262 SHORT STALKS 



" That the bear, when mortally wounded, makes for the 

 lake and there disappears, has long been a general belief 

 among the people of Norway. . , . AVhile the drag net 

 was being used in a forest lake a sunken log was drawn up 

 from the bottom, with the skulls of three, if not four, bears 

 iirmly attached to it, the fangs being deeply embedded in 

 the wood itself." Accordino; to Turberville " When a bear 

 is hurt sore and escapeth the huntsman, she will ojDen and 

 stretch her wound, yea, sometimes she will draw out her 

 own guts and bowels, to search them whether they be 

 pierced or not : and by that measure many of them die 

 when they might well escape." The same writer gives the 

 following advice to beginners " If two men on foot have 

 boar spears or javelins, or short pitch-forks, would stick 

 well one to another's defence and revenge, they may kil a 

 great bear : for y'' beare is of this nature, that at every 

 blowe she wil be reveno-ed on whatsoever come next to 

 hands. So that wdien y'^ one hath striken y'' beare, she 

 wdl runne upon him ; and then if the other strike quickly, 

 she wil returne to him again. So that the one may 

 alwaies help and succour the other." 



There were no bears in the neiohbourhood of the home- 

 stead where we first halted, but there were reports of their 

 presence farther up, and we ultimately ran these rumours 

 to ground at a fiirm called Klonglevik, many miles up the 

 fjord, where lived the noted hjom sliuter, Per Klonglevik, 

 who had killed no less than eleven bears in his time. He 

 supported himself on his little croft, but his passion was to 

 hunt all kinds of fur, and in the spring he migrated to 

 Nordland for seals and otters. Most of the bears he had 

 killed were murdered half asleep in their winter hies. 



