Chap. II. Northern Coafts o/' E u R o P E. 459 
Wijh\\ the Capital City of Gothland^ where the Marine 
Laws were made, which are fo famous. The No'i'^d^egian 
Peafancs are fimple, and very hofpitable : They are all 
Fifhermen ; their only Trade is in Herrings, Cod, Stock- 
£fh, and other Fiili frelh faked or dried : They are Slaves 
to the Nobility. The Norzvegim Women are very hand- 
Ibme, though they are red-haired 5 they love Strangers, 
and are good Houfewives : They fpin, and make Cloth 
for their Families *, they look after the Cattle, of which 
there are great Numbers of all Kinds, as in France. There is 
alfo Plenty of Game in this Country ; as Elks, Stags, Roe- 
bucks, Boars, Goats, Rabbets, Hares , all Sorts of wild 
Fowl, Otters, Linxes, and wild Cats of divers Colours. 
All Norway is a mountainous Country, and confequently 
Bread -Corn will not grow there in any Quantity ; but the 
Inhabitants are abundantly fupplied from other Parts, by 
their Commerce, and what they want of Corn-Ground, is 
made up in Paftures and Woods. As we w'^ere returning 
tow'ards Chrifiianay we met a Gentleman of the Neigh- 
bourhood, followed by two Servants and fome Dogs, 
going a Hunting : He knew the Man that was with me, 
and alked him if he would divert himfelf with an Elk- 
Chace, bidding him alk the fame Queftion of me. We 
had Time enough upon our Hands, fo we readily ac- 
cepted his Propofal. After we had rid about a Mile we 
met his Hiintfman, fome other of his Servants, and ten or 
twelve Boors, who led us three Miles further, to a Wood 
full of Bufhes % when we came to the Entrance of it w^e 
alighted, and gave our Horfes to one of his Domeftics. 
The Chace had been prepared the Day before by the 
Gentleman’s Vaflals, or rather Subjedls ; for theNobilityof 
Norway are Sovereigns under the King, in their own Ter- 
ritories. We were fcarce forty Yards within the Wood, 
before we perceived an Elk running towards us ; but before 
we could fire a Piece he dropped. I alked of my Guide 
and Interpreter, how the Beaft came to fall down dead in 
that maniper ? He anfwered. It was the Nature of that 
Animal to be taken thus with a kind of Falling-Sicknefs, 
which often feized him in the Beginning of the Chace. I 
did not Hand to refledl whether his Fears might not con- 
tribute to his Diftemper. I feemed to doubt the Truth 
of it, and thought it to be an Accident which did not 
often happen ; my Guide afllired me to the contrary, 
adding, that from this Difeafe they were called Elks., or 
miferable Creatures. The Beall is as. big as a great Horfe, 
his Body like a Stag’s, but larger and longer ; his Legs 
are long, his Feet broad and cloven, his Antlers great, 
hairy, and broad, like a Fallow-Deer’s, but not fo wxll 
furnilhed with Horns as a Stag. Had he not dropped as 
he did, I believe it would have been hard for us to have 
brought him down, as I perceived foon after when we 
had rouzed another, which we chafed above two Flours 
before we could catch him •, and we had never caught him 
had he not dropped down dead, as the other did. He 
killed three oi the Gentleman’s bell Dogs with his Fore- 
feet ; the Gentleman was extremely forry for the Lofs of 
them, and would hunt no more. He fent to a Farm of 
Ills a Mile off for a Cart, to Carry the Game we had 
caught t0 his Callle ; we accompanied him thither at his 
Requeft : It was built like the reft in that Country, after 
ail odd manner ; Hood four Miles from Wi/by, and he 
treated us there very fplendidly. 
My Guide telling the Lord of the Callle that I was a 
Jrrenchman^ employed by the Norway Company at Copen- 
hagen:, he made me a Prefent of the two hinder Left-legs 
of the two Elks we had killed, or rather feen die of them- 
lelves ; giving me to underftand it was no fmall Favour, 
thole Legs being an infallible Cure of the Falling-Sick- 
nefs, I replied by my Interpreter, I wondered, fince the 
F oot of an Elk had fo much Virtue in it, why the Ani- 
mal that carried it always about with him, did not cure 
Iiimfeif. The Gentleman refledling on what I had faid, 
laughed out aloud, and told me I was in the right, for 
that he had given it to feveral Perfons afflidled with the 
lame Difeafe, and it did not cure them •, wherefore he had a 
longtime fufpefled that the pretended Virtue of the Elk’s 
Foot w^as a vulgar Miftake ; of which, he faid, he did no 
nrore doubt than that the eating of the Flelli of the Beaft 
infedted People with their Diftemper. He gave me many 
Inftances of the bad Effeds eating Elks Fielli had on 
Human Bodies. I anfwered, the Nails of thefe unhappy 
Perfons would be a more fovereign Cure in an Epilepfy, 
than thofe of an Elk. 
