The Sun.
London, England, 1853-04-11 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 11, 1853.

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LITERATURE.

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BRITISH RAILWAYS.

Chamois Hunting 'in the Mountains of Bavaria.
By Charles Boner. Chapman and Hall.
This interesting work consists of various sketches
of chamois hunting in Southern Germany. It is
neither a work of fiction nor the relation of extra-
ordinary achievements or perils. The author
simply endeavours to describe chamois hunting as
it is ; he presents to the reader a narrative of his
adventures in the Bavarian mountains, describing
the habits and peculiarities of their inhabitants,
both human and animal. The perpetual warfare
that exists between the jagers (keepers) and the
poachers resembles much the border warfare of the
Cheviots in olden times, when each pass and road
was watched ; their mutual hatred is so great
that in some parts they fire at each other whenever
they get a chance. There is scarcely a ridge or pass
that has not some tale of deadly struggle or secret
murder. The mountains possess a charm which
the Bavarian cannot resist, and out lie must be
with his rifle, although he knows that if he pass
any spot where a jager is concealed, he will, in all
probability, be shot dead. The description which
the author gives of the chamois is interesting.
" The Chamois is no goat, but belongs to the antelope
genus (Antilope rupocapra) of which it is the only speci-
men inhabiting Europe. It is larger and more strongly
built than a roebuck, and is much heavier. A good
buck will weigh 551 b., and one above 601 b. is a particu-
larly fine fellow. My friend, Count Arco, has, however,
shot some that weighed 741 b. and 821 b. But such are
rare and difficult to get at ; for these old bucks remain
alone in their inaccessible fastnesses and the most se-
cluded places ; and it is only when the winter has set in,
and the rutting season begun, that there is any chance
of seeing thew. In order to do so, the hunter must
brave the intense cold, as well as all the dangers of a re-
gion of snow and ice, for he will be led to places where
good nerves are required, not to feel overcome with
- horror at the scene around. The hair of the chamois
changes its colour at various seasons of the year, as is
_ the case with the roe and the red and fallow deer. In
summer their coat is of a red yellowish brown ; in autumn
it grows much darker, and in winter is quite black. But
though the changes here indicated may be looked upon
as the general rule, there will often be found in the same
herd one or more differing strikingly from the rest, of a
buff colour perhaps, while all the rest are of a reddish
brown. The hair of the forehead, around the nose and
lower jaw, and the inside of the ears, is of a yellow-
ish tinge, and remains throughout the year the OlbErlf.
The belly, the inside of the legs, and the shaggy hair
that overhangs the hoofs are also of this colour, and
never change ; the black stripe too on both sides of the
head, extending from the eyes to the corners of the
mouth, remains a striking feature under every circum-
stance. The outer hair is long and coarse ; that over
the ridge of the back is of greater length than on any
other part of the body, especially in winter, and of this
the ornament " Gems-hart " is made. Each hair is
tipped with white ; so that when a number of exactly
the same length are bound together and spread out like
a fan, a white line is seen to border the black surface,
and presents a pretty appearance. The longer the hair
the more it is esteemed for this purpose. The eye of the
animal is large, dark, and intelligent ; it is full of anima-
tion ; but this, in its expression of keen watchfulness, is
the animation of fear. It carries its head erect, and its
graceful ears pointed as if prepared against surprise.
The horns, which are black rise from the head just above
and between the eyes ; they are round and rougher at
the base, but incline somewhat to flatness towards the
top, which is smooth and polished. They do not stand
up perpendicularly, but slant forward at right angles to
the forehead ; their points, which are very sharp, being
bent back and downwards. This feature is not peculiar
to the buck alone ; there is, however, considerable dif-
ference between the horns f the male and female, which
often assists the sportsman in distinguishing the two.
The horns of the male chamois are thicker and alto-
gether stronger looking than those of the female ;
and instead of diverging from each other in so straight
a line as hers generally do, their outline describes a
a slight curve as they rise upwards and apart from each
other. But a still more striking characteristic of the
buck is, that the points of his horns are bent much more
inwards than those of the doe, hers from a semicircular
curvature towards the back, while his, turning over
abruptly, form rather a hook. This gives the head quite
another expression ; it has something more resolute
about it, as well as a dashing air and a look of bravado.
The horns of a very good buck will be seven inches high,
but I have seen some that much exceed this measure-
ment. The head of the chamois is admirably constructed
for uniting strength with the greatest possible lightness.
The frontal bones are extremely thin, so much so, in-
deed, that they would of themselves be liable to fracture
on the slightest casualty. But to make them strong,
and at the same time retain their lightness, a second set
is thrown over the first, and the space between is divided
into cells formed by the arched girders of solid bone,
which uphold the roof, and bind both together. The
system which Nature has here, adopted, is exemplified in
the cells in the upper and lower parts of the tube that
forms the Britannia Bridge. There is perhaps no animal
so peaceful, and at the same time so timid, as the cha-
mois. Nature, therefore, besides endowing it with a
