310 SPORTING IN BOTH HEMISPHERES. 



whole population of the city, and few families escaped the 

 infliction. Prior engagements, affairs, difficulty in making 

 arrangements for a party ; in fact, if you wish to have every- 

 thing ready for a shooting expedition in January at Berlin, 

 the best plan is to go there in the month of September, and 

 I had only arrived a little after Christmas. 



One evening, upon returning to my lodgings, I found upon 

 my table an oval piece of pasteboard, about the size of both 

 my hands, together with the visiting card of the Prince de 



C , grand huntsman to the crown of Prussia. Upon the 



top of the pasteboard were engraved different trophies of the 

 chase, surmounted by the head of St. Hubert's stag, carrying 

 a luminous cross between his horns, and in the centre an 

 invitation for a royal chasse on the following day, including a 

 description of the nature of the game, the canton, the rendez- 

 vous, the hour of departure as well as that of return, and 

 the means of conveyance. Nothing was deficient, and my 

 own name appeared at the bottom of the document. I could 

 not divine by whose intercession I was so fortunate as to 

 receive this invitation, but did not sleep much during the 

 night, fearing that the cold would prevent my awakening in 

 time, and arrived at the railway station before the office was 

 open. Our chasse was situated on the road to Silesia, by 

 Frankfort-on-the-Oder, and carriages awaited us at the 

 station to convey us rapidly to our ground, and indeed 

 waited upon us during the clay to transport us from one 

 track to another. The manoeuvres were conducted by the 

 grand huntsman in person, none of the royal family being 

 present, but all was organized exactly in the same manner as 

 if such had been the case. Tickets for the different posts were 

 drawn in a lottery by each chasseur, and with the number 

 contained a list of wise and prudent instructions as to what 

 precautions to take to avoid accidents. The officers of the 

 chase, of all ranks, on horseback and in full uniform, took 



