SPORT AND SCIENCE ON THE 
with the deep colour of a few scattered pines, while 
the mountain peach and wild apricot blossomed 
pink and white, lending a soft beauty to the land- 
scape. Above all the jagged needle-like peaks of 
granite towered away into the azure blue of the 
cloudless sky, like the enchanted castles of our 
childhood’s fairy-tales. , 
Having arranged camp to our satisfaction, we 
immediately set out in search of game wherewith 
to fill our larder, as we had brought no meat with 
us. We had climbed the opposite slope but 
halfway, when three roe-deer were put up. Our 
rifles rang out, but the deer continued bounding 
through the bushes. One, however, broke away 
from the others and came towards us. Schréder 
and I fired simultaneously and the deer rolled 
over. He turned out to be a young buck, and 
there were two wounds in the hindquarters. We 
returned to camp feeling that there were several 
days’ good sport ahead of us. 
That night as we lay in bed we heard many 
strange noises. The far-away hoot of the great 
eagle owl was wafted to us on the night air; the 
night jar uttered his peculiar knocking call, which 
seemed to come from everywhere and yet from 
nowhere in particular; down by the stream the 
resonant croak of the mountain frog rose from the 
water’s edge; but pleasantest of all to our ears 
was the barking of a roe-deer close on the slope 
behind our tent. 
124 
