18 NATURAL H I ST O RY of NORWAY. 



if chained to it ; and, in other cafes, inftead of taking a piece, 

 and going away with it, he kills every thing he can, and leaves 

 what he don't eat behind him. Fierce as the Wolf is, he is 

 daunted when he meets the leaft refiftance ; and only bold and 

 daring againft thofe that he puts to flight : to thofe that are 

 afraid of him he is mercilefs : but as long as even the deer is 

 upon the defence he does not attack him ; and it has been often 

 feen, that not only a cow, but even a goat, when it has turn'd 

 againft him, and butted at him, or pufhed at him with its horns, 

 have maintained their ground againft him, and put him to flight. 

 In this caie the Wolf is not unlike the evil fpirit, whom the 

 word of God reprelents to us to be a coward, and only to appear 

 bold againft the unbelievers fear \ as it ftands in fcripture, Stand 

 up againft him, and he fhall fly from you ; refift the devil, and he 

 fhall flee from you. 



God's provi- The Wolf can fuffer hunger and hardfhips along time, which 

 is common for beafts of prey, according to the Creator's wife infti- 

 tution j for th^ir provifion is uncertain, and comes accidentally, 

 and at irregular times f. When his hunger becomes too great 

 he'll eat clay, if it be to be had ; and this, as it is not to be 

 digefted, remains in his guts till he gets flefh, and that works it 

 off violently ; and then he is heard to howl moft difmally for 

 pain; and if he is watched upon this, and his excrements are 

 found, they are mixed with a wooly matter, which many have 

 allured me. Near Vandelven on Sundmoer a farmer faw a Wolf 

 that appeared very lick, and fb faint, that he could hardly move 

 along. It gave the farmer double courage, who mended his pace, 

 got up to him, and killed him. He had the curiofity to open 

 him and fee what was the matter, and he found his ftomach filled 

 with mofs from the cliffs, and birch tops. 



Danger. Hunger, fharp as a fword, makes the Wolf, in the Winter 



feafon, much bolder than I ever knew him to be ; fo that he will 

 often, and particularly upon the ice, take away a horfe from a 

 fledge : for this Reafon travellers, at that time of the year, are 

 generally provided with fire-arms. The late bifhop Munck in 

 chriftianity would not believe there was any occafion for thefe ; 

 and perfuaded a clergyman of his diocefs, whofe name was Hr. 

 Kolbiorn (Father of the eminent Kolbiorns, fo diftinguifhed in 

 the late war by their valour and courage at Fridrickfhald) that 

 it did not become his function to carry a gun with him when he 



•f Inediarn diutifiime tolerat Lupus, ut &alia omnia carnivora licet voraciffima 

 magna, utique natura providentia quoniam efca non femper in promptu eft. Ray 

 Synop. Quad. p. 174. 



travelled 



