a55 On the Wild Goat of the Alps. 



addrefs, a motive, indeed, of little importance to a being \vh<5 

 thinks himfelf the fovereign of anmials, but who is only their 

 tyrant, and knows no other laws than thofe of the ftrongell, 

 the hunters ought to confider, before they leave their wives 

 and families, that they not only expofe thenifelves to be 

 killed, or maimed during the remainder of their lives *, but 

 negleft their property and affairs, and, if they peridi, their 

 families are reduced to beggary. If thefe confiderations are 

 not fufficiently ftrong to deter them from this kind of hunt- 

 ing, let them rcflc6t, that they can entertain no hope of 

 making their fortunes ; fince no one acquires riches by this 

 occupation, but, on the contrary, they are often lamed, and 

 drag out their exiftence in mifery. But fuch is the force of 

 habit and the power of illufion, that the accidents which 

 happen to the hunters do not deter them ; for they are 

 fcarcelv cured when they return to the fame occupation f. 



The wild goat of Siberia, as may be feen by the defcrip- 

 lion of Pallas J, feems to differ from that of the Alps only by 



a few 



• The elegant tranflnror of Coxe cxprfSTcs himfelf in the following 

 mnnner in rcgarJ to hunting the chamois: — <« A great number of men 

 lofe their lives by this kind of hunting : the thick fogs of the Alps, which 

 fuddcnly envelop the country with a dark veil, make the hunters wander 

 into the glaciers, where they perifli with cold and hunger. Sudden ftorms 

 moiften the rocks, and render them fc flippery, that the hunter, however 

 furniftied with cramps his {hoes may be, cannot attach himfelf to them ; 

 and lometimesthc htat has fo dried their fcorching faces, and covered them 

 with duft of fo moveable a nature, that the wretched hunter who clambers 

 up them is obliged to moillen them with his blood, by niakmg large 

 wounds in the loles of his feet and his legs." Coxcs Letters on Szuijfer- 

 Innd, p. 273. M. Ramond, the tranflator, a^ds, that the abbe d'Engeiberg 

 congratulated himfelf that he had loft only five men in one year by hunt- 

 ing the chamois ; and his diftrift is, at nioft, but a liundredtli part of the 

 Svvjls Alps. 



f One of my friends traverfmg the mountains one day with a guide, 

 the latter fhowcii him a fpot where the year before he had remained more 

 than fix hours with his thigh broken, and without any hopes of relief. 

 A young flicpherd, by the greateft accident, heard the reports of his fufce, 

 which he fired ?.s a fignal of dillrefs, and at laid wejit to call affiftance. 

 This accident happened to him while hunting the chamois, and yet it did 

 not difguft him with the occupation. 



J The wild goat of Siberia is no longer found in the Uralian Alps and 

 the civili/ed countrits of Siberia : it inhabits the fteepcll mountains of that 

 chain, which unites with the Taurus between Eaftern Tartary and Sibe- 

 ria. It is found alio in Eaftern Siberia beyond the Lena, and in the 

 countries of Kamfchaika. It is believed likewifc that it frequents the de- 

 fcrt forefts bordering on the middle country of the Tongulians, to the eaft 

 of the Jenilfee and beyond the Lena; but thefc animals are every where 

 few in number, and frequent the mod inacccinble j)laccs. S/iicil. ZooL 

 fasc. \i. p. 32- 52. The old goats in that country are called ticghe or teke j 

 the- fcmilcs hhncCy ar.d the kids biifciyinja. But M. Pailas thinks that 



th«fe 



