306 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



not only frightens all the game in a canton, but drives it 

 away, from the preserves to other districts, whereas the battue, 

 less noisy, and circumscribed at will, does not disturb the 

 whole population of a forest. 



Our first chasse, which was a battue on the plains, took 

 place in the Duchy of Holstein. To arrive at our ground 

 we had to traverse Altona, the twin-sister of Hamburg, and 

 only separated by the Faubourg of St. Paul, so well known to 

 sailors of all nations, who, upon their return from their 

 voyages, dissipate the greater part of their earnings upon 

 the violins and Circes with which this celebrated quarter 

 abounds. We were stopped some time at the gates of Ham- 

 burg, which are opened at seven o'clock in the morning, 

 by an interminable funeral procession, one of those sump^ 

 tuous interments quite peculiar to this city, and conducted 

 with a ruinous, useless, and absurd expense. 



Notwithstanding this sinister augury, our sport was excel- 

 lent. In the middle of the day we were invited to a splendid 

 luncheon, spread in a village cottage. The cottage, like most 

 others in this country, was a model of cleanliness and neat- 

 ness, a circumstance that confirmed me in a conclusion I 

 have long formed in my own mind, which is, that the inha- 

 bitants of the sea-coast, in almost all countries, are more 

 careful and neat, with regard to taking care of their homes, 

 than those of the interior. We returned with about fifty 

 hares and several foxes. 



I was shortly afterwards present at another shooting- 

 party. This took place near the centre of the province of 

 Holstein, which may be compared to an omelette, the sides 

 of which are more savoury than the middle. Although the 

 frontiers are fertile, and contain a large population, the 

 centre is a wide desert of fir-trees, sand, and heath, and con- 

 tains only a few scattered villages. At the chasse, however, to 

 which we were invited, and which was in the forests of the 



