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THE BEAVER IN NORWAY. 499 
of this locality, from which the following is an extract :—‘‘ At one 
time, but not within the memory of man, Beavers even were found 
in the valley, and this clearly explains such a name as Bjéraae— 
in Swedish this would be Bjura (= Beaver-river) ; but they have 
now entirely disappeared. The law too late interposed a check 
on man’s wasteful greed. It is said, however, that it is still 
possible to see remains of Beaver’s crafty building-undertakings 
in an out-of-the-way mountain lake.” 
It is somewhat curious that the name of the man who alone 
gave me clear information about Beavers in this neighbourhood 
was Bjérneraae, which means Bear-river (Aa;* Swedish, a; 
Islandic, @; German, aue or au). There is great latitude up the 
country in Norway about the spelling of proper names, but 
whether Bjérneraae is a corruption within the last twelve years of 
Bjoraae (the first syllable of which, if it means Beaver, must itself 
be a corruption of Bjor) I cannot say. 
I think it is quite possible that careful search and enquiry on 
the spot might show that a few individuals are still to be found 
in some of the lakes or the rivers running out of them, in the wild 
and thinly populated country some miles to the north and north- 
east of this place, but have no evidence whatever to offer in support 
of this supposition. 
I was told of two Beavers having been killed about fourteen 
or fifteen years ago in the D river, some few miles to the 
south-west. I went from S straight across country to the 
other place I had been told of last year ('T.), and on the way had 
to cross a large lake, which I found empties itself into the river 
in which the Beaver colony is situated which I visited in 1877. 
I was told that there are two Beaver-lodges close to the spot 
where I crossed. It was then dark, or I should have made a 
point of going to see them at once; and next morning, before 
continuing my journey, I endeavoured to get some one to row me 
across and show me them, but the only man belonging to the 
house where I had passed the night was gone in search of a pack- 
horse for my luggage, and, after wasting some time in a vain 
search for another man, I finally rowed myself across, but in the 
hurried search I was able to make found no traces of Beavers. 
* Aa is in general use in Norway for small rivers; for the larger ones the word 
Elw is used, and as the names of many of these latter end in a (= Aa), the addition 
of Elw is equivalent to our talking of Windermere Lake. 
