198 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



" And on Sunday I suppose you have meat for 

 dinner." 



" Meat ! " he exclaimed, quite astonished ; " why 

 none of us ever touches meat from one year's end 

 to another, except may-be at the village wake and at 

 Christmas." 



" And how much fresh butter does a man want in 

 a week five pounds?" 



" Why yes, about five pounds I think ; that is as 

 much as would go into my wooden box, which I take 

 with me every Monday morning, and by Saturday 

 evening it is nearly or quite empty. For you see by 

 about six or seven o'clock in a morning we are glad 

 of our breakfast, so we make a fire and cook some 

 schmarren ; at eleven we have our dinner ; and then 

 about four we eat something again, and before we 

 go to bed the frying-pan is on the coals once more. 

 All that, you know, takes a good piece of butter every 

 day." 



The huts which these woodcutters inhabit during 

 their summer stay on the mountain are log-huts of the 

 roughest construction. Such buildings are just high 

 enough to stand upright in, indeed sometimes it is 

 not possible for a tall man to do so ; but this is not 

 necessary, for when in the hut they are either sitting 

 round the stone hearth in the centre of the dwelling, 

 cooking and eating their meal, or else lying down on 

 their bed of dry leaves and straw. As there is no 

 chimney in the roof, nor any opening beside the door 

 or window, all within becomes in time quite black, 



