94 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
excellent ; indeed, no other part of the country can vie 
with Osterdal for the comfort, cleanliness, and good 
fare to be met with.* 
Though wild reindeer are certainly to be met with in 
Finmark and in Nordland, yet they are comparatively 
few in number. Most of the deer in these provinces 
are tame, and belong to the Lapps. It has been 
computed that they amount to over 28,000 head. To 
the Lapp the reimdeer is his sole possession, so that it 
is needless to say how jealously they are guarded. 
Indeed, there is a heavy penalty for shooting one of 
them purposely ; and I would recommend no English- 
man to indulge in eccentricities, for the Lapps occasion- 
ally take the law into their own hands, as the following 
history will show :— 
“‘Some years ago a number of convicts escaped from 
the fortress at Vardohuus. In order to obtain food 
they had recourse to killing tame reindeer. This 
exasperated the Lapps beyond measure. They tracked 
these unfortunate poachers from place to place, slowly, 
but as surely as the bloodhound follows on the track of 
a runaway slave. For years nothing was heard of 
them, till at last their blanched skeletons were found, 
bearing evident signs that their former immates had 
fallen into the hands of their remorseless and avenging 
pursuers.” Therefore, I repeat (verb. sap.), be careful 
* Vide Appendix. 
