase immediately under the su- 
 pervision of the Crown Sanger (Grand Falconer), were shot in 
 1854, in the districts Laxemburg, Auhof, and Prater, — 
 
 Hinds . . 
 Wild-boars 
 Fallow-deer 
 Roe- deer 
 Hares . 
 Rabbits . 
 Pheasants 
 
 On the domain of 
 Eisgrub, Feldsberg. 
 
 Ill 
 
 260 
 
 710 
 
 88 
 
 77 
 
 19,637 
 
 2,159 
 
 6,258 
 
 Partridges 
 
 Martens 
 Pole-cats 
 
 Weasels 
 
 7,077 
 
 66 
 
 178 
 
 1,168 
 
 1,264 
 
 4 
 
 1,617 
 
 393 
 
 Hawks . 
 Sparrow-hawks 
 
 Prince Lichtenstein — in the four districts 
 Lundenburg, Rabensburg — were shot, from 
 
 August 29 to the end of December, 1856,- 
 
 Stags (Harts) 
 Hinds . . 
 Fallow-calves 
 Roebucks . . 
 Hares . . . 
 
 47 
 156 
 131 ' 
 
 52 
 13,933 
 
 Pheasants . 
 Partridges . 
 Quails . . 
 Wild-ducks 
 
 5,709 
 
 2,977 
 
 42 
 
 857 
 
 Note. — Page 85. 
 
 ON SCHNADAHUPFLN. 
 
 In the highlands of Bavaria, as is the case in all mountainous 
 districts, the customs and amusements of the inhabitants are as 
 different from those who dwell in the plain, as the pursuits and 
 mode of life of the latter are different from those of the moun- 
 
 2 e 2 
 
436 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 taineer. Separated, except by occasional intercourse, for many 
 months in the year from the world below them, the herdsmen 
 must be content with pleasures simple in themselves and easy of 
 attainment. Hence that peculiar song, " Jodeln," with which 
 the lonely milk-maid of the chalet, the woodcutter, or the pea- 
 sant-boy " drives the lagging hours along," and breaks the awful 
 silence of mountain solitude. As soon however as a few men 
 and lassies are assembled, they have not to seek long for amuse- 
 ment. Then begins the merry dance, peculiar to these people, 
 mingled with song ; and should the number be too small to af- 
 ford them this their favourite recreation, then the cherished and 
 dearly-loved cithern is soon upon the table, and accompanying 
 with its simple, unassuming melody, some equally simple love- 
 ditty or song of hunting life. 
 
 The affection the peasantry bear this instrument is very great: 
 its tones affect them more than any instrument of greater preten- 
 sions would have power to do. 
 
 " Well, 'faith, it is the strangest tiling ! 
 
 What's in a cithern's tone ? 
 It moves the heart, and makes it sad, 
 
 As I've heard many own. 
 And then it is so sweet and gay, 
 
 And sounds in merry style ; 
 'Tis just as though you bravely laugh'd, 
 
 And yet did weep the while."* 
 
 But the most peculiar kind of song, and a very favourite pas- 
 time of the people throughout Bavaria, particularly in the south- 
 ern parts, in Suabia, the Tyrol, Upper Austria, and Styria, are 
 the so-called " Schnadahupfln." These songs consist of short 
 verses, not unlike the " Couplets" of the French, and generally 
 contain some figurative comparison, taken from external nature, 
 or from the occupations and pleasures of the hunter or the hus- 
 bandman, and are always of a humorous, gay, or sportive cha- 
 racter. By far the greater number have Love for their theme, 
 and describe the lover or his " dearie," some love adventure or 
 a lover's grief. The Spanish " Seguidillas" were somewhat like 
 them : they too were sung to the guitar during the dance, and 
 were frequently improvised. Seven lines was their usual length, 
 
 * Kobell's Gedichte. 
 
NOTES. 437 
 
 and their subject a droll simile, or more generally some dalliance 
 with love.* 
 
 With regard to the form of the " Schnadahiipfln," it ought, 
 strictly speaking, to consist of not more than four lines, in which 
 a thought, complete in itself, and as was said before, a compa- 
 rison, should be expressed. Occasionally what is wished to be 
 said is extended to two verses, but more are seldom employed. 
 It is material that the lines should rhyme ; and so particular is 
 the singer that his verse should flow musically, that not unfre- 
 quently two of the four lines have no reference to the principal 
 thoughts, but are introduced merely for the jingle. These verses 
 are, as may be supposed, extremely simple, but some are very 
 charming; and when sung to music, the cithern is the instru- 
 ment, more particularly in the mountains, where the freshest 
 songs of this description are to be heard. 
 