The Gentleman obliged us to lodge with Min that 
Night j and early the next Morning, after we had made 
a good Breakfaft, we took our Leaves of him and re- 
turned to ChriJHana, where we ftaid four or five Days 1 
and having received further Orders and Directions from 
the Company’s Agents there, embarked, weighed An- 
chor, and made the belt of our Way for Berghen. We 
had a frelh Gale at North-eaft till w^e arrived at Stra- 
fanger.) where we were on a fudden becalmed *, and 
having nothing elfe to employ ourfelves about, we fell all 
to filhing j there is abundance of all Sorts of Filli on 
the Coafts of Norway \ wre got filch Store by our Filhing 
that we were forced to keep Lent a long while after, 
being unwilling to throw the Fifh overboard : The Calm 
lafted five Days. On the 6th, towards Evening, it blew up 
a brillc Gale South-eaft,by which in a few Days we reached 
the Port whither we were bound to unload the Merchan- 
dize we had taken in for that Place. 
2. We anchored in the Port of Berghen.^ one of the 
fineft in Europe ; and when our Cargo was unladen, I 
went to fee the City, - which is as large as Abbeville , it is 
divided into the high and low Town •, the one built on 
Rocks, the other on the Sea-Shore. It is full of 
Merchants, and was formerly an Archbilhopric, which 
v/as abolilhed upon the Reformation of Religion in the 
King of DenmarFs Territories. The Epifcopal Palace 
was given to the Hanfe-F owns., the principal of which 
are Hamburgh., Lubeck, and Bremen, for the antient 
Merchants to live in *, and the greateft Part of the Floufes 
were turned intoWarehoufes, from whence they are called 
Cloiflers, and the Merchants Monks, though they do not 
wear a Cowl, nor obferve the Rules of any Order. This 
Place, in the Popifh Times, belonged to a Convent ad- 
joining to the Epifcopal Palace and when it was granted 
to the Merchants, trading to and from the Hanfe-Fowns^ 
the King obliged them to keep up the Form of a religious 
Houfe fo far, that no-body fliould marry who lived 
in it. 
He that will have a Wife muft leave the Cloifter, 
and live elfewhere ; however, he may deal and corre- 
fpond with his Brethren, whofe principal Trade is in 
Herrings, Cod, and Stock-fifh, Commodities that gooff 
in great (^antities, in Mufcovy, Sweden, Poland, Denmark, 
Germany, Holland, and other Parts of Europe. As foon as 
we had difcharged the Cargo we had to deliver at Berghen, 
we fet fail for Drontheim with a South- wefterly Wind ; wc 
were to unlade above half our Lading there; it was con- 
figned to the Surveyor of the Copper and Silver Mines, 
for the Ufe of the Workmen and Miners whom he em- 
ployed in that Service, and confifted in a Supply of 
Bread and Beer. We were fcarce half way thither when 
the Wind blew fo ftiff, that in fifteen or fixteen Hours 
we found ourfelves over-againft Stora, where it ceafed on 
a fudden, and the Storm was followed by a Calm, the 
moft iineafy Thing in the World to Mariners. We were 
obliged to return to our former Diverfions, and fo fpend, 
the Time, that we could not tell how to pafs away better, 
in filhing. We took fuch a prodigious Quantity of 
Klip Fifh, that we were forced to fait and barrel a great 
Part of them up ; and they were very ferviceable to us 
in the Courfe of our Voyage . Klip Fifh are a Sort of 
Cod, bigger than thofe of Newfoundland ; they never 
leave the Rocks, lying always upon or under them, 
from whence they are called Klip Fifh in Germany, which 
fignifies Rock Fifh. 
The Calm held feveral Days, and then the Wind blew 
a frefh Gale W eft-fouth-weft, which was fair for us, and 
in three Days we arrived at Drontheim. When we came 
afliore we delivered our Letters to the Surveyor-General of 
the Mines. By thefe Letters the Surveyor was ordered to 
unlade our Ships as fall as poffible, that we might purfue 
our Voyage. He told us he could not go to work until 
the Officers who were to receive the Provifions came back 
from the Mines, whither they were gone about thofe 
Works : We preffed him to haften our Difcharge, and 
