RAVAGES. 85 



and dried up ; and in the places overrun by them they so 

 gnaw the sward itself, that it is needful to send the cattle to 

 the opposite side of the fjord to prevent their dying of 

 hunger. Before the winter sets in, nine-tenths of them 

 commonly swim out into the fjord and perish ; but the 

 residue remain during the whole winter, and make for 

 themselves numerous runs under the snow; and so gnaw 

 away the bark from the trees and bushes, that in the spring 

 a white ring is formed near to their roots, from which injury 

 they soon perish." 



During their migrations, the lemmings occasionally 

 show themselves in populous towns. Such was the case in 

 Drontheim in the years 1808, 1834 and 1837. On the 

 first occasion, we are informed by Sir A. Brooke, " they 

 infested every part of the town. The boys used to catch 

 them by smearing a board with tar; and great numbers 

 were killed by the dogs, without, however, their eating 

 them."* 



The town of Hernosand, on the Gulf of Bothnia, swarmed 

 with these animals in 1823. " The first days of October of 

 that year," writes Professor N. J. Berlin, " a troop of lemmings 

 made their appearance here and in the surrounding country. 

 The number that was either killed or died from natural 

 causes was so enormous, that carts were obliged to be em- 

 ployed to remove them from the streets. Towards the end 

 of the month they gradually disappeared. They were not at 

 all shy. They came from the north-west. How far along 



* When iii the Norwegian mountains, my own dog devoured them witk 

 avidity. 



