90 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



companion, so numerous as in the north-eastern dis- 

 tricts, where the mountains are skirted by inter- 

 minable masses of forest, and where the wolves have 

 their regular home. 



On the fjelds between Christiania and the province of 

 Bergen, and in the Saetersdal fjeld, in the province of 

 Christiansand, reindeer are more numerous than in any 

 other part of the country. Incredible numbers of 

 them are occasionally to be seen about Koldal and 

 Voxli. Professor Nilsson, in his ' Scandinavian Fauna,' 

 says " that in the beginning of June, 1826, he was 

 told that the fjelds for the breadth of about three and a 

 half miles were so thickly covered with these animals 

 that they resembled an immense flock of sheep. The 

 does had just calved, and the young ones were following 

 their dams. The herd extended so far that the eye 

 could distinguish neither beginning nor end. Ulti- 

 mately they divided into three parts," &c. This 

 account recalls to mind the statements of the countless 

 herds of antelopes in Africa, or of the buffalo in 

 America, so often dwelt on by travellers. 



That branch of the Langfjeld which is bounded on 

 the north by the Hallingjokul, and on the south by 

 Nubseggen, is one of their favourite resorts. Some 

 years ago it was by no means rare to meet with herds 

 consisting of several hundreds here; and I have been 

 only recently informed by a gentleman (now Professor 



