238 
WILD NORWAY. 
hunter following on his track. Hence, hunting during 
the midday hours is apt to be unprofitable, the most 
favourable times being early morn, and again towards 
evening, when the elk recommences to feed, continuing 
till dark. 
During the midday interlude the hunter will do 
well thoroughly to spy-out with the glass every inch of 
open country within his ken, together with loose forest, 
the crests of wooded knolls, as well as the lower slopes 
of the fjeld. On the latter, his survey may be rewarded 
by a sight of Bruin, busily shovelling down pawfuls 
of crowberries. 
Here is a note on elk-country, which was made on 
the spot:—The “ going ” in the forest is every bit as 
bad as on the high reindeer-fjeld. There is a lot of 
“ tooth and claw ” work. One can seldom “ let one’s self 
go ” or rely on a second foothold. Hollow snow-gullies, 
shoe-piercing flints, ice, or loose rocks in the one case ; 
and in the other, rotten stumps, moss-hidden holes, 
snags and windfalls like spelicans, are but a few of the 
hundred and one treacherous traps and pitfalls that ever 
waylay an unwary step, that daily jar one’s system and 
yet further lacerate sore-wounded shins. The lash of 
a released pine-bough in one’s face is not pleasant, and 
a straight one in the eye will not help to get the fore¬ 
sight well down in the nick. Nor is a mile or two 
of fallen pines, each with uptorn roots and a hundred 
splintered spikes sticking out in every direction, any 
sort of relief from the previous hour over tumbled rocks, 
or scrambling on crags where the rifle must be shifted 
from shoulder to shoulder thrice a minute, and where 
the only handhold is half-inch heather or prickly juniper. 
