who had his leg cut off, sent his surgeon, two years afterwards, out of gratitude, half of a chamois which he had killed, remarking at the same time that the chase did not get on so well with a wooden leg, but he hoped to kill many a chamois yet. This man was seventy-one years old when he lost his leg. Many similar instances might be narrated. Saussure's * guide said to him, "A short time since I made a very happy marriage. My father and grandfather both met their end in chamois hunting, and I feel convinced I shall perish in the same manner but if you would make my fortune on condition I should never hunt, I could not accept it." Two years afterwards, he fell down a precipice, and was dashed in pieces. It has been often remarked that this occupation exercises a decided influence on the character of the hunter. Undoubtedly, the constant warfare with peril, hunger, thirst, and cold which it entails, and the patience, resolution, and dexterity which it. calls into such constant practice, must, after ten or twenty years of life, mark the tone of thought and feeling in no slight degree. Accordingly, we find the chamois hunter generally silent, prompt, and decided in word and action, and at the same time temperate, frugal, contented, and easily reconciled to unavoidable evils. LXVIII. THE CHAMOIS HUNTERS. DAY's joyous journey is begun; Unloosed is sleep's inthralling chain; And flocks obey the Alpine horn. * Saussure (pronounced (so'sure) was a distinguished man of science, a native of Geneva in Switzerland, who died in 1799. See, in the depth of yonder vale, * Two stalwart hunters briskly move, 'Mid mountain peaks that touch the sky. Each takes his chosen path alone The snowy Hausstock rears his head, While Rudolph from St. Martin's halls, In threads, by mountain spirits spun, The hunter halts and gazes long; At length upon the mountain height, *Stalwart, strong. The places mentioned in these two stanzas will not be found on the common maps of Switzerland. The Hausstock (pronounced house-stock) is a mountain in the southern part of the canton of Glarus. The Sernf is a small stream flowing into the Linth. St. Martin's is a chapel, a few miles east of the Hausstock, and Dons a neighboring mountain. To the rich pasture sailing on, A noble chamois moves in sight. Quick throbs his heart; while on the ground, Beneath a rock's o'erbeetling walls, He aims the echoes ring around, The chamois shrieks, springs high, and falls. With joyous shout and footing sure, With sportsman's thrilling zeal he flies, Ere, rallying from the blow, it rise. The sportsman's spirit chafes. "Too weak then away The charge," he mutters And seems to mock the hunter's sight. Hold hold thou madman; seest thou not That trackless barrier of rock? O, leap not on that fatal spot! Death will thy rash presumption mock. He springs ah, hapless man! too late Thy blinded eyes are made to see (Forced open by relentless fate) The agonies awaiting thee. Above, high towering in the skies, A lone death bed, a gaping grave. That soul which God himself hath made With death-like grasp the hunter clings; He prays, his cruel lot bewails, And east and west wild glances flings. His agile foot is firmly set; Corpse-like he stands and motionless ; One move upon that parapet Might plunge him in the dark abyss. Its scorching beams the journeying sun "Thou tyrant, Death, who long hast sought And tracked me on my daily path, And thinkest Fate at length has brought To hang on hope, whilst yet I may ; "For well I know, if, unsubdued And give the aid the brave can give. LXIX. THE SAME SUBJECT, CONCLUDED. THE sun through rising mists the while Fringed by the pale moon's glimmering. *Freiberg is a mountainous range in the canton of Glarus. Tödi, or Dödi, is a lofty peak in the same canton. They are about fourteen miles apart. |