NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 3 i 



on each fide : they are fbmething larger than a moufe, but not 

 quite fo big as a rat ; have very foft hair, and of different colours ; 

 black, with yellow and brown in ftreaks, and fome in fpots. - 

 Their eyes and ears are fmall, their teeth long and fharp. They Plague. 

 muft multiply very faft by what we fee of them, tho' (God be 

 praifed) but feldom ; i. e. about once or twice in twenty years, 

 when they come from their peculiar abodes : at thefe times they 

 gather in great flocks together, confiding of many thoufands, 

 like the hofts of God, to execute his will ; i. e. to punifh the 

 neighbouring inhabitants, by deftroying the feed, corn, and grafs: 

 for where this flock advances, they make a vifible path- way on 

 the earth or ground, cutting off all that is green; and this they 

 have power or ftrength to do till they reach their appointed bounds, 

 which is the fea, in which they fwim a little about, and then 

 fink and drown. For longer than one year God does not fuflfer 

 this plague to be upon us, and then it only rages here and there, 

 in certain diftri&s at a time # . It does not laft long, but in the 

 end, as it is faid, they have a natural tendency to drown them- 

 felves ; or, if this fail, they perifh by the Winter's cold ) or 

 thofe few that do efcape, die, as foon as they eat the new grafs • 

 for it does not agree with them. The Finlaps dogs devour many 

 of them ; eating all but their heads. From Kolens Rock, which 

 divides the Nordland manor from Sweden, and which is held to 

 be their peculiar and native place, they are obferved, when the 

 wandering fit comes upon them, marching in vaft flocks through 

 Jsordland and Finmarck, to the weftern ocean ; and other bodies of 

 them through Swedifli Lapmarck, to the Sinus Bathnicus. They 

 do this, according to Hr. Linnseus's account, in fucha direcl: line, 

 that they will not turn on any fide, or make any fweep ; and if 

 they muft go round a large ftone, then they feek their line on 

 the other fide, and fo keep ftrait on. If they find a boat on any 

 frefh water river, they run in at one end, or fide, and out again 

 at the other, in order to keep their courfe. Their young they 

 carry with them on their backs, or in their mouths. If they 

 once meet with the peafants to oppofe them, they will ftand un- 

 daunted, and bark at them, like little dogs. From this circum- 

 ftance they are called by fome Lomhunde, and particularly, if 



* In Sogne Fiordens Fogderie, in this diocefs, it happens every third or fourth 

 year, that a few Lemen are feen here, yet but few, and cannot do much harm. There 

 is kept here alio what is named a Moufe feflival, once a year, in this manner : they 

 put on their holiday cloaths,' and inftead of working, lay themfelves to fleep. 

 This took its rife from a fall-day which was kept in former times, to avert the plague 

 of Lemen, and other Mice, which fome pretend have been ufed to fall down formerly 

 from the clouds j but of this I have no authentick account, 



any 



