218 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



IT may be well to give some account of the way in which the shots 

 are reckoned at these shooting-matches. The target is eighteen 

 inches in diameter; the bull's-eye six. This latter however is 

 marked with three circles, equidistant from each other. A shot 

 in the innermost circle counts four, in the next three, and so 

 on ; while any out of the bull's-eye is not counted at all. The very 

 centre of the target is marked by a small copper pin, and only those 

 whose balls have touched this can have a chance of a prize. When 

 the shots of two or more persons are of such equal pretensions as to 

 make it difficult to decide on the priority of their claims, a fresl 1 

 target is set up, and a single shot fired by each is the ordeal they 

 have to undergo*. The usual distance at such matches is 125 yards ; 

 and the length of the barrel of the rifle is not to exceed 30^ inches 

 in length, nor are the bullets to be fewer in number than twenty-four 

 to the pound. It was good shooting therefore of Xavier Solacher to 

 hit the bull's-eye 192 times out of 200 shots, and of these eight which 

 he missed more than the half were fired at a moving target. 



As each shot is fired, the hole in the target is stopped with a 

 wooden plug, having a number on it. This number is then entered 

 in a book, and opposite it a 1, 2, 3, or 4, according as the ball was in 

 one of these rings. On a second paper, which each person who takes 

 part in the match has in his pocket, is also inscribed the number of 

 the ring. When all is over, and after the prizes are awarded, the 

 stakes are divided, as well as the money paid for the shots ; for I 

 should have remarked that the stakes enable you only to a limited 

 number of shots, and all above that number must be paid for extra, 



* At a shooting-match at Partenkirchen I saw a young forester 

 strike the point, drilling a hole through the very centre of the target. 

 But as there was another who had as good a shot to show, he deter- 

 mined to decide at once who was to be conqueror, and had a fresh 

 target put up for the purpose. He fired, and his bullet again cut a 

 hole in the centre of the inner ring, and this time so exactly in the 

 middle as if it had been marked out Mdth a pair of compasses. The 

 other was less fortunate. There was of course some chance in thus 

 firing two such shots in succession. 