 When many persons are together, the way of singing them is 
 as follows : one begins, and then the others sing each a " Schna- 
 dahupfl" in succession; but each one ought either to be an 
 answer to that which preceded, or, from an allusion made to 
 something in the foregoing one, to spring as it were from it, and 
 in this way form a connection between the two. These verses 
 are very frequently extempore ; and there are some persons who 
 for hours will continue thus singing against each other, till a 
 succession of strophes have arisen, each one separate and com- 
 plete in itself, yet, like beads on a string, forming part of a whole 
 and having reference to the rest. When such a trial of skill has 
 commenced, he who at last can think of nothing more to say, 
 
 * The Gipsy songs, such as Borrow describes them in ' The Zincali,' 
 have a still nearer resemblance to the " Schnadahiipfln." 
 
 " The Gipsy poetry consists of quartets, or rather couplets, but two 
 rhymes being discernible, and these generally imperfect, the vowels 
 alone agreeing in sound. The thought, anecdote, or adventure de- 
 scribed, is seldom carried beyond one stanza, in which anything is 
 expressed which the poet wishes to impart. The musician composes 
 the couplet at the stretch of his voice, whilst his fingers are tugging 
 at the guitar ; which style of composition is by no means favourable to 
 a long and connected series of thought. Of course the greatest part of 
 this species of poetry perishes as soon as born. A stanza however is 
 sometimes caught up by the by-standers and committed to memory, and 
 being frequently repeated, makes in time the circuit of the country." 
 
438 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 and is consequently unable to sing his Schnadahupfl in reply, is 
 heartily laughed at by the rest, while shouts of applause reward 
 the other for his ability and wit. 
 
 Such verse, being written in a dialect, it is almost impossible 
 to render in another language, and quite so to do it justice. In 
 the original the words are often much abbreviated, and when 
 read or sung, run so much into one another that a line sounds 
 but as a single word* I give however some specimens in 
 English, beginning with those that tell what are the character- 
 istics of a Schnadahiipfl. 
 
 1. 
 A good Schnadahiipfl 
 
 Must be bold and daring ; 
 Must climb the high mountains, 
 For no danger caring. 
 
 2,3. 
 A good Schnadahupfl 
 
 Is a bird in a wood, — 
 If drooping and moaning, 
 
 A sign that's not good. 
 For a good Schnadahiipfl 
 
 Is the dance of a song, 
 And a sorrowful dance, 'faith, 
 
 It does not last long. 
 
 4. 
 And a good Schnadahiipfl 
 
 Leads a right merry life, 
 Like an old wandering fifer 
 
 Gladdens all with his fife. 
 
 5. 
 And a good Schnadahupfl 
 
 Is a flower of the field ; 
 True, 'tis not much heeded, 
 
 Yet all like the chield. 
 
 For example 
 
 A' Tanna is grea', 
 Is's lahr aus a Jahr ei', 
 Und a' freudigi Lieb' 
 Muass a' bstandigi sey'." 
 
NOTES. 439 
 
 6. 
 
 I want but a flow' ret, 
 
 ISo posy want I ; 
 And a kiss now and then too 
 
 Yon must not deny. 
 
 7. 
 Now, don't ye refuse me — 
 
 I've only had two ! 
 Come, give me the third kiss — 
 
 'Tis no good to you. 
 8. 
 And as true as clouds oft dim 
 
 The blue sky above, 
 So as true without jealousy 
 
 Never was love. 
 
 9. 
 And love has a language 
 
 That's everywhere known ; 
 And when that's no more spoken 
 
 The sun will fall down. 
 10. 
 If every star there 
 
 Were but a fair lass, 
 I wish the whole sky then 
 
 Would fall in the grass. 
 11. 
 The Turk and the Russian 
 
 Are nothing to me, 
 If only my N anny 
 
 And I do agree. 
 12. 
 And green is a fir-tree 
 
 Right all the year through : 
 And a love that is happy 
 
 Must be constant too. 
 13. 
 And were there no flowers 
 
 The bees' life were sad ; 
 And were there no lasses 
 
 The lads would go mad. 
 
