THE ELK IN NORWAY. 113 
THE ELK IN NORWAY. 
In olden times, when the population of Europe was 
considerably less than at the present day, and when the 
climate withal was much colder, and but little land, 
comparatively, under cultivation, the elk-deer was com- 
mon in Central Europe. Julius Cesar speaks of it 
as being found in the Hercynian forest; and, indeed, 
the Romans knew of its existence in Scandinavia, with 
which country they had commercial relations, and where 
they also had regular agents established. The Greeks, 
however, do not seem to have been acquainted with 
it, if we may take the absence of any allusion to it 
in the works of Aristotle or Herodotus as a negative 
proof. 
The elk has long since disappeared from Germany. 
I believe 1746 is the date when the last elk was shot in 
Saxony. 
In company with the reindeer, the elk made its 
appearance in the peninsula of Scandinavia at a time 
when the province of Scania was connected with the 
continent of Germany. Judging from the numerous 
fossil remains that have been found in the peat-bogs 
and morasses of Scania, it may be inferred that elk-deer 
were formerly very numerous here, and also of a larger 
size than the animals now existing. And even in the 
mediaeval ages they must have been tolerably plentiful 
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