262 
WILD NOE WAY. 
death of each elk, of course, set us up for days in beef 
of excellent quality and surprisingly tender, seeing 
that only old bulls were selected. Then, one of our 
trio, being almost as keen of feather as of hide, kept 
us supplied with young caper-cocks, 10 lbs. apiece, 
grouse, blackgame, and, most delicious of all, the hjerpe , 
or hazel-hen. From six to eight brace daily, however, 
were required to feed us and our retinue, and the supply 
at times fell short. Fish never entirely failed, save 
when for days together it blew a gale on the lakes. 
When big-game becomes the business of life, fishing 
must take, for the moment, a secondary place. Yet the 
subject will not be passed over, for in no other land 
have I seen so great a variety and abundance of game- 
fish as we here had at our doors. We had rivers and 
lakes of all sizes, great and small; and, though beyond 
the range of sea-going Salmonidse , each swarmed with 
scaly denizens. 
In Norway one constantly hears of monster trout 
that run into teens of pounds ; but when, after years of 
effort, one fails to land anything exceeding four or five 
pounds, such tales are relegated to the limbo of fiction. 
But Muru-Sjoen reconverted me. I don’t ask anglers to 
believe it, but our best trout here did actually scale 
over seven kilos, or equal to nearly 16 lbs. avoir¬ 
dupois, and measured 334 inches in length by 18 J 
inches in girth. This was no lake-trout, or ferox, but a 
genuine Salmo fario , identical in every detail (save size) 
with our half-pound burn-trout at home. In colour he 
was a blend of darkest browns, olive, and green, shading 
off into gold ; spots large and few, each encircled with 
a paler halo. 
