144 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE BISS. 



On arriving at Kreuth we heard that the King had an- 

 nounced his intention of going out shooting there in a 

 few days. It was therefore useless to remain any longer ; 

 for, until the royal hunt had taken place, all the assis- 

 tant-foresters would be busy in making preparations, and 

 there would be none to accompany me to the mountains. 

 It may be asked, how can such an event occupy so many 

 persons for days beforehand ? In order to ensure a good 

 day's sport, the outlying game is collected as much as 

 possible, and made to move forwards into the neighbour- 

 hood where the royal party are to hunt. For this pur- 

 pose the young gamekeepers pass along the places where 

 the chamois have their haunts, and, by occasionally roll- 

 ing a stone down the crags into the graben* below, dis- 

 turb the game and cause them to bear away for ground 

 more within reach of the approaching operations. This 

 is not a task soon done, or easy of accomplishment : from 

 one mountain to another — though when viewed from 



* Graben. Literally translated, " a ditch, or trench," but in the high- 

 lands it means the rifts in the rocks on the sides of a mountain, and is 

 used indiscriminately whether speaking of one that is five or five hundred 

 feet deep. Sometimes the deep ones are also called "Clam," as " Schwarz- 

 bach Clam," etc. 



