182 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



o' clock till dark. We begin at three, for it is light then 

 in summer ; and by the time we reach our hut in the 

 evening, what with the air and the work, we are glad 

 enough to cook our supper and lie down to sleep." 



" And you have nothing but your schmarren," I said, 

 — " schmarren and water ?V 



" Nothing but schmarren ; always schmarren and 

 good fresh water. If we had beer or anything else but 

 water we should not get on at all for thirst. On a Sa- 

 turday night, when we come down to the valley, and then 

 on the Sunday, we drink a can of beer or so, but the 

 whole week through not a drop. But the water we get 

 is capital." 



"And on Sunday I suppose you have meat for 

 dinner." 



" Meat !" he exclaimed, quite astonished ; " why none 

 of us ever touches meat from one year's end to another, 

 except may-be at the village wake and at Christmas." 



" And how much fresh butter does a man want in a 

 week — five pounds?" 



" Why yes, about five pounds I think ; that is as much 

 as would go into my wooden box, which I take with me 

 every Monday morning, and by Saturday evening it is 

 nearly or quite empty. For you see by about six or seven 

 o'clock in a morning we are glad of our breakfast, so we 

 make a fire and cook some schmarren ; at eleven we have 

 our dinner ; and then about four we eat something again, 

 and before we go to bed the frying-pan is on the coals 

 once more. All that, you know, takes a good piece of 

 butter every day." 



The huts which these woodcutters inhabit during 

 their summer stay on the mountain are log-huts of 

 the roughest construction. Such buildings are just high 

 enough to stand upright in, — indeed sometimes it is not 



