A BREAKFAST. 255 



Men in search of a breakfast, however, are not the best 

 judges of scenery, which we expected to find prepared for us 

 at the next dorf, and which we were now fast approaching ; 

 indeed, the rendezvous was heralded to our ears by all kinds 

 of convivial sounds, and we soon found ourselves in the 

 midst of our party. It would take a far more graphic pen 

 than mine to describe the extraordinary collection of costumes 

 that presented themselves on this occasion. The leather 

 gaiters, with buckles and straps half-way up the legs, the 

 eccentric caps, guns with broad worsted belts, always in the 

 way, coats contrived with innumerable pockets to carry all, 

 and indeed a great deal more than all, that was necessary for 

 any sporting expedition on the most extended scale. Powder- 

 horns, shot-belts, copper cap-boxes, and pipes slung about 

 their persons by green cords, always terminated by the 

 invariable tassel, and to finish the "Der Freisehutz" toute 

 ensemble, a long knife stuck in the girdle. 



We were received with many congratulations, and a 

 mighty pannier was soon produced which contained most 

 varieties of German plats de predilection, amongst which 

 figured a cold sucking-pig, that would have gladdened the 

 heart of a New Zealand chief, yards of bread, and a multi- 

 tude of bottles, with the ruby-coloured Eauen thaler beaming 

 through their sides, for which even the last night's surfeit 

 had not destroyed my preference to any other produce of the 

 grape in this part of the world. 



The breakfast was soon spread under the few stunted 

 apple-trees that grew around the dorf, and we enjoyed it 

 with all the appetite that our previous walk and the expec- 

 tation of another and much longer one engendered. The 

 wine passed pretty freely, considering the time of the morning, 

 songs and choruses were the order of the day, and any gentle- 

 man who had the slightest regard for his personal safety 

 would have been perfectly justified in either remaining where 