440 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 14 
 
 .And a blossom don't grow- 
 On a dry wither' d stump ; 
 
 And you can't sing a song 
 If your heart's a dead lump. 
 
 15. 
 
 A bore will not often 
 
 Do wonders, I ween ; 
 Just in wild dashing waters 
 
 The rainbow is seen. 
 
 16. 
 
 A mind that is happy 
 
 Is a sunshiny day ; 
 Around all is brightness, 
 
 Look wherever you may. 
 
 17. 
 
 And a mind not contented 
 
 Is rain, fog, and haze; 
 You see nothing pleasing 
 
 Wherever you gaze. 
 
 With the exception of the first six verses, the "Schnadahupfln" 
 are not taken in the order observed in the original ; yet in the 
 selection I have endeavoured to make choice of such as, when 
 strung together, would follow each other in the proper order, and 
 have been anxious to give those in which the character of these 
 songs was most decidedly marked. The attentive reader will 
 certainly have observed that in No. 6 the singer has seized on the 
 " flower " mentioned in the preceding verse, as a subject on which 
 to form his stanza ; and having introduced something about a 
 kiss, he who follows weaves it, as it were, into his verse, of which 
 he makes it the subject. Nos. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13 do not so 
 visibly spring one from the other, though the theme is still the 
 same in each. Nos. 14, 15, 1 6, and 17 refer again to one and 
 the same subject, — the blessing of a happy and contented dispo- 
 sition. The following are strung together at random, taken like 
 the rest from Eobell's book of " Schnadahupfln." 
 A tree is not an emperor, 
 
 Yet has it a crown, 
 And the birds and gold- chafers 
 
 The jewels thereon. 
 
NOTES. 441 
 
 Though young be the oak, yet 
 
 At one glance you see 
 'Twill be something more than 
 
 A poor willow-tree. 
 
 And a brook finds its way on 
 
 Without much ado ; 
 And a lad finds his lassie, 
 
 If his love's really true. 
 
 Fidelity's often 
 
 Like a Schnadahiifi — 
 Before you can look round 
 
 'Tis done or gone by. 
 
 And often Fidelity's 
 
 Like a stag's horn — ■ 
 Lost quickly, nor soon found 
 
 When once it is lorn. 
 
 In some parts these " Schnadahiipfln " are sung during the 
 dance. One of the dancers — he generally who leads off the figure 
 — advances then to the music, sings his verse, returns to his 
 place, and the dance is continued as before. 
 
 Such then is one of the favourite pastimes of the Bavarian 
 mountaineer. ]STo description however can give an adequate idea 
 of the merry scene, when on a holiday such a party has met 
 together. The youths, with their picturesque dresses, and hats 
 proudly decorated with the feathers of the blackcock, and a tuft 
 of long hair from the back of some sturdy chamois or throat of 
 the noble hart, with a gay posy peeping from among these tro- 
 phies of the chase, — the village maidens, with their boddices 
 of brightest colours, bordered with gold and laced with chains of 
 silver, to which hang medals of the same metal, — their high green 
 hats trimmed with bright flowers, and edelweis, and tasselled cord 
 of gold and green, — their light brown hair in ample braids, show- 
 ing itself beneath the broad rim of the hat,— the shrill cry which 
 from time to time is sent forth in moments of wild hilarity, — the 
 snapping of fingers, with which, castanet-like, they keep time 
 during the dance, — and, heard above all the noise, the cithern's 
 tones, like those of an vEolian harp, — all together tends to form 
 a scene of rural festivity, to which, for picturesqueness of appear- 
 ance, or for good hearty fellowship, it would not be easy to find 
 a parallel. 
 
442 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 The following is the melody to which the Schnadahiipfl is 
 
 Jodler. 
 
 Tn Wales, according to Mr. W. Leathart, a similar kind of song, 
 called " Pennillion," still affords a pleasant pastime. " They ori- 
 ginated probably in the Bardism of the ancient Britons, and were 
 chanted to the harp from the earliest recorded period. This 
 Pennillion consists in singing stanzas, either attached or detached, 
 of various lengths and metre, to any tune which the harper may 
 play ; for it is irregular, and in fact not allowable, for any par- 
 ticular one to be chosen. Two, three, or four bars having been 
 played, the singer takes it up, and this is clone according as the 
 Pennil, or stanza, may suit ; lie must end precisely with the strain, 
 and he therefore commences in any part he may please. To the 
 stranger it has the appearance of beginning in the middle of a line 
 or verse, but which is not the case. Different tunes require a 
 different number of verses to complete it ; sometimes only one. 
 
