12 A RIVER OF NORWAY 



it is hopeless to try to teach the Norwegians 

 such a novel practice, and to import Irishmen 

 might bring discord into this peaceful valley. 

 Not only has the boatman to struggle with the 

 stream, but he must avoid the backwater ; once 

 sucked into the raging white water below the 

 Fos, the boat and its occupants would be no 

 more seen. Of boatmen we have two, of 

 different generations and types. Lars, the 

 elder, is a very old man, considerably over 

 eighty years of age. He lives in a little hut by 

 the Lower Stream, and has acted as fisherman 

 on this water for forty years. How he contrives 

 to hold a boat in Lervik stream is a marvel ; 

 probably it is more by skill than by strength, 

 as he knows and takes advantage of every little 

 eddy and backwash. He is a cheerful old man, 

 fond of his jest, but if sport is adverse quickly 

 yielding to the pessimism of age. If you 

 don't hook a fish in the first ten minutes he is 

 inclined to think it is no good going on. Last 

 year he was obviously beginning to fail, and 

 it is no surprise, and in some ways a relief, to 

 find on arriving this year that he has decided 

 to retire. He has finished game ; he tried to 

 row for a Norwegian who was fishing here in 



