228 SPORT IN NORWAY. 
to continue his solitary promenade undisturbed. Such 
encounters are by no means rare. 
Some Fossekarle* once met with a bear taking a bath 
in Bygland’s Fjord, on a hot summer’s day, and forth- 
with attacked him, armed only with their boathooks. 
They had a very narrow escape, however ; for the bear 
wishing to make their personal acquaintance, had suc- 
ceeded in clambering up into the boat, when it fell dead 
from loss of blood. 
It is not, however, in Setersdal Proper, but rather 
in the contiguous districts, that most bears are to be 
found. It is here, too, that the regular bear-hunters 
live. They have a real passion for the chase, and make 
quite a profession of it. 
One of the most renowned bear-hunters in this district 
is Niels Knudsen Breistol, a famous blacksmith, who 
not only manufactures his own rifle, but also provides 
his countrymen with weapons of his own make. His 
rifles are well known, and are much sought after. In 
Eyje, too, there lives a well-known bear-hunter; and 
on a farm called Moy there is a man who is said to have 
shot about a hundred bears; but it would be tedious to 
reckon all the bear-shooters in a district where there is 
scarcely a peasant who does not go out in pursuit of 
* Fossekarle (literally “ waterfall fellows”’), are those who are em- 
ployed in conveying timber into the river or lake, for floating it 
down. 