NOTES. 443 
 
 sometimes four or six, as will be perceived in the directions for 
 singing. It is then taken up by the nest, and thus it proceeds 
 through as many as choose to join in the pastime, twice round, 
 and ending with the person that began." 
 
 Note.— Page 121. 
 POISON-EATING* 
 
 For those who have to climb mountains, one essential quality 
 is, not easily to get out of breath. Any means therefore of ob- 
 taining such a desideratum will naturally be eagerly sought after, 
 and when found as eagerly employed. 
 
 In some districts of Lower Austria and Styria, especially in 
 those parts bordering on Hungary, arsenic is taken for this pur- 
 pose, as it makes the respiration much easier in ascending moun- 
 tains. Whenever the individual has to mount a considerable 
 height, a minute morsel of the poison is taken and allowed gra- 
 
 # These observations on arsenic-eating are condensed from papers 
 which I sent to Chambers' Journal in 1851, 1853, and 1856, and which at 
 the time attracted so much attention that more than thirty-two journals, 
 English, French, Italian, and German, copied them into their pages. 
 From England and Ireland letters reached me, requesting information 
 on the subject. One poor gentleman, imagining, no doubt, I was a phy- 
 sician, wrote to me about the close he was to take ; for he said, " I have 
 almost decided on trying the effect of arsenic on me, as I cannot find 
 anything else to fatten me, and I have scarcely any flesh on my bones, 
 and seem to get thinner every day." I answered his letter according to 
 his request ; urgently counselling him however not to think of acquiring 
 the habit, and representing to Mm the evils attendant on its practice ; 
 saying, in short, everything to dissuade him from his intention. My cor- 
 respondent probably died soon after from consumption, or may-be from 
 an over-dose of self-prescribed arsenic, for my letter was returned to me 
 some months afterwards by the post-office authorities, it never having 
 been called for or claimed by any one. The papers in question were re- 
 ferred to by the ' Times ' in connection with a certain " slow poisoning 
 case ;" and at Madeline Smith's trial they were also again alluded to : 
 proofs sufficient that the novel information they contained was found in- 
 teresting, and an adequate excuse therefore for introducing the subject 
 here. 
 
444 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 dually to dissolve. The effect is surprising ; and heights are thus 
 ascended with ease which otherwise could be climbed only with 
 much distress to the chest. The peasantry are much given to 
 this habit. They obtain the arsenic, under the name of hedri, from 
 the travelling hucksters and gatherers of herbs, who, on their 
 side, get it from the glass-blowers, quacks, and cow-doctors. But 
 the poison-eaters have sometimes another aim besides that of a 
 freer respiration ; to obtain, namely, a fresh, healthy appear- 
 ance, and acquire a certain degree of embonpoint. On this account, 
 therefore, village lads and lasses employ not unfrequently this 
 dangerous agent in order to become more attractive to each 
 other ; and it is really astonishing with what favourable results 
 their endeavours are attended, for it is just the youthful poison- 
 eaters who are, generally speaking, distinguished by a blooming 
 complexion, and an appearance of exuberant health. 
 
 When the dose is suddenly and considerably increased, the 
 effect is fatal ; although the quantity taken at once and innocu- 
 ously by those long in the habit of poison-eating is quite astound- 
 ing. Generally the use of arsenic is kept a profound secret by 
 those who indulge in it ; and it is only the confessional or the 
 death-bed that raises the veil from the terrible secret. 
 
 There are cases however where it is taken by the educated as a 
 
 preservative against some besetting evil, as with Mr. F. St. , 
 
 director of the arsenic-mines at , who has been accustomed 
 
 to take daily a small quantity of arsenic in powder on his bread 
 and butter at breakfast for years. He takes it, he asserts, to pro- 
 tect him from the injurious effects arising from the fabrication of 
 arsenic. And the quantity he eats is not weighed : he is guided 
 in the dose solely by the eye, taking it on the tip of his knife as 
 we might a certain quantum of salt. He enjoys the most ex- 
 cellent health ; and his workmen are instructed by him how to 
 proceed in the employment of arsenic, in order to preserve them- 
 selves from the hurtful effects caused by its preparation. The 
 quantity daily taken by this gentleman was found, on being 
 weighed, to be nearly four grains. 
 
