362 THE NORTHERN FORESTS. 



obliterated, and farther pursuit in consequence discontinued. 

 Rumour said, however, that in the opinion of the men 

 engaged in the hunt, the beast might, with good dogs, 

 still be recovered ; for though not actually ringed, a strong 

 suspicion was entertained as to his whereabouts. Under 

 these circumstances, we determined on trying our fortune. 



Leaving my pony and sledge, which I had brought all the 

 way from Wenersborg (a distance of upwards of two hundred 

 miles), at Brunberget, Elg and I, with the dogs, started 

 one morning on Skidor for Ofver-Malung, in Western 

 Dalecarlia. Our joint baggage, consisting only of absolute 

 necessaries, was packed in a small kit,* which Elg bore on 

 his shoulders. 



Our route lay through the Tio-Mil-Skog, of which 

 mention was recently made : as wild a tract of country 

 as is to be met with in Scandinavia though from being 

 undulated and studded with fine lakes, by no means 

 deficient in the picturesque. Neither man nor habitation 

 was to be seen, and a gloomy silence reigned around. 

 Owing to the distance from navigable rivers, the wood- 

 man's axe seldom resounds in these solitudes. Not an 

 inconsiderable portion of the trees, indeed, were in a state of 

 partial decay, and their naked stems and branches gave the 

 forest a very desolate and primeval appearance. 



Though nearer thirty than twenty miles to Malung, yet 

 from the snow being in pretty good order, we accomplished 



* That of our noble soldiers, even when in light marching order, weighs, I 

 believe, forty or fifty pounds. In the northern forests I never yet saw the 

 man, however powerful he might be, that could perform his duty properly if 

 his kit weighed even twenty pounds. But it is to be hoped this most crying 

 evil will shortly be remedied, in part at least. 



