TO HOHENBURG AND KREUTH. 193 



under- forester to his royal highness 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 the arduous- 

 ness 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 

 chamois 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 fa- 

 vourite chamois. 



"A chamois!" he continued, "ah, that is a dif- 

 ferent 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 be- 

 sides, but after all it can't be as fine sport as in our 

 mountains. For what creature is there like a cha- 

 mois ? As many as I have shot in my time, there 's 

 no trouble, no risk that 1 should think too great to 

 get a shot at one. And what a pleasure it is to 

 watch them !" 



o 