facility of climbing into the most inaccessible places, and
thus avoiding pursuit, has enabled it to guard against
the approach of danger by the great acuteness of its
senses of sight, smell, and hearing. It is this that
makes it so very difficult to get near them. A
rolling stone, or a spoken word, at nnoe at-
tracts their attention ; and they will look and listen to
discover whence the sound has come that breaks the
silence of their mountain solitude. For an incredible
time they will then stand gazing fixedly in one direction,
quite immovable, and if it happen to be towards some-
thing
.in your neighbourhood that their attention has
been attracted, you must lie still indeed to escape their
observation. The eyes of the whole flock will be fixed
on the spot in one long steady stare ; and as you watch
them from afar, they almost look like fragments ofrock,
•so motionlesS are they while they gaze. You begin to
hope that they have found no cause for alarm, when,
Phew !' the sharp whistle tells they have fathomed the
mystery, and away they move to the rocks overhead.
Unless panic-stricken, they stop from time to time to
look behind; and then uttering the peculiar shrill sound,
again move on A chamois, when dashing
down the mountain will suddenly stop, as if struck by a
thunderbolt, some yards from the spot where recent
human foot-prints are to be found in the snow, and
turning, scared away, rush off immediately in an opposite
direction. The taint which tha presence of the hunter
has left behind is perceived by it long after he has
passed. The agility of the chamois has become almost
proverbial ; but to have any idea of what it is, one must
be an eye-witness of the bounds they make, and see the
places they will race down at full speed when pursued.
A smooth surface of rock, so smooth that a footing there
seems impossible, and of nearly perpendicular steep-
ness, is no obstacle to their flight. Down they go, now
bounding, now gliding, with a velocity which seems to
insure their being inevitably dashed to pieces. The chief
strength of the animal is in its hind legs, which, if ex-
tended, would be longer than the others. n this account
it springs upwards with more ease than it descends the
mountain and on level ground ground its walk
is clumsy and ungraceful. It is not made to run, but
bounds along over the ground. The hoof is cloven, long,
and pointed, and the slot of the chamois resembles that
of the sheep. The edges are sharp, which causes it to
slip easily on the ice, and on this account it rather avoids
passing the glaciers. When standing, the hind legs are
always bent, as if the animal were preparing to lie down,
which no doubt helps considerably to break the fall when
leaping from a great height. Notwithstanding this,
croup is still somewhat higher than the fore part of the
body. The elastic force with the hind legs is immense.
With a sudden bound the chamois will leap up against
the face of a perpendicular rock, and, merely touching
it with its hoofs, rebound again in an opposite direction
to some higher crag, and thus escape from a spot where,
without wings, egress seemed impossible. When reaching
upwards on its hind legs, the fore hoofs resting on some
higher spot, it is able to stretch to a considerable dis-
tance, and with a quick spring will bring up its hind
quarters to a level with the rest of the body, and with
all four hoofs close together stand poised on a point of
rock not broader than your hand. On narrow over-
hanging ledges some thousand feet high they walk and
gaze about enjoying the security from pursuit which such
spots afford."
Mr. Boner has received much valuable informa-
tion from his friend, Count Arco, who is a first-rate
authority in all that relates to the chase. " His
collection of (at Munich) antlers, of the red deer,
and the roebuck, with a fair number of the horns
of the chamois, is perhaps the finest in the world.
Never were antlers of such magnificent size and
strange forMation collected together. 30,0001.
has been offered and refused." The chamois
possesses a fascination over the hunter as
powerful as the serpent over a bird—he can-
not resist the influence. Count Arco's de-
scription of a feat he once performed when in pur-
suit of a wounded chamois is one of the most daring
ever attempted. He had wounded a chamois, and,
as is usual with those animals, it had climbed up-
wards, and at length gone along a narrow ledge of
rock jutting out from the perpendicular side of the
mountain, some 3,000 feet above its base, and hav-
ing advanced about 200 yards, reached a spot where
a few shrubs were growing, and laid down and died.
From an opposite mountain the Count could see
him, and being determined to possess the prize, in
spiLe of the remonstrances of his companions he
ventured on the ledge, accompanied by a forester
and a woodcutter. He describes the ledge as being
at its widest parts not more than 17 inches, and in
some parts only 7 inches, with an almost perpendi-
cular rock on one hand and a precipice on the
other, so that to advance at all he was obliged to
face the rock and move on side-ways. When he
had proceeded about half-way, suddenly he came
to a cleft in the pathway of about 5 feet. It
was too wide to step and impossible to jump,
so they had to return and cut down a small tree,
and drag it after them to form a bridge. In re-
turning, the Count rays that he felt for the only
timein his life a feeling of fear and nervousness
come over him ; it was not giddiness, but fear in
contemplating the difficulties before him, and he
drained his spirit flask, and sat down with his legs
hanging over the ledge for a quarter of an hour to
recover himself. A curious anecdote is related of
an idiot who wanders about the Bavarian moue_
tains. He has been up the peaks of almost all the
mountains in Bavaria. The Zug Spitz, the ascent
of which is very difficult, and has only been mom_
o

RAILWAYS.

'Closing Prices ' Rifeness done
Saturday. this day.

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