 Some believe it must be taken when the moon is on the in- 
 crease, and never, except under peculiar circumstances, when it 
 is on the wane. 
 
 As with opium-eating, as soon as the habit is discontinued, a 
 painful craving and a derangement of the organs are experienced. 
 
NOTES. 445 
 
 He who was never ill before, grows an invalid ; and tlie only cure 
 is a return to the customary poison. 
 
 It has been discovered lately that among the chamois-hunters 
 of Salzburg as well as those of Styria, the custom of arsenic- 
 eating is very general. All who practise it, however, deny that 
 they do so with the utmost obstinacy : and there is nothing hardly 
 that will make them confess their propensity. It is the same with 
 the opium-eater, of whom there are many more in England than 
 most people suppose. 
 
 To give horses, pigs, and cattle arsenic in order to improve their 
 appearance, is a common custom ; and it would not be uninterest- 
 ing to inquire whether the favourable effect produced on animals 
 by small doses of arsenic, first led men to apply it to them- 
 selves, or whether it was tried on the brute after having been 
 found so serviceable in the economy of the human being. 
 
 A circumstance has come to my knowledge lately, which is in- 
 teresting, inasmuch as it shows that the fact of arsenic being taken 
 otherwise than medicinally is known more generally than at first 
 seemed to be the case. I was told by a person of whom I made 
 inquiries concerning the use of arsenic in stable economy, that 
 he remembered long ago to have read that Napoleon was in the 
 habit of taking arsenic, to ensure himself against being poisoned. 
 As I had never heard this report before, I inquired of other per- 
 sons in quite another sphere of life, and of them too I learned 
 that the tale was not new. Now, whether true or not that Napo- 
 leon did take arsenic, — though his known inclination to stoutness, 
 later in life, might seem to lend additional probability to the 
 story, — it is sufficient that such report was current, to show that 
 arsenic-eating not only existed, but was generally known to exist ; 
 for without such foundation, no one would have ever thought of 
 building up so seemingly improbable a fiction. All popular tra- 
 ditions, if traced back, will be found to derive their strength and 
 vitality from having sprung up in the atmosphere of truth ; al- 
 though by the time they have come down to us they may be 
 overgrown with the moss of ages, till their outward appearance 
 is changed, and they look wizard-like and unearthly. 
 
 For further information see three papers in Nos. 416 and 493, 
 Chambers' Edinburgh Journal, New Series ; and No. 110, Cham- 
 bers' Journal of Popular Literature. 
 
446 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 
 
 Note.— Page 373. 
 
 Kahr, or Kara. — Julius Frobel, in his ' Journey through the 
 less known Valleys on the northern side of the Pennonian Alps,' 
 remarks : " This word is doubtless of the same stock as the 
 Gaelic Carr, rocks, and Cam (Cairn), a heap of stones." In the 
 language of the inhabitants of these valleys, many words, as it 
 would seem, are to be found of Celtic origin; and from some pecu- 
 liar customs common both to these people and those of Wales 
 and the Erinach, or Celtic Irish, the inference is drawn that 
 "Celtic life maintained itself in these valleys more independently 
 than elsewhere, where a Romance language is spoken." 
 
 The mode of singing, also alluded to in the Chapter "Pepi's 
 Cottage," where all present stood in a circle taking each other's 
 hands, and moving to and fro with a swaying motion, is similar to 
 a custom of the Highlanders of Scotland, so Mr. W. Leathart re- 
 lates, "quite peculiar to themselves." "When a song is to be sung, 
 the 'parties all round the room take hold of each other s plaids, or 
 if in English dress, they employ their pocket-handkerchiefs for 
 the same purpose. The song commences; one sings the verse, and 
 all beat time with their plaids or kerchiefs, rowing, as it were, 
 to and fro ; in the chorus all join, still beating time, and thus the 
 song proceeds. This mode of singing they call Oran Luathaidh. 
 Shaw, in his 'Gaelic Analysis,' accounts for it as having originated 
 in the fulling of cloth by the feet, before the improved method 
 was introduced." 
 
