The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-05-13 00:00:00

KING VICTOR EMMANUEL "AT
HOME."

The Correspondent of the Daily News (writing from Rome)
thus describes Victor Emmanuel in one of his sporting
exhibitions :

In the wild Aosta valley, where the aflausnts of the
Dora Baltea thread the ravine of Savaranche, or wind
round the base of the Pic di Cogne, the Rd Galantuomo
holds his hunting court. It is an evening in July, and
his Majesty commences a
"moonlight
flitting "from
Iyrea. Attended by „a general,of division, the head of
his private cabinet,- the minister of his household' his
body physician, and. two Officers in ordinary, he
drives e.wiftly up, the valley of the Dora till he
reaches, Ford Bard,,famed for the intrepid stand
mad i e . n 1800 by its garrison of four hundred
Austrians ,against Napoleon's army. There the
CO7 tege change horses, and, resuming its nocturnal
flieht, again pulls up at Chatillan, where another relay
of beasts of burdennwaits it. With accelerated speed
it pushes on to the Castle of SArro, and the sun now
high in the heavens, discloses its quality and composi-
tion to the wayside groups of peasantry, who waken
the mountain echoes with joyous "Evvivas " for the
return among them of their King. There the Reyal
party sits down to breakfast, for thither—head-
quarters as it is of his Majesty's hunting operations—
many a convoy of waggons, horses, and sumpter-
mules, have already preceded it laden with all the
requisites of the chase.
Valsavaranche and Cone are the King's favourite
sporting grounds. At the latter, on the ruins of the
ancient castle built by permission of Tommaso 1., and
on the place were used to stand the barracks of the Royal
Carabineers and the meteorological observatory of
Carrel, has lately been erected the Caina, or hunting
box, for his Majesty and suite, with livery stables for
i
thirty-two horses confronting t. FrFromValsavaranche,
again, the scene of sport is reached in two hours' ascent
by a carriage-drive which zig-zags northwards and is
overshadowed all the way by a noble pine-forest.
Its castle is an imposing structure of two blocks,
one serving for house accommodation ~ and the
other (behind it) for livery stables. . A wall sur-
rounds, the entire edifice, and the courtyard within
the precincts is enlivened by a handsome fountain.
Besides these two sporting grounds others are im-
provised acccording to circumstances, and, at
Lauson especially, tents are pitched and run up
ha the heights which comm
and the ice-fields. In
the midst of the perennial snow and under these
scanty shitlings the King and . his retinue often
afaap out, defying the glacier cold with the aid
of the good, .cheer, within. The, ;great •ictteh9
is at once in full swing, and the mountain
appetites of the party give ceaseless employment
to the white-aproned myrmidons of the head cook,
that privileged person who precedes the King,

