114 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
in these parts, for among the remains of slaughtered 
animals which a few years ago were discovered in the 
vicinity of the convents in that province, elk bones and 
horns were found in abundance, bearing evident marks 
of the knife or saw of the cook. 
But gradually, as the land was reclaimed and put 
under cultivation, and, in consequence, became more 
thickly inhabited, the elk-deer seem to have shifted 
their quarters more towards the north, where the 
immense ranges of forest and wild mountain tracts 
afforded an insuperable (in those days) hindrance to the 
advance of civilization. 
It appears from some very old documents that the 
elk-deer is mentioned as one of the “ noxious animals” 
in one of the provinces of Sweden ; it may therefore be 
assumed that it was numerous in those days. At the 
present day it is found in Sweden, south of the province 
of East Gothland, and is more numerous in Jemteland, . 
Herjedal, and Dalarne, than in any other parts of the 
country. Angermannland is its northernmost boun- 
dary. It is not found, I believe, above the limit of 
Scotch fir, or about 3,000 feet above the sea. 
Before proceeding to speak of its former and present 
habitats in Norway; it may be mentioned that elk-deer 
may be found in Finland, Lithuania, and Russia from 
the White Sea to the Caucasus. It is also found in the 
forests of Siberia to the river Lena, and im the neigh- 
