SAETER LIFE. 187 



family, and soon was lost to sight in the windings of the 

 path beyond the lake.' Du Chaillu also resumed his 

 journey to visit other saeters. 



' From Lake Valdai,' says he ' The path northward, over 

 the mountains, is wild and dreary, even in the beginning 

 large patches of snow having to be crossed. 



' After leaving the lake we ascended over a rugged coun- 

 try above the birch region where juniper and Arctic ber- 

 ries were abundant. An hour's walk brought us to the 

 shores of the lakelet Visadal Vand, not far from which was 

 an isolated poor-looking saeter built of loose stones. The 

 inside was far from clean ; on one side were the beds, 

 placed on the rough slab-floor ; on the other the fire-place ; 

 in a corner lay a heap of juniper bushes, five or six pails, 

 a copper kettle for making cheese and boiling milk, a 

 coffee-pot, and a churn. The occupant of the saeter and 

 his wife welcomed me ; the man was apparently more than 

 eighty years of age, but hale and hearty ; he had travelled 

 about eighty miles to spend the summer here, and well 

 exemplified the hardiness of these mountaineers. This 

 saeter had 120 dry cows, belonging to many farmers, who 

 had sent them here to pasture. A hired woman and three 

 men had the charge of them, having also five milch cows 

 for their special use beside.' He and the guide continued 

 their journey over bare rocks and patches of snow, some- 

 times the horse taking one way up the steep ascent, and 

 they another, passing many cascades and waterfalls. Others 

 have told me the same tale. He writes, ' We 



were still ascending, and our pass was more than 4030 feet 

 above the level of the sea. The fields of snow, which were 

 deep and soft, increased in size, and we had to cross one, 

 horse and all, almost one and a-half miles long : now and 

 then we saw tracks of wild reindeer. Suddenly we found 

 a track of red snow in the midst of the white, the first I 

 had ever seen. I imagined a reindeer had been killed 

 there, and that the snow had been stained by its blood.' 

 ' This is gammel snow old snow/ said my guide. As we 

 advanced these rose-coloured patches became more mime- 



