150 HUNTING CAMPS. 



brief a period as to force strong temptation upon the 

 hunter to hunt " not wisely, but too well," in the sense 

 of hunting without rest or allowing himself any 

 remission of effort. Should these three weeks ever be 

 curtailed to two, it would, I imagine, be a mistaken 

 policy, as not many British sportsmen will pay a licence 

 and a heavy rent for a fortnight's shooting ; indeed, 

 individually he grumbles a little, and sometimes more 

 than a little, even now, for it is safe to say that few 

 tenants of elking-rights kill their limit, at any rate in 

 northern Norway. 



I arrived some three weeks before the elk season, 

 which opens on the 10th of September, and found my 

 headquarters on a flat hill-top overlooking a long stretch 

 of the Namsen River ; there we dwelt in a Noah's Ark 

 house, scaled to human size, which, with one or two 

 similar arks, stood round an oblong of unkempt grass. 

 I put in many pleasant days after ryper and blackgame, 

 during which, if my bag was very small, I at least had 

 good opportunity of learning the limits of my ground, 

 as well as of occasionally taking an elk-hound, but no 

 rifle, over the hills. 



The farms, over six of which I had acquired rights, 

 were one very like another, containing, save in the 

 lower valley of the Namsen and a few acres round the 

 saeters, very little cleared ground, the remainder of 

 the land being made up of marsh, mountain, and forest. 

 During the summer the cattle are herded on the hills 

 which form the elk-grounds, but very shortly before the 

 elk season the saeters are abandoned and the rights 

 left to peace and quiet. The sudden appearance of a 

 Lapp encampment upon one's most promising ground 

 is always a possibility, and one which entirely destroys 



