AN ELK SEASON. 153 



The diverse methods of elk-hunting adopted in 

 Norway and Sweden have been described by many 

 writers, and very few words need be said of them here. 

 In both countries the hound is used, but whereas in 

 Sweden it is loosed on the trail of the elk, in Norway 

 the dog is yoked with a breast harness to which a 

 leader some seven or eight feet long is attached. Held 

 in leash in this manner the bind-hund, as he is called, 

 does the work of leading the hunter to his quarry. 



The end of August and the opening of September 

 slipped by, but as the great day, the 10th, approached 

 a new order of things was ushered in. Tall bearded 

 men in Lapp boots, and each accompanied by the 

 inevitable elk-hound, stalked down from lonely dwell- 

 ings in the hills to the skyds-station where we lived ; 

 they sat about on the steps of the post office opposite 

 and discussed the events of local history a saeter girl 

 had seen a bull elk of eighteen points, a lynx had killed 

 two sheep across the river, that the old hound grew 

 more cunning with the passing years. Once or twice 

 spasms of political forecast, for war seemed imminent, 

 shook the little group, but always in the end the orbit 

 of talk settled round the magic word " elg." 



On the eve of the 10th Peder reappeared, shy, 

 dignified, with a neatly-trimmed beard and his hunter's 

 suit of home-spun supplemented by a new cap with ear- 

 flaps. His first words after our handshake were " Very 

 elg Gartland," which I understood to mean that a 

 number of elk were to be found in the Gartland Woods. 

 Then, after a prolonged pause, he added, " Big bool 

 imorgen," plainly a prophecy of good luck in the 

 morning, made the more clear when, by way of illus- 

 tration, he placed his hands on either side of his head in 