I Nor are these "movable feasts" unaccompanied
Iby graver functions. Every Sunday mass is solem-
nised by the Royal Chaplain. An altar is expedi-
!iously reared on the still Sabbath morning, and
the King and his entire suit° assist'reverentially at the
performance. The "cores that link with empire" are
also attended to, From Sarro, telegraphic wires are
laid to whatever hunting ground, his Majesty may
select; and two hours are daily devoted to corres-
pondence with the Ministry, and the despatch of
urgent affairs. The telegraphic operations concluded,
his Mpjesty is waited on by the head of his private
cabinet, who presents to him petith ns and decrees for
signature. So that business goes hand in hand with
plea=ure in these remote Piedmontese glens and
glaciers—the gamekeeper being not more occupied
than the telegraphist, and neither of them than the
mounted express who gallops with and for letters to
Sarro, where another relieves him for Aosta.
At Cogne and at V'alsavaranche there is a station ,
'of Carabineers and gamekeeperg; and when the
King's arrival is expecte3 all becomes animation and
activity. The place his Majesty has fixed upon for the
first battue has been intimated to the head gamekeeper,
and he has, already sent on the levellers, and road-.
makers to repair the familiar approaches, or to con-
struct new ones. The batteurs, who get ten lire a day,
when on duty, and five lire when off it, are reinforced
In number till sometimes as many as from eighty to a
hundred are on the move. Before daybreak they have
invested, as by a mighty chain, all the peaks command-
ing a ravine or all the extension of a glacier. About
that time the steinbok—the most singular and suburb
quadruped that roams the mountains—has finished
his repast low down in the forest, and, unconscious of
his fate, he joins this or that group of his kinsmen as
they ascend, leisurely with the sun, to the hill-tops, to
enjoy the warmth of the first solar rays, and to indulge t
In a little siesta. But while he mounts the steep, the
batteurs descend, swarming down precipices and skim-
ming over glaciers, and closing in and in upon the herd.
Then the panic-stricken steinbok sees he is surrounded.
and there is nothing for it but toiall back. And back,
back, he accordingly falls—the batteurs making on him
with accelerated speed, till he comes to the ground
where the King and his party are waiting for him.
He turns round and scents his Royal foe, who lies
a few yards off in ambush, and, as if to try
a desperate sally and save himself and his
affrighted friends, he rears on his hind-legs and
Inclines his head down and forward, to butt with his
horns. But crack goes the King's rifle and the noble
animal falls head foremost and sidelong on the ground.
His companions, terror stricken at the report, scatter
in all directions, with their beautiful heads thrown
slightly back, and their nostrils distended, taking mar-
vellous springs, and clearing several yards at a bound.
But all in vain. "Few, few shall part where many
meet r The males of their number are keenly and
quickly marked down, and drop one by one mortally
wounded. The porteurs who carry the King's guns
cannot hand them to his Majesty fast enough, till the
battue is at an end, and shouts of triumph make the
rocks and glaciers ring again.
The quarry is collected in a heap in the centre of an
open space, and the King assists at the process of
numbering the slain with it zest which only the
genuine sportsman can appreciate—examining their
bodies, marking the seat of their wounds, taking
measurements, and passing observations. Then comes
the disembowelling ceremony, and his Majesty selects
the animals which he wishes retained for the use
of the sporting station, and those which he means to
give away as presents. From the former he has
the horns sawn off, which he designs for trophies.
If the battue turns out successful, none is so jubilant
as the King; if poorly, none feels so acutely
the failure. The average of stetnboks killed
ranges from twenty-five to thirty ; of chamois
about twice the number. Of wounded steinboks few
save themselves by eight; for the steinbok, in such a
:predicament, loses all heart, and seems incapable of
;escape. The chamois, on the other hand, even with a
!volley of bullets "secreted about his person," can yet
trun like the wind, till he reaches some remote corner
!where he drops down and dies. So ends a Boyal battuc,
;after which the King and his retinue find their way
'leisurely back to the hunting-box—the King appa-
, rently taking's peculiar pleasure in guiding his horse
' along the brink of giddy precipices and yawning gulfs.
nor d Early rising
er
to
m o
eicst dh co
wntohehsaeyhousnttairntg daedfyors,tfhoor I
ll;gbatuteeuurrson
scene of action over night, and have commenced form-
ing their fatal ring long before sunrise, the Royal party
must be at its post considerably before dawn. It sets I
out, headed by the brigadier of the Carabineers, who
opens the already prepared " approaph ;" then comes I
his Majesty, followed by an equerry, a couple of pro-
fessional huntsmen, his porteurs (or carriers of his
game), and one or more packs of honnds. The chosen I
spot of ambush onoe reached, the signal to let By is
awaited in breathless silence.

On rainy mornings there is no battue, but the in-
defatigable King is not to be denied his sport. .He
starts alone, rifle in hand, and with his two affectionate
and inseparable pointers, and scours the valleys,• or
ba..ts the woods in quest of game—phemauts, pat-t-
-rifles, and such like; and never fails to return with
a bag full of silent and bloodstained witnesses to his
unerring aim.
Popular everywhere, the King is always enthusiasti-
cally received by the simple inhabitants of those peaks
and valleys. Sometimes a banquet is held in his
honour in the middle of some remote hunting ground;
and last year a sup4rb calf, garnished with ribbons and
varigated with leaves, was presented to him, and ac-
cepted with a hearty welcome, which redoubled the
value of the gift in its donor's eye. No figure, it may
truly be said, is so characteriFtic of the wild and
picturesque Aosta valley as that of this latest repre-
sentative of the "fighting hue of Savoy." Strong as
a buffalo and nimble as the steiribolc, with his stride
of Ajax and his eye of Mars, the Re Galantuemo is
hailed by the honest Piedmontese mountaineer as the
genius loci, typifying as he does all the virtues prized
and all the failings palliated on the southern slopes of
the Alps.