308 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



called, fetched from the spring and put upon the table 

 before me. It was all very primitive,, both the service 

 and the repast, much, I imagine, like what might be 

 met with in a lonely log-hut in the backwoods of Ame- 

 rica, where the wilderness stretches away towards the 

 far west. But the service was rendered willingly, and 

 though "the boy" was bare-footed and bare-knee'd, 

 and had on but two articles of clothing, a thick shirt 

 and a pair of short breeches, there was nothing of 

 coarseness or vulgarity about him. Nature simple, 

 God-fashioned Nature had been, to him, as a mother, 

 and she had reared him in her own quiet way and 

 very unartificially, giving him no polish, for she had 

 herself none to give ; but she had moulded his heart 

 kindly, and his manner was fashioned after the simple 

 human feelings which had taken root there, though of 

 forms he indeed knew nothing. For him the maternal 

 converse had done all. 



It was too early to go to my hay ; and though the 

 herdsmen looked sleepy, and evidently thought we 

 were keeping recklessly late hours it was at most 

 eight o'clock I stayed where I was, and chatted 

 with Neuner about the chase, tjie mountains, and his 

 favourite forests. 



" Have you shot many chamois this year, Neuner?" 

 I asked. 



" No, I have shot nothing, but Bauer has twelve 

 chamois and six roebucks." 



" And in the Ammergau do you know how many 

 they got this year ? A good number I suppose : as it 



