266 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



elsewhere, and I should get no redress. Formerly the 

 Kramer was in the Ettal district, and then I wished 

 that it had been in mine. Well, now it is so ; but as 

 things are, I would rather not have it. Ay, formerly ! 

 that was a place indeed the best of any here." 



" On this side there are some wild-looking spots, 

 Neuner; yonder, for example, where the rock shows 

 through the latschen, a difficult place that, I should 

 think, eh?" 



" Yes," he said, " ugly places are there. The gul- 

 lies (graben) are rather frightful to look at some of 

 them at least. I shot a chamois on the Kramer some 

 time ago, and he afterwards climbed to a spot where 

 he could not get out, nor I after him ; so I had to fetch 

 a rope and let myself down by it, and then drag him 

 and myself up again*." 



" I suppose as long as the laws remain in their 

 present form poaching will not cease. What think 

 you, Neuner?" 



* When a chamois is wounded in the flanks, the ball going through 

 the bowels, it is always best to let it alone for some time, for it is 

 then sure to lie down at the first convenient spot it meets with. If 

 on the contrary you still pursue it, in the hope to get one more shot, 

 the animal will go on and on, climbing upwards till it is at last locked 

 in and can get no further. But the worst part is, you cannot get at it 

 either ; or if you should be able to approach near enough to put an 

 end to the business with another ball, the chamois in falling from its 

 narrow ledge will probably roll to such a distance, or come toppling 

 down, dashing from crag to crag, that even if recovered it is of no 

 good to any one, as bones and flesh will most likely be all battered 

 into a pulp. For this reason there are certain occasions when a calm 

 sportsman would not fire at a chamois, because he would know that, 

 if he hit it, the creature would be sure to go tumbling over the pre- 

 cipice. 



