that we had lost our way, and would hardly believe I had got a bear, as no one had ever seen one on the place since he had had it. Next day Elias went up early with a sledge and brought the bear down to the road, and arrived at Stenkjaer about 10 p.m. in triumph, to claim the Govern¬ ment reward of sixty kroner from the Lensmand. Now by the law of Norway this cannot be paid until two claws are cut oft, and the Lensmand thought he would get off paying as I should not like to spoil the skin; but Elias was not going to lose his money, and showed me how to take the claws out by the roots so that when they are put in again there is no sign of injury. It appeared that the only other beat which had been brought to Stenkjaer of late years was shot by a German who had been eight years trying to get one, and when he got it he would not allow the claws to be touched. The Lensmand thought he would play the same game with me.
When we weighed the bear two days after its death at Trondhjem, it was 116 kilos without the inside, which they reckoned would make it about 300 pounds in all. This seems to be above the average weight of a she-bear in Norway, and I am told that 400 pounds is considered the full weight of a large he-bear in Scandinavia. This bear was beautifully stuffed for me by Herr Brunn, the well-known furrier of Trondhjem, and is now in my hall in exactly the same position as the first bear I saw stood in.
Elias sold the meat at a good price and one of the hams was cured and smoked in Trondhjem, but when I had it cooked in the winter it was found that the salt had been insufficient and it was unfit to eat.
I always look back on this hunt as the most skilful and interesting of all that I ever took part in, except the elk hunt which I had at Mo. Elephant and tiger hunting may be more exciting, as they are more dangerous, but a really clever Norwegian elk-hound, with a man who has the brains and experience of Elias, beats deer-stalking, and even chamois hunting, hollow.
