Morning journal and courier., 1891-08-28

Ill one or the 0aXe-CODurg- G0tha collect ion. Here we see photo graphically repro duced some of the finest red deer heads in existence, some of them with six teen, eighteen, twenty, and thirty or more points, making Scotch ''royarn appear comparatively insignificant.
 In Germely, if a head has more points, or tines, on one side than on the other, they double the larger number, and always quote an even number of points. Thus, if 8 stag had five on one side and seven on the other, they reckon the points as four. teen, not twelve, and call the animal 6 vierzehn- ender, although they generally add ungersde, to denotes that 1t is uneven. With English sportsmen the unual prac. tice is to give the exact number of points, whatever they may be, and whether more on one side than another.
 On the center wall, against which stands the bust of the duke of Saxe-C -Coburg- Gotha, are suspended four splendid heads of Ger man red deer, extremely massive, and with very long tines Below these, on either side, as we'll as on adjoining walls, hang some old painters in oil, of the time of oul King James I, depicting the ancient mode in which hunting was carried out bysurs rounding portions of the forest with net. ting and small flags Qappen), which fut tered from lines extended horizontally, and driving the deer, wild boars, foxes, and other animals, toward stand or stands, from which they were shot, either with crossbows or with the guns of the period. Thus the first of these pictures represents hunt which took place in the time of John Casimir, duke of Saxony, near Gotha. on August 21, 1913, when seventy six deer were killed, namely, thirty-four stage, eighteen minds, ten calves, and four teen roe. At a second on August 2S, 1913, thirty-three head were counted, namely, seven stags, ten minds, six calves, and ten roe. On July 29, 1920, three stags and thirteen roes succumbed; and in the fourth picture, representing hunt on August 3, 1920, the record of the slain includes three stags. twenty minds, eleven calves, and ten roe, or forty four head in all.
 It is instructive to turn from these pie lures, ill which various appliances of sport are represented, to the objects themselves, some of them of contemporary date with the pictures, and exhibited near them. Thus we see some of the canvas flags or lappen used for deer driving, with the owners initials on them, J. c. H. Z. S., i. e., Johann Casimir Herzog gu Sachsen. Hounds clothing, Hunde panzer, used for the great boar-hounds, and made of stout quilting, perforated with small holes to admit air.
 The collars of some of theee great dogs hang close by, and, to judge by their dimensions, the animals that wore them must have been of enormous size. The collars are five inches wide and twenty five inches long, composed of five nearly square brass plates, hinged together and backed with leather. On each plate let ter is engraved, S. NJ. H. z. S. (Senor Ma jestat Herzog gu Sachsen), and the outer plates are terminated by brass soallops, and hasps for lock or hugh swivel. The kind of hound that could wear such a collar may be seen in some of the great hunting scenes depicted by SnydeIs, Hondekoeter and J. B. Weenix, to be found in the na- tional gallery.
 Side by side with these hugh collars hang the great boar spears and hunting knives used by sportsmen of old. With blades of various widths, broad and narrow, straight and curved, some of them are finely en- graved and hand in sheaths beautifully carved, or highly ornamented with velvet and metal work. Here also we may note two other objects which figure in the old paintings above referred to, and which perhaps served as actual models to the art ist-namely, the game weighing machine and the game-carrier. The former may be described as a cross-beam supported on high trestles, through which passes an iron bar, terminated by large hook. From this hook the deer was suspended by all four legs lashed together, and raised from the ground by a windlass until its weight was indicated on a scale.
 The ''game-carrier" consists of couple of fir poles laid horizontally about a yard apart, with hammock of strong netting lashed between them. On this the stricken deer was laid and transported. What 6 sight it must have been on August 21, 1913, to have beheld seventy-six deer car ried in this way by the beaters, weighed ir the machine above described, and laid out side-by- side in an open glade of the forest as depicted by the Saxon artist. Thirty four stags, eighteen minds, ten calves and fourteen roe would make goodly show or the greensward, and great must have been the revelry which succeeded such { days hunting!