REINDEER-STALKING 97 



Nature that I do not pretend to explain or under- 

 stand. 



We left Hitteren, then Bertram Buxton and I 

 towards the end of September, 1872, after our first 

 meeting on that island, as related in a former chapter, 

 in order to try our luck on the Dovre Fjeld. 



From Throndhjem we journeyed some thirty miles 

 by rail to Storen, which was as far as the railway 

 went at that time, and thence travelled by carriole to 

 Doniaas, on the road to Christiania. At Domaas the 

 road to the Romsdal Valley branches to the west. 

 The first station down this road was Hoolaker, our 

 base of operation and starting-point for the reindeer- 

 ground, which stretched in rocky hill and corrie, with 

 here and there a snow-glacier, for many a mile round 

 Snaehetten, the highest point of Dovre Fjeld. 



Our hunting guide and camp philosopher was 

 Jordhai, a Norwegian of a superior class, who was a 

 schoolmaster as well as a sportsman. He was Buxton's 

 man, and knew the country well ; had accompanied 

 his party in Hitteren, and was a pleasant and well- 

 informed companion besides, with some knowledge of 

 the English tongue. A native named Ole Svanamyr 

 was my particular hunter, whose services had been 

 secured upon the spot a kindly and simple-minded 

 Norwegian, and a most proficient and keen- sighted 

 stalker. 



How well we get to know the men we hunt with ! 

 There is a sort of bond of good-fellowship at once 

 established, a tie of equality and friendship for the 

 time being created, which no amount of ordinary 

 everyday service and acquaintance can produce. 

 These men share with us the excitement and the 

 ardour of the chase. The disappointment of the 



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