CHAPTER THE LAST. 423 



for hours, and climb up the other side of the moun- 

 tain. But to prevent the necessity of this, in such 

 places bars of iron have been driven into the rock and 

 left projecting sixteen or eighteen inches. They are 

 placed slantingly one above another, and by them, as on 

 the steps of a ladder, the hunter mounts up the steep 

 face of the rock. He must of course be careful that 

 his rifle does riot swing against it, and that nothing hap- 

 pens which might make him lose his balance while thus 

 hanging in the air. It is essential too that he should 

 observe which foot and hand he begins with ; for if he 

 put the wrong one first, he will hardly be able to go on ; 

 the bars being so arranged to receive, as he mounts, this 

 one the left, that one the right foot, and those above the 

 grasp of the right and left hand accordingly. To go up 

 such a place is not quite pleasant, but coming down is 

 still less so ; for in descending you are obliged to look 

 below to find the projecting piece of iron on which to 

 place your foot at the next step, and in doing this you 

 cannot prevent your eye perceiving the terrific depth be- 

 low ; and, as I said before, this is never agreeable. More- 

 over when coming downward it is somewhat embarrass- 

 ing to relinquish your hold of one iron bar, in order to 

 grasp the other below. 



There are places in Berchtesgaden where a whole 

 mountain-ridge has but a single outlet, — one spot only 

 by which even a chamois can pass out. If therefore this 

 be stopped up by artificial means, a natural enclosure of 

 rocks is at once formed, shutting in, like a park-wall, 

 the game for many miles. This circumstance shows at 

 once the abruptness of their formation. The stags, that 

 might otherwise cross the lake by swimming, are pre- 

 vented from doing so by poles moored in deep water, and 

 left to float on the surface. "When the deer have reached 



