5874 



Bavarian Sporting. 



the hares ; and loyal subjects could there buy royal venison at nine 

 kreutzers (threepence) per pound. 



After this fresh instance of barbarous murder we were not very 

 sanguine when we started to see a wild boar hunt," for in such 

 terms it was announced to us ; and yet we had a lurking hope that 

 there might be some sport in this, but again we were doomed to dis- 

 appointment ; and when we arrived at the place appointed (the mid- 

 dle of a large forest) what was our dismay to find that this hunt, too, 

 was to be conducted precisely as the hare and stag hunts had been : 

 there were the canvas walls, within which were the poor boars, driven 

 up by the peasants as before ; and not only boars, but pigs of all sizes 

 and ages ; all were driven in, and all shot alike, the total number 

 amounting to about forty ; none of them appeared savage, indeed 

 .they were only half wild, as every day they came for food, placed for 

 them at the skirt of the forest ; but some of the boars had tusks of 

 considerable size, with which they might have done considerable mis- 

 chief if they had courage enough for an attack ; but they seemed too 

 frightened to make any resistance, and ran squeaking from place to 

 place in the extremity of their terror, till a bullet put an end to their 

 misery. The head gamekeepers, or " Jagers," were splendid fellows 

 in their suits of green and gold, with epaulettes and swords and 

 sashes, and plumes of dark green feathers in their cocked hats, raiher 

 a contrast to the shooting-jackets and leggings of the business-like 

 men we are accustomed to meet at the cover side ; however, it was all 

 quite consistent with the sport, and the " Jager's" fine clothes were 

 not soiled with hard work, but they looked very smart in the forest ; 

 and very valiant, too, they were withal, for, when one poor unfortu- 

 nate piggy came running down a green drive towards us, squealing 

 with terror, one of these brave armed men, dropping down on one 

 knee in a theatrical attitude, exclaimed, to our intense amusement, 

 " Gentlemen, don't be alarmed ; I will defend you," with which words 

 he drew his sword, and presented it at the pig ; but he, poor fellow, 

 as soon as he saw us in the way was only too glad to hurry off out of 

 sight into the thicket. After this hunt wild boar was as plentiful and 

 cheap at the king's cellar at Munich as hares and venison were at 

 other times. 



If any comparison can be instituted among the above atrocious 

 massacres, I am inclined to think that the latter was the most barba- 

 rous of the three hunts ; and I don't doubt that those sportsmen will 

 agree with me who have been accustomed to hog hunting in India, 

 which I conclude to be the finest sport (in the true sense of the word) 



