104 THE NATURALIST IN NORWAY. 



it does not disdain a lamb or kid, when storms render 

 its favourite food scarce. Sometimes, when this bird 

 pounces on a large fish, it catches itself by its claws, 

 and is carried under water and drowned. The skele- 

 ton of a sea-eagle was once found on the body of a 

 porpoise that was caught near Christiansund. 



The valley of Sseterdalen, alluded to above, is thirty 

 miles in length, and is celebrated in Norway for the 

 primitive custom of its people. The winter here is 

 often so severe that it hinders the crops from being 

 gathered in, and frequently destroys them, when the 

 poor suffer great privation. It is in this district that 

 pine-bark is often ground with the barley-meal to eke 

 out the scanty provisions. The fact of the pine-bark 

 being thus used in seasons of distress, has caused a 

 statement to be circulated that some poor people in 

 Norway live on it instead of bread. This is a popular 

 error, for human life could not be sustained for any 

 length of time on the bark of the pine alone. The 

 destruction of the harvest in some parts of Sgeterdalen 

 has occasionally driven the starving people into the 

 neighbouring district of Thelemarken, where, so report 

 states,^ they have not always met with a welcome re- 

 ception. Perhaps this irruption happens too often to 

 be pleasant. The inhabitants of Saeterdalen are primi- 

 tive in their dress, manners, and language. Their dia- 

 lect is peculiar, and they speak a language much less 

 harsh than the ancient Norse, and which is said in 

 some respects to resemble English. The women wear 

 a singular garment, called a " tjeld," which is said to 

 be like a Scotch plaid, so that some even affirm that 

 they are of Scotch extraction. The peasantry live 

 among their high mountains, forgetting and forgotten 



