422 CHAMOIS HUNTING. 



coming into the warm room out of the fresh air, added 

 to the exertion and loss of blood, was no doubt the cause 

 of his instantaneous death. Probst survived, though the 

 wounds in his head were terrible. He had recognized 

 most of the men, but when thay were called upon for 

 their defence, each proved an alibi ; one bringing wit- 

 nesses to swear that on that day he was at a shooting- 

 match in a village some miles off, and another that at 

 such time he was in the Tyrol ; and thus they all managed 

 to escape." 



It was my intention, had my indisposition not pre- 

 vented me, to have gone from Partenkirchen to Berch- 

 tesgaden, and endeavoured to obtain a day's stalking 

 there. I was particularly desirous to do so, not merely 

 on account of the abundance of game, but chiefly because 

 the mountains are different in feature to those where I 

 had hitherto been. They are wilder and more rugged,* 

 and the difficult places far more frequent. Narrow paths 

 along a ledge overhanging a precipice are sometimes not 

 to be avoided : they must be passed in order to proceed 

 further. In more than one place a wall of rock shuts 

 out all advance : a path is impossible in such a spot, 

 and yet if you could scale that perpendicular face of the 

 mountain, you would then be able to pursue your way 

 according to your pleasure. You have come so far, but 

 further no living thing, except a bird, can get unaided. 

 Nor is there any other spot where you may pass : this 

 wall of rock forms a break in your path of, it may be, 

 a dozen yards or so, and which but for this barrier 

 would have suffered no interruption. If you cannot 

 surmount the obstacle, you must retrace your steps 



* Das steinerne Meer ("The ocean of stone") is here, — so called 

 from the jagged rocks that, rising up one behind the other, and extend- 

 ing on and on, look like the waves of a petrified sea. 



