NATURAL HISTORY oi^ORWAT. in 



Olave and Andrew Engelbrechtfen, born in the farm-houfe of A i-cmark. 

 Toxen, in the parifh of Guldfdal in Gulbrandfdal, brothers and 

 ftudents, fet out on the firft of Auguft, 1652, from the faid houfe of 

 Toxen, to take the diverfion of mooting and fifhing for a few days, 

 in the high mountains, which feparateGuldbranfdal from the province 

 of Valders. On the fecond of Auguft, after proceeding about four 

 Norway miles, they came to a large water called the lake of Ref, 

 where they flayed four days. On the fixth of Auguft they were for 

 returning home, but firft rowed away to a very fmall iiland in that 

 lake, being but iixteen paces long and half as broad, to draw up a 

 net which they had fpread there. Whilft they were on this iiland, 

 by a fudden ftorm at eaft, their fkiff broke loofe, and was carried 

 over to the other fhore ; by this accident, as neither of them could 

 fwim, they faw themfelves in extreme danger of perifhing with 

 hunger. After having fafted the firft day, they were for the 

 fpace of twelve days, deftitute of any kind of fubfiftence, except 

 only the wild vegetable, which introduced this ftory, the Viola . 

 Canina and forreL Befides hunger, they had alfo fevere winds and 

 colds to ftruggle with, efpecially in the night, and being but 

 thinly cloathed, as their travelling necefTaries were on the banks of 

 the lake, they muft foon have perifhed with cold, had not the 

 invention of one of them fuggefted to build a little hut of ftones, 

 where they might in fome meafure be fheltered from the weather. 

 Their next Care was to fearch, if this little fpot did not afford fome 

 fucculent vegetables, their appetite now beginning to grow keen 

 towards the end of the fecond day; but their firft fearches were 

 fruitlefs, at laft they alighted upon a kind of broad leaved grafs* 

 without doubt Viola Canina, of which, twice a-day, each ate 

 about an ounce, that being all they could find at one time, and 

 as in this extremity they frequently implored the aftiftance of 

 heaven, fo their flender repafts were conftantly attended with a 

 prayer. They tried alfo the leaves of fome bufhes but found 

 them too bitter. After thus devoutly eating their pittances of 

 that grafs, their fpirits and ftomachs were refrefhed, and the 

 acute pains they felt in their arms and moulders abated. But the 

 moft remarkable circumftance in this fuftenance was the happy 

 proportion in which it was dealt out to them, and the fudden re- 

 production of it; for, according to their own account, which they 

 Part I. Gg them 



