The origin of the plant called cow-bane or water hemlock[126] (Cicuta virosa s. aquatica), which is very poisonous, and which grows in great quantities in a marsh at Nordre (North) Sel, dates, according to tradition, from the time of the Scots. It is said the Scots sowed that herb; but that this has only been attributed to them out of hatred need scarcely be added. On an islet opposite Kringlen stood, until the great flood of 1789, a large fir tree, in the trunk of which some musket balls, as well as many traces of them, were to be found, and some years ago human bones were found where the wooden cross now stands. Various weapons and other things still remain after the Scots in many parts of the valley. Thus at the farm of Mælum in Bredebygd is a drum, which is called the "Scots' drum." It was brought thirty or forty years ago from Ringebo, where it was likewise known under the same name.[127] At Nordre Bue farm are a musket and a sword which belonged to the Scots. At the farm of Söudre Kringlen or Pladsen a spur and a knife were found a short time ago on the hill where the battle took place. In the parish of Vaage, at Lunde farm, is a dirk which had belonged to the Scots. There is also a dirk at Kruke farm in Hedalen, and this is said to be the one with which Mrs. Sinclair stabbed Kjel Fjerdingreen. According to an English traveller who has seen them, these dirks are similar to those still carried by a regiment in Scotland which is armed in the old style. At Fjerdingreen farm is a purse made of steel-wire rings, also a large and a small powder-horn, which are said to have belonged to Colonel Sinclair. In the parish of Dovre, at the farm of Ödegaarden, is preserved a chest bound with iron, which is said to have been Sinclair's money-chest, as well as a large and a small powder-horn, also reported to have belonged to him. There is likewise a powder-horn at the farm of Sönstebö, in the parish of Læssö. Among the things that belonged to Sinclair, Peder Klognæs is said to have got a pair of snuffers, which he took home with him, and which are said to be still preserved at Mandalen farm in Romsdalen. In the Armoury of the fortress of Agershuus[128] are preserved muskets[129] which had belonged to the Scots. In the Museum at Bergen are the stock of a pistol and a powder-horn, and in the Museum of the University of Christiania the stock of a pistol inlaid with ivory—all relics of the Scots. Sinclair's pistols are kept in the Museum at Copenhagen. They are described as follows in the catalogue of the Museum:—
REMAINS OF SCOTS' DRUM AND ARMOUR.
"The locks have pans of the so-called Spanish kind, but amongst the oldest of those patterns the barrels are of brass. On them are engraved the Scottish thistle and the letters A. S. In the year 1690 Lieutenant-General Johan Wibe sent those pistols to King Christian V., with the observation that they had belonged to the 'Scotch Colonel George Sinclair, who in the year 1612 fell with his Scots in Gudbrandsdalen.'"[130]
PISTOLS ALLEGED TO HAVE BELONGED TO GEORGE SINCLAIR.
[Page 125]. (In Copenhagen Museum.)
At the close of the last century, a Count Laurvig is said to have owned Sinclair's pistols,[131] and Count G. C. R. Thott his musket, which was for a long period preserved in the family of Berdon Sejelstad, who, as the slayer of Sinclair, got it as his booty. At the beginning of the present century Thor Bratt of Tofte owned Sinclair's fighting sword, which he gave away to be sent to the Art Museum at Copenhagen.[132]
Just as Christian IV. punished severely the nobleman Steen Bilde and the men of Stordalen and Jemtland for having made no opposition to Colonel Munkhaven on his march through the country to Sweden, so was the conduct of the men of Gudbrandsdal, differing as it did from that of the others, not allowed by the king to pass unrewarded. By letters-patent, dated from the Castle of Frederiksborg, September 3, 1613, he gave to Lars Hage the farm (Hage) which he occupied, together with the farm of Landnem; to Peder Randklev the farm (Nedre Randklev) on which he lived, together with the farm of Gundestad; and to Berdon Sejelstad likewise the farm he occupied (Övre Sejelstad);—"to them and their descendants in perpetual possession, for their fidelity, diligence, and manliness in the late war."[133]