NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 79 
They scattered in a panic, as if a shell had burst amongst them, when 
saluted by the cries of my excited comrade, and plunged wildly down in 
several directions, with unfaltering and unerring bounds, with such speed 
and with such grace that we were filled with admiration and respect for 
their mountaineering abilities.” 
Facing this description is a full-page illustration, by Mr. 
Wolf, of a group of Chamois, which to our thinking is one of the 
most attractive engravings in the volume. The life-like attitudes 
and startled expressions of the animals, the timid action of the 
kid which essays to follow its mother down a precipice, and the 
fidelity to Nature in the rendering of the mountain gorge in which 
they are grouped, imparts an air of wildness to the picture, and 
excites in us a feeling of admiration which is seldom or never 
called forth by a contemplation of the works of other zoological 
artists. Quite as beautiful is the vignette, on page 102, of two 
“ Chamois in difficulties” as they descend the almost perpendicular 
face of a cliff. The pose of the animals strikes us as being 
eraceful, and at the same time perfectly natural, the peculiar 
shape of the animal’s foot, so well adapted for climbing, being 
admirably depicted. 
On the previous page Mr. Whymper describes his discovery 
of a dead Chamois half way up the southern cliffs of the 
Stockje :— 
“We clambered up, and found that it had been killed by a most 
uncommon and extraordinary accident. It had slipped on the upper rocks, 
had rolled over and over down a slope of débris without being able to regain 
its feet, had fallen over a little patch of rocks that projected through the 
débris, and had caught the points of both horns on a tiny ledge not an inch 
broad. It had just been able to touch the débris where it led away down 
from the rocks, and had pawed and scratched until it could no longer touch. 
It had evidently been starved to death, and we found the poor beast almost 
swinging in the air, with its head thrown back and tongue protruding, 
looking to the sky as if imploring help.” 
We pass over the many spirited descriptions of Alpine scenery 
which are to be met with throughout the book, since they scarcely 
come within the scope of our notice. Moreover, the style of Mr. 
Whymper's narrative will be familiar to those who are acquainted 
with his ‘Scrambles among the Alps,’ of which the present 
volume appears to be a condensed edition, with some new 
additions and several new illustrations. It is beautifully got up 
