Note 40 — Chapter XIII

The lake fishing in the fields beyond Svatsum is said to be very good. Öret (Nor., trout) sometimes weigh 10 lbs. The Rœv Vand is associated with a fishing adventure, an account of which we have never met with but in “Recollections of a Five Years’ Residence in Norway,” by Henry T. Newton Chesshyre, who gives the narrative in extenso. The circumstances are, briefly, as follows:—On the 16th of August, 1715, two brothers, who were students, on a fishing excursion, landed from their boat upon an island of barren rock, fifteen yards wide by twenty yards long, in the Rœv Vand. Whilst there, a strong gust of wind, suddenly drifted the boat, to the shore of the lake. Neither of the brothers could swim. Lightly clad, they remained nine days, in sight of their fishing boat, and faithful dog, who had continued watching their things, and occasionally appeared on the gunwale of the boat, and whined piteously. They had put up a rude hovel of loose stones, which afforded them little shelter in an exposed situation on a lake 3,000 feet above the level of the sea. After the ninth day, they could not see their dog, and supposed he had died of grief and starvation. The dog, it appeared afterwards, had left, and, finding his way home, by constant howling and importunity, gave the idea that some misfortune had happened. On the night of the twelfth day, the two brothers embraced each other for the last time, as they believed, and awaited death. Their only sustenance had been about an ounce of wild sorrel each day. Suddenly, they heard the tramp of horses and the sound of voices on the edge of the lake. One brother had just strength enough to make himself heard, and they were rescued. The two students, after some weeks’ illness, recovered; but their faithful dog, Sikkert, died from the effects of his long fasting, and found a resting-place in the students’ garden.