The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom: compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modernMaxwell, W. H. (William Hamilton)
History
The Field Book: or, Sports and pastimes of the United Kingdom: compiled from the best authorities, ancient and modern
Maxwell, W. H. (William Hamilton)
Amusements -- Great Britain; Sports -- Dictionaries; Sports -- Great Britain
Often the hunter, overtaken by a dark mist, loses himself amongst the
ice, and dies of cold and hunger; or the rain renders the rocks so
slippery, that he is not able to reascend them. In the midst of eternal
snows, braving all dangers, they follow the chamois frequently by the
marks of their feet; when one is perceived at a distance, the hunter
creeps along till within reach of his gun, which he rests on a rock, and
is almost always sure of his prey: thus the innocent beast, which
tranquilly feeds, perhaps enjoys the last moments of its happy
existence. But if his watchful eye perceives the enemy, as is often the
case, he flies from rock to rock, “timor addidit alas,” and the fatigues
of the pursuer begin, who traverses the snows, and climbs the
precipices, heedless of how he is to return. Night arrives, yet the
hopes of the morrow reassure him, and he passes it under a rock. There,
without fire, without light, he draws from his wallet a little cheese
and oaten bread, which he is obliged to break with a stone, or with the
hatchet he carries to cut his path in the ice. This repast finished, he
falls asleep on his bed of snow, considering what route the chamois has
probably taken. At break of day he awakens, insensible to the charms of
a beautiful morning, to the glittering rays which silver the snowy
summits of the mountains around him, and, thinking only of his prey,
seeks fresh dangers. Thus they frequently remain many days in these
horrible deserts, while their wives and families scarcely dare to sleep,
lest they should behold the spirits of their dead husbands; for it is
believed that a chasseur, after his death, always appears to the person
who is most dear to him, to make known where lie his mangled remains, to
beg the rites of burial.
CHAMP, _v._ To bite with a frequent action of the teeth; to devour.
CHANCE, _s._ Fortune, the cause of fortuitous events; the act of
fortune; accident; possibility of any occurrence.
CHAP, _s._ The upper or under part of a beast’s mouth.
CHAR, _s._ A fish found chiefly in Winandermeer in Lancashire.
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Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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