At

which he put on his hook, and letting it down gently a little on one side of the pike, it instantly seized it, and when landed weighed twelve pounds; this pike he was so good as to send me, together with the piece of veal, as he said, to make force-meat for the fish. a gentleman's place, where there was a very extensive sheet of water, in which were many heavy pike, the keeper used to state that he once caught a jack which contained in its belly a sow and pigs. But in these days of wonder this is nothing; particularly after the account given by a recent traveller in South America, who declares that he shot a Condor (the king of the vultures) which measured forty feet from tip to tip, and whose feathers were twenty feet long, and that this bird often carries off in the air a rhinoceros. What after this is there extraordinary in a pike swallowing a sow and a litter of pigs, or indeed a couple of sheep or a small cow? but the keeper was strictly correct in his assertion (I hope the traveller will prove the same), for the sow and pigs the pike swallowed was an unfortunate guinea pig who died in giving birth

THIS plate the scenery whereof is taken from nature-as two bullheaded Barons, now in London, who inhabit those parts, are willing to be continually going before the Lord Mayor to make affidavit,— represents the Boar just roused from his lair by the Sau-finder, which as its name bespeaks finds the game. But we make way for our friend Albert Engelhorn, who understands these things much better than we do, to describe the sports of his country, first thanking Col. Batty for his beautiful plate.

To the Editor of the New Sporting Magazine.

SIR,

YOUR approval of my account of "Chamois Hunting in the Alps," encourages me to forward to you, by favour of my much esteemed friend, Mr. Heinrich Hirschhoff, the following narrative of a hard days'

chase of a wild boar, which I have often heard described by my worthy uncle, Wilhelm von Engelhorn, when we were all seated round the blazing wood fire in the hall of his ancient chateau of Yagerschloss.

I need not tell you, for no doubt you have often heard of my uncle's fame as the first sportsman of his

day, that his fine old chateau stood (for, alas! it is now no more, having been totally destroyed during the late wars) on the confines of Bohemia. I should find some difficulty in giving you an adequate notion of its romantic and charmingly picturesque situation; but to the lovers of the chase, I mean such as we in Germany delight in, partaking nearly as much of hazard as of pleasure, its situation was incomparable, standing on a rocky eminence, embosomed in dense forests, which abounded in those species of game, the pursuit of which required all the energies of the most active and brave men, and in which the greatest danger often arose from personal encounters with the wild boar, the stag, the wolf, or the bear.

The old hall at Yagerschloss bore ample testimony to the skill and prowess of its worthy possessors, for all around it were ranged trophies of the chase. The huge branching antlers of the stag, the broad shaggy skins of the bear and of the voracious wolf, the sharp tusks of the wild boar-the rapacious lammergeyer with outspread wings, measuring full thirteen feet from point to point, and innumerable other specimens, all selected as the finest of their kind, conveyed an accurate knowledge of the endless variety of wild inhabitants of the surrounding country. My uncle, too, was one of the heroes of the seven years' war, and was a great connoisseur in arms. His collection of armour and weapons of all kinds was ranged on the walls in various devices of stars and shields amidst the trophies of the chase; and I have no where, since, seen so curious a collection of spears, crossbows, arquebuses, coats of mail,

helmets, &c. &c. Indeed, I often call to mind the degree of superstitious awe with which, when on a visit there in my boyish days, I occasionally after dusk traversed the ancient hall; and the doublequick time in which I used to glide by certain most formidable stuffed monsters of the forest, not to mention the trepidation caused by the rattling of the old armour as the keen winter blast burst through the huge old portal.

It was in this grotesquely ornamented hall, when drawn around the blazing fire and enjoying the social glass in company with his inseparable companion of the chase, the Graf von Wolfenbuttel, with his favourite dog stretched luxuriously before the fire and pillowing his shaggy head on my uncle's foot, that he loved to recount his most memorable adventures. “Ah! there, Wolfenbuttel," he would say, saw you ever such a tusk as that?" at the same time taking down a most enormous boar's tusk which hung by a silver chain over the chimney-piece. Then, as if inspired by the sight with the remembrance of every incident of the chase, he related his adventure, as near as I can recollect, in the following words :

66

"It is now two and forty years since that glorious day's chase when I had the good fortune to bring home this trophy of my early success. The Graf von S

on whose estate in Saxony the boar was killed, possesses the fellowtusk, and well did the boar deserve the name he had acquired, of Kaiser, for he was of imperial size. He had, till then, baffled the ablest huntsmen, and gored some of the best bred sau-packers in all Saxony. At length it was determined to put an end to his career, and I was in

vited, with several of my friends, to go over to the Graf's chateau. I took my two best dogs, Schwarz and Blitzen, and my little pet Saufinder, that you see stuffed there.

"As the journey by land would have tired my horses and dogs, and thereby ruined my chance of carrying off the trophy of the day's sport, I embarked them on the Moldau, and descended that river and the Elbe till we reached Schardau, which was fixed on as the rendezvous. Never was a spot so crowded with sportsmen, and a jolly time we spent till the day appointed for the hunt.

We

amused ourselves like true German brethren, with every variety of sport and exercise-leaping, wrestling, swimming across the Elbe through the most rapid current, firing at the target-aye, Wolfenbuttle, you may well cast your eyes at my Kuckenreuter, there is not such a rifle in all Germany.' Then for crossbows, there were three of the best marksmen in the world, and if my nephew, Albert, there live to a score, he will be inferior to none, for the young rascal last week drove a bolt through the head of my finest peacock, which by some unlucky mishap had flown up to the top of the belltower, and you know what a height it is. (You must excuse me, Mr. Editor, for speaking of myself in this narrative, but such was really the fact; I saw the peacock perched up aloft and could not resist the tempting mark, and my kind old uncle forgave me for the skill I had shown, I durst not however tell him that I fired seven bolts before I brought him down). When the day did come, it would have done your heart good to see the gallant display of horsemen arm

ed for the chase. Every one resolving that he, and none other, should be the conqueror. The boar was known to haunt the eastern side of the dense forest which girds those extraordinary rocky mountains on the borders of Saxony and Bohemia. The rocks here rise in perpendicular walls to an enormous height, and the woods around them are so close and impervious that it is next to impossible to find a way through them unless guided by men bred up in that country. We had, therefore, one of them attached to our party. Whilst the huntsmen proceeded along the skirts of the forest with the Sau-finders, to beat up the dense underwoods growing around the base of the rocks, we rode round to the opposite side, where it was probable the boar would emerge. Here we waited a long time in anxious suspense for the huntsman's signal bugle. Now and then the stag and the roe would bound out into the plain and make for the next adjoining forest, but we were not to be led away by these tempting baits, and though on any other occasion we should have thought them well worth a chase, yet the great Kaiser now engrossed all our ambition. Whilst waiting in this manner,

'Both with spear, byll,' and brande :
Yt was a myghti sight to se,
Hardyer men both off hart nor hande
Wear not in Christiante.'*

spear in hand, and comparing each other's arms, which were of various kinds, but chiefly the short broad-headed spear, the clear note of the bugle was at length heard; -the whole party seemed electrified-even the horses and dogs seemed conscious of some unusual excitement, and trusting to my own sagacity for striking into the

path of the game, I broke away at speed down a narrow avenue leading into the forest, Schwarz and Blitzen were at my side, and I felt a presentiment that I should certainly either slay the boar myself or be killed in attacking him. I had not rode long in this way when my brave dogs broke from me and plunged into the thickest part of the forest. I soon discovered the track; and, from the large sprawling impressions of the cloven feet, was convinced that Kaiser was really of matchless size. This only made me the more eager. I rode in after them, and regardless of blows and bruises from the overhanging branches, somehow or other made my way through. We soon came to a small clear space in the forest, and here a scene of momentary conflict, between my dogs and the boar, took place, for it was actually Kaiser that they had met and brought to bay. Several other dogs now came up, and the boar was to all appearance overwhelmed with them, but with prodigious strength and fury he hurled them off right and left three were killed on the spot, and, to my inexpressible grief, my noble dog, Blitzen, was gored by the monster's huge tusks. The boar had no sooner cleared a space for an instant, than he bounded off with astonishing speed, and I now rode harder than before, resolved to avenge the death of my favourite dog. We rode hard for full two hours, and most of the sportsmen gave up the chase as hopeless, declaring Kaiser invincible, as he had hitherto been. This unusually long run was a proof of the noble quality of the boar; for it is very rare for one of them that has attained so large a growth to keep at full speed for such a length of

time the younger animals generally affording the hardest chase.

"Only three of the sau-packers now continued the chase, and I was proud to find that my own dog, Schwarz, took the lead. At length, having the start by a few hundred yards of my companions, I saw the boar begin to slacken his pace, and occasionally turn to aim a side blow at the dogs, and again went on as before till he reached the foot of the Klein Winterberg. Here beneath a gnarled and spreading oak the savage animal, jaded and weary with so long a run, turned upon his pursuers to make his last defence. Schwarz was now the only dog that had kept close upon him, and boldly flew at his throat. I sprang instantly from my horse and found myself in presence of the most formidable antagonist I had ever engaged. Bristling with rage and all his strength rekindled, a lion could hardly be more terrific. time was to be lost, I couched my short spear, and should have killed the boar with the first lunge, had he not, just as I made my thrust, by a sudden effort thrown Schwarz off, and in this manner my spear only grazed his shoulder. I fell with the exertion directly forward, almost beneath the boar's feet, and he would certainly have gored me to death, but my pet sau-finder just at that instant came up and seizing him by the leg, drew off his attention, this gave me time to draw my couteau de chasse, when with a well-aimed thrust I ended the career of Kaiser.

No

Ah, Wolfenbuttel, you should have seen the noble beast as he lay stretched beneath that oak. The whole of those who had continued the chase now soon collected around. All were amazed at his broad and sinewy limbs, and every one was