108 TEN YEAKS IN SWEDEN. 



shoot them here), a martin, cat, or a hare, there is little 

 winter shooting in South Wermland. 



In fact I cannot deny that life in a bush cottage in the 

 wilds of Sweden during the long Swedish winter is a dreary, 

 monotonous existence. I was very well off, but a man 

 whose sole object is sporting would not have my resources. 

 My time, as I said before, was fully occupied. I had an 

 excellent library to turn to (and the old author was not far 

 wrong who declared that of all men most to be pitied were 

 "unlearned gentlemen on a rainy day "), and I had my col- 

 lections to arrange and look after. Moreover I had my 

 landlord, who spoke English as well as myself, close at hand, 

 and whenever I wanted a change I ran into Carlstad, or 

 drove over to spend a few days with some friend or other in 

 the neighbourhood, whose doors were always open to me. 

 But most likely if a man were settled up in the real wilds, 

 where the best sport is to be obtained, he would not have 

 many neighbours within calling distance, and would probably 

 meet no one who could speak English. Even if his sole object 

 were bear-hunting, he could not always be in the forest ; in 

 fact, the few bears he might kill would not occupy a great 

 deal of his time, and many a dreary week would hang 

 heavily on his hands. Of course if a man had his wife and 

 family with him, and were living on his own little estate, 

 the case would be very different, but I am here particularly 

 addressing myself to the bachelor sportsman, and to him I 

 will candidly say I do not believe in any part of the north of 

 Sweden, he would find sport enough to compensate him 

 for the lonely solitary life he must lead during the winter in 

 these forests. I have had my share of it. I have also 

 spent five years in the Australian bush. But I never found 

 that life lonely. We all know what an effect the outer 

 landscape and climate has upon the spirits, and to be shut up 

 in a. bush hut for five or six months gazing upon a dreary 

 prospect of snow and pines, with little employment, would 

 wear many a man out. But when once the spring sets in, 

 the case is different, and the proper arrangement in these 

 northern forests for the man whose sole object is sporting, 



