X Chamois- Himting 5 1 5 



of schnee-hiihner, a species of ptarmigan, — a pack of 

 which very slow birds were running stupidly in and 

 out among the rocks — and hurried on. It was 

 growing very dark, the snow fell heavily, and the 

 wind began rushing and eddying round us, deposit- 

 ing the largest and coldest of snowflakes in our ears 

 and eyes, till we were half blinded and wholly deaf 

 Joseph began to look serious, and hunted about for 

 a small torrent he knew of to serve as a guide ; 

 after some trouble and anxiety we found it, and 

 stumbled down its rocky banks till we came to a 

 solitary sennhitt, which was to be our resting-place 

 for the night. 



With some difficulty we got the door open, and 

 found that the hut was, fortunately, not entirely filled 

 with hay ; a space about six or eight feet broad had 

 been boarded off between it and the outer wall for 

 the use of the ivild-hauer. This was to serve us as 

 parlour and kitchen and all, except bedroom, which 

 was to be sought for in the haystack itself. Our 

 floor was the bare earth ; the logs which formed the 

 wall were badly jointed, and the wind whistled 

 through the gaping cracks in the most uncomfortable 

 manner ; one could almost fancy that it was trying 

 to articulate the dreaded word rheumatism. 



However, the ever-active Joseph, bustling about, 

 found some dry wood, and we made a blazing fire 

 on the floor at the imminent risk of burning our 

 beds. Having slightly thawed ourselves, we con- 

 tinued our researches, and found a shallow wooden 



