The Cod Fishery in Various Countries. 37 



some of the fishermen use the old Iceland hook, which 

 is nearly 20 inches long. Fishing with the ordinary 

 lines is carried on when the other two methods are no 

 longer productive, and takes place all round the island. 

 From one to four lengths of strong, thick line, each length 

 measuring 60 fathoms, are spliced together, and vertical 

 or hanging lines six feet in length are spliced into this at a 

 distance of six or eight feet apart ; a hook baited with 

 snails or mussels is fastened to the end of each hanging 

 line. The hooks used are the ordinary tinned English 

 No. 5. A boat carries from 20 to 40 such lines, which 

 are sunk to the bottom by means of stone weights ; their 

 position is indicated by buoy-ropes kept up by small 

 floating barrels marked with the owner's name. The lines 

 are placed across the entrance of bays and rivers, or some- 

 times at the outside of them, and are taken up twice or 

 thrice a day, according as the weather permits. As many 

 as 80 of these long-line boats may sometimes be seen 

 collected together, busy fishing from three to four miles off 

 the coast. 



Line fishing is conducted in Iceland on a much more 

 limited scale than at Newfoundland, in relation both to 

 the size of the boats and the length of the lines. This 

 arises, not from the scarcity of the fish, but from the 

 poverty of the people, which prevents them from obtaining 

 the requisites necessary for larger operations. The fish 

 are packed for export sale in many ways. In order to 

 obtain what are called white fish, the fish are opened, 

 gutted, cleansed, and partially boned, then washed in sea 

 water and placed in salt. After three or four days' salting 

 they are washed in sea water and laid out on the rock to 

 dry ; they are then ready to be packed in warehouses for 

 shipment on suitable opportunity. This is, of course, dried 



