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300 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



Hither, Neuner said, the chamois loved to resort ; it was 

 a quiet spot, or rather one undisturbed by human neigh- 

 bourhood ; but the roar of the near waterfall resounded 

 in the chasm. We cautiously climbed down towards the 

 brink, and looked over and around. Every crag was mi- 

 nutely examined with scrutinizing eye ; our gaze pierced 

 among the stunted shrubs and the withered stems of 

 ghastly-looking skeletons of trees ; and then we looked 

 high, high up, where the mountain had been torn, and 

 where the savage rent had left a perpendicular wall of 

 glaring stone. But all was without sign of life, — not a 

 creature was to be seen. Suddenly a sharp whistle came 

 across to us over the broken hollow. We started, and 

 each looked at the other in surprise; and then, with 

 widely-open eye and with head bent forward, gazed and 

 stared toward the rocks whence the sound proceeded. It 

 was a chamois that had observed us; but none of us 

 could see anything. At last I did : " There V 3 I whis- 

 pered eagerly, and pointing straightforwards across the 

 chasm. 



' ' Beyond the first or the second ravine?" asked Neuner . 



" Beyond the second." 



" I see it \" he exclaimed almost immediately. 



"A doe !" said the younger forester. 



We looked a long while, and the chamois sprang up the 

 rocks, and then stopped to browse : it seemed no longer 

 afraid. Any attempt to reach it was out of the question, 

 so we turned homewards. 



Here and there on declivities will be found open spaces, 

 without trees or shrubs, and covered with a long grass, 

 the blades of which do not grow erect, bat hang down- 

 ward with the slope. The sun and air dry the stems, 

 and make their surface as slippery as ice, and these places 

 are perhaps the most difficult of any to descend : if you 



