176 SPORT IN NORWAY. 



very rapidly, which is not the case with the other. 

 The quantity of live down requisite for an average- 

 sized quilt is from two and a half to three pounds, 

 which may with ease be so compressed as to be con- 

 tained in a common-sized hat. If more be used, the 

 object is defeated, as the down then becomes lumpy, 

 and collects in the middle. Twenty-five years ago, 

 it was no uncommon thing for small vessels to bring 

 from five thousand to six thousand pounds of eider- 

 down from Spitzbergen to Hammerfest, in Lapland, 

 chiefly, it is true, of an inferior quality, and that by no 

 means improved by lying in the hold for a month or 

 six weeks. 



During the latter part of the last century, Iceland 

 alone used to export to Denmark from two hundred to 

 three hundred pounds of cleaned down, and from fifteen 

 thousand to twenty thousand pounds uncleaned. The 

 birds have, however, been exposed to such unfair treat- 

 ment in that island, spite of the laudable endeavours 

 that many individuals have made to propagate the 

 species, and the protective measures adopted by the 

 Danish government, that they, have very considerably 

 decreased in numbers ; for not only have the nests been 

 robbed of their eggs and down two or three times 

 during the hatching season, but the birds themselves 

 have been shot in a merciless manner, as well for the 

 sake of their feathers as for the flesh. For instance, if 



