THE RISS. 163 



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 everywhere, 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 his hands : all was done not only with princely 

 munificence, but with skill and even taste, and the 

 arrangements were admirably adapted for a thorough 

 enjoyment 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 different 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 descending 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 



M 2 