 This sort of song, as here described, is an exact counterpart of 
 that chanted in my presence at Pepi's cottage on the evening of 
 the Heimgarten. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 PRINTED BY J. E. TAYLOR, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN S INN FIELDS. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 In One Volume, fcp. 8vo, 4s., 
 
 VERSE. 
 
 1834-1858. 
 
 " The traces of art are to be detected in all these poems ; but we also 
 recognize in the author one who sings from his soul, and has a most 
 abundant love of human nature." Athenjettm. 
 
 " Charles Boner has fairly won his place among the poets of the 
 day." Bell's Weekly Messengee. 
 
 " Upon every page we find illustrations of the true poetical genius 
 possessed by the author. Seldom have we taken up a collection of 
 poems which indicated a deeper or keener sympathy with, and love 
 of, nature, whether in her beautiful or least attractive moods." 
 
 Mobbing Heeald. 
 
 "There is delicate and pleasant reading in Mr. Boner's book of 
 1 Verse.' " Examinee. 
 
 " Of human affairs he (Mr. Boner) can write with exquisite tender- 
 ness, or rise on the wings of imagination to a higher sphere. He is 
 bold to a fault. He wrote ' Cain,' where Byron had trod before, and 
 here in a volume of miscellaneous poems he lias ventured where Keats 
 was great, perhaps greatest. Even with Keats' s rapturous poem, 'The 
 Nightingale,' still ringing in our memory, we cannot but say that 
 Charles Boner comes out of the comparison with wonderful success. 
 This alone should give him a place among our poets." Ceitic. 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
BY THE SAME AUTHOR. 
 
 In crown Svo, cloth, 
 
 CAIN: 
 
 A DEAMATIC POEM. 
 
 "The writer of this poem is the same Charles Boner whose book on 
 'Chamois Hunting' has delighted many readers. . . . The poem is 
 marked by no little vigour of thought and variety of feeling. What 
 Mr. Boner has written is good, and very different in spirit from what 
 wTiters of the Byron school would have made out of the subject." 
 
 LlTEEAEY GrAZETTE. 
 
 " At times the diction has great vigour and purity ; and the influence 
 of mountain scenery on the restless and impassioned mind of Cain is 
 well described." Westminstee Eeview. 
 
 In croivn 8vo, cloth, 
 
 THE NEW DANCE OF DEATH, 
 
 AND OTHEE POEMS. 
 
 " In the principal of these poems there is great power and origi- 
 nality. Death is personified with a boldness often highly poetical." 
 
 Dublin Eeview. 
 
 " There is no writer of verse at the present day whose works are im- 
 bued with a healthier tone and purer spirit than Charles Boner. His 
 language is unaffected, vigorous, and pure, — at times full of strength 
 and power ; at others, replete with tenderness and melody. The last 
 poem which Mr. Boner published was, we believe, his ' Cain,' a masterly 
 production in conception, and beautiful in versification. We have now 
 before us a shorter work, of less pretensions, but scarcely less beauty. 
 It is a moving picture, or rather a succession of pictures, all connected 
 by one thread, ah illustrating one pervading thought, and that thought 
 a high and noble one— the vindication of the ways of Providence to man 
 in the happier views of death, which are here beautifully contrasted 
 with the painful, gloomy, and unworthy notions ordinarily entertained. 
 We strongly call attention to the merits of this little work." 
 
 Bell's Weekly Messengee. 
 
 CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 
 
RETURN CIRCULATION DEPARTMENT 
 
 TO— •*• 202 Main Library 
 
 LOAN PERIOD 1 
 HOME USE 
 
 2 ; 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 ( 
 
 b 
 
 ALL BOOKS MAY BE RECALLED AFTER 7 DAYS 
 
 1 -month loans may be renewed by calling 642-3405 
 
 6-month loans may be recharged by bringing books to Circulation Desk 
 
 Renewals and recharges may be made 4 days prior to due date 
 
 DUE AS STAMPED BELOW 
 
 
 
 
 MAY 21 19i 
 
 4 
 
 
 APR 1 1 1986 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 MwmMivy 
 
 
 
 MAY 9 198( 
 
 
 
 *m*Qmmm 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY 
 FORM NO. DD6, 60m, 12/80 BERKELEY CA 94720 
 
 ®s 
 
VB 
 
 I LV0 7 
 
 M311973 
 
 GENERAL LIBRARY - U.C. BERKELEY 
 
 II III III 1 1 III II III III 
 
 BQ00fl2bQ7S