FISHERIES AND SEAL-HUNTING. 45 



and extends as far as the Norwegian river Worgheina. On this coast- 

 line of eight hundred " versts," (about four hundred and sixty-one miles,) 

 there are fine bays offering the fisherman good and safe anchorage. There 

 are forty-one of these inlets into which rivers fall. At these points, the 

 fishermen have built huts and sheds and scaffolding of various kinds, 

 so that the shores of those bays which are frequented most look some- 

 what like large villages, busy with the excitement of fishing-life. The 

 fishermen meet there in the spring and remain till the middle of August. 

 Other auchoring-places, where the coast is almost barren, are frequented 

 only in June and July by those fishermen who come from the populous 

 auchoriug-places, or by others who come from Archangel on large boats, 

 manned by their masters, in order to catch a large number of fish in a 

 short time. 



Species of fish found on the Mourman coast. — The fisheries of the 

 Mourman coast comprise especially the different varieties of " treska," 

 (Gadus morrhua ;) the " kambala," (Pleuronectes fiesus ;) and the "kam- 

 bala," (Pleuronectes platessa ;) