MAMMALIA—IBEX. 367 
aught. But he takes from his bag a bit of cheese and some of the barley 
bread, which is his ordinary food—bread so hard that he is obliged to break 
1t between two stones, or to cleave it with the axe, which he always carries 
with him to cut steps which shall serve for his ladder up the rocks of ice. 
His frugal meal being soon ended, he puts a stone under his head, and 
is presently asleep, dreaming of the way the chamois has taken. He is 
awakened by the freshness of the morning air; he rises, pierced through 
with cold; he measures with his eye the precipices he must yet climb tc 
reach the chamois; he drinks a little brandy, (of which he always carries 
a small provision,) throws his bag across his shoulder, and again rushes 
furward to encounter new dangers. These daring and persevering hunters 
often remain whole days in the dreariest solitudes of the glaciers of Cha- 
mouni; and, during this time, their families, and, abeve all, their unhappy 
wives, feel the keenest alarm for their safety. 
“And yet, with the full knowledge of the dangers to be encountered, the 
chase of the chamois is the object of an insurmountable passion. Saussure 
knew a handsome young man, of the district ot Chamouni, who was about 
to be married; and the adventurous hunter thus addressed the naturalist : — 
‘My grandfather was killed in the chase of the chamois; my father was 
killed also; and I am so certain that i shall be killed myself, that I call this 
bag, which I always carry hunting, my winding-sheet. I am sure that I 
shall have no other; and yet, if you were to offer to make my fortune, upon 
the condition that I should renounce the chase of the chamois, I should 
refuse your kindness.’ Saussure adds, that he went several journeys in the 
Alps with this young man; that he possessed astonishing skill and strength, 
but that his temerity was greater than either; and that, two years after- 
wards, he met the fate which he had anticipated, by his foot failing on the 
brink of a precipice to which he had leaped. 
“The very few individuals of ‘those who grow old in this trade, bear on 
their countenances the traces of the life which they have led. They have 
a wild, and somewhat haggard and desperate air, by which they may be 
recognized in the midst of a crowd. Many of the superstitious peasants 
believe that they are sorcerers; that they have commerce with the evil 
spirit; and that it is he that throws them over the precipices ” 
THE IBEX! 
Or wild goat, exactly resembles the domestic goat, in the conformation, 
the organization, and the natural and physical habits. It only varies by 
1 Capra iber, Lix. The genus Capra has eight lower and no upper incisors; no 
canines ; twelve ppage and twelve lower molars. Horns common to both sexes, directed 
upwards and backwards, striated transversely ; no muzzle; interval between the nos- 
trils naked; no lachrymal sinus or inguinal pores ; ears pointed ; legs robust; tail short; 
ehin bearded. 
