THE GOAT. 



Hunting the Chamois in Chamouni. 



The hunting of the Chamois requires an extraordinary amount of patience and skill on the part of those 

 who follow it. The hunter sets out upon his expedition of fatigue and danger generally in the night. His 

 object is to find himself at the break of day in the most elevated pastures, where the Chamois feeds only 

 at morning and evening. When he finds the Chamois, he endeavors to climb above him and to get nearer, 

 by passing round some ravine, or gliding behind some eminence or rock. When he is near enough to 

 distinguish the horns of the animal, he rests his rifle upon a rock, and takes his aim with great coolness. 

 He rarely misses. If the Chamois falls, he runs to his prey, makes sure of him by cutting the ham- 

 strings, and applies himself to consider by what way he may best regain his village. If the route is very 

 difficult, he contents himself with skinning the Chamois ; but if the way is at all practicable with a load, 

 he throws the animal over his shoulder, and bears it home. 



But when, as is more frequently the case, the vigilant animal pfjceives the hunter, he flies with the 

 greatest swiftness into the glaciers, leaping with incredible speed over the frozen snows and pointed rocks. 

 It is particularly difficult to approach the Chamois when there are many together. While the herd graze, 

 one of them is planted as a sentinel on the point of some rock, which commands all the avenues of their 

 pasturage ; and when he perceives an object of alarm, he makes a sharp, hissing noise, at the sound of 

 which all the rest run towards him, to judge for themselves of the nature of the danger. If they discover 

 a beast of prey or a hunter, the most experienced puts himself at their head, and they bound along, one 

 after the other, into the most inaccessible places. 



It is then that the labors of the hunter commences ; for then, carried away by the excitement, he knows 

 no danger. He crosses the snows, without thinking of the precipice which they may cover; he plunges 

 into the most dangerous passes of the mountains — he climbs up, he leaps from rock to rock without con- 

 sidering how he can return. 



(133) 



These daring hunters often remain whole days among the glaciers. 

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