ABSTRACT
I CAN hardly say what first turned our thoughts towards the eastern shores of the Adriatic, but of this I am sure, that two years elapsed from the time that the word "Dalmatia" was first mentioned between us, until that at which our plan took a concrete form. The next allusion either of us made to the province-I beg its pardon, the kingdom-was when I discovered in a German sporting paper, Der Weidmann, that the shooting there was entirely free. This naturally strengthened my inclination towards it, even in spite of the fact that the editor of the abovenamed periodical, writing privately, said that the sport was very indifferent. Unfortunately for himself, he went on to give his reason for saying so, which was that it was free. N ow, I have in the past enjoyed, and hope in the future to
enjoy again, many good days' shooting in lands where game laws are not-not that, by the way, this is the case in Dalmatia. Moreover, he went on to speak in flowing terms of the sport attainable in Bosnia and the Herzegovina, and I could not believe that none of the bears, wolves, and other beasts, which he spoke of as existent there, ever crossed the frontier.* Another authority, also German, said there were plenty of waterfowl, and also stonehens (Steinhuhner). What these were I could not guess, unless ptarmigan (Schneehuhner) were meant. This same writer said the jackal was to be found on some of the islands; but although he is doubtless a rare beast in Western Europe, I could hardly fancy myself treating myoId friend the jack as food for "villanous saltpetre " after the many pleasant gallops he had provided in bygone years. I was surprised, though, to find that neither of them mentioned the boar as an inhabitant of the district, knowing what good bags of these animals the Corfu garri. son, in the days when it was an English possession, used to make on the Albanian coast.
