, we actually devoured all that had been placed
before us, and did not decline a succession of native cheeses. These
latter dainties were, however, rather too much perfumed and animated for
me, and I left their entire consumption to the more fashionable taste of
my companions. After this slight repast, we then told our host,
definitively, the plans we wished to carry out by wending our way to
Auron; and that he would confer the greatest favour on us if he could
secure us a day's sport on the mountains. Our host replied, that he was
himself a proprietor of several hundred rein-deer; but his consent that
we should disturb the peacefulness of the whole herd, by firing at a
deer belonging to him, was not alone to be obtained. He informed us,
that the rein-deer were the original cattle of the country; and the
primitive usages adopted with regard to these animals by the old
inhabitants of Norway were still persisted in by their descendants.

"On the tops of these mountains," he said in Norwegian, and, I am
afraid, I translate his beautiful language but indifferently, "many
hundred rein-deer are wandering; and though a great many belong to me, I
cannot give you leave to shoot one of them, without the consent of those
by whom the remaining deer are owned; for all the deer herd together,
and they are only known to belong to different persons by the marks
made, at birth, on their skin. Mine have two slits on the right ear.
These distinguishing marks, which separate my deer from those claimed by
the neighbouring farmers, are so slight, that, they could not be
ascertained at a distance; and in taking aim with your rifles, you might
miss my deer and destroy the property of another man. You must be so
placed, that, you may kill, indifferently, any deer that comes within
shot; and for that purpose I must seek the assent of my friends. If,
however, you will go to the mountains with me to-day, you shall see the
herds, and to-morrow I will send round to my friends; to-day it is
hopeless to think of communicating with my neighbours, for they live so
far;--the night would come before my task was finished."

We hesitated for some time whether we should undergo the fatigue of
travelling over such declivitous mountains without any palpable reward.

"You hesitate," the Norwegian observed, smiling; "but you will not be
sorry when you stand up there."

And he pointed to the high peaks of the mountains that soared half-way
up to the clear, blu