CHAMOISE HUNTING IN THE ALPS. 9 



Lahnen; in the neighbourhood of the Pyreness, Congeres ; and in 

 Norway, Snee Shred, and SneeFond. 



In the winter of 1837, there was an immense fall of snow at Lewes, in 

 Sussex, which one might almost call an Avalanche. One of the streets 

 of Lewes runs by the side of immense rocks or hills, and upon the 

 setting in of a very sudden thaw, down came an enormous mass of snow. 

 Cottages were overwhelmed, several persons perished, and numbers of 

 cattle were destroyed. Fatal as this was, yet from it we can form but 

 a very faint idea of those awful and terrific falls,, .witnessed in the Alps, 

 where 



" Aghast, beneath it the pale victim sees 

 The falling promontory sees and dies. 1 ' 



CHAMOIS HUNTING IN THE ALPS. 



With a full knowledge of the dangers to be encountered, the chase of 

 the Chamois is, with the hunters, an insurmountable passion. Saussure 

 relates, that he knew one who was on the point of marriage, but could 

 not restrain his adventurous pursuit. " My father and grandfather were 



both killed following the sport," said he, to M. de S , "and I am so 



certain that I shall be killed myself, that I call this bag, which I always 

 carry with me when hunting, my winding -sheet. I am sure that I shall 

 have no other, and yet if you were to offer to make my fortune, upon 

 condition that I should renounce the chase of the Chamois, I should 

 refuse your kindness." Our author adds, that he went several journeys 

 on the Alps with this young man; that he possessed astonishing skill 

 and strength, but his temerity was greater than either, and that two years 

 after he met the fate which he anticipated, by his foot failing on the 

 brink of a precipice to which he had leaped. 



DEATH-BED SCENE OF A BEAR HUNTER OF THE PYRENEES. The 

 father of the celebrated Fonda, himself y'clept, " le pere des Chasseurs 

 de la vallie d' Ossau," was a most determined and successful bear 

 hunter. He had killed, with his own hand, ninety-nine bears. When 

 he was upon his death-bed, and after he had received absolution of his 

 sins, he observed to the priest, that he had still one heavy cause of 

 uneasiness and regret on his mind. "What can that be?" said the 

 priest, "you have conducted yourself honourably in your transactions 

 with your fellow men, and you die in the true faith, and pardoned for 

 your sins." " What you say is very true," answered the dying man, 

 *' but would that I had killed my hundredth bear." 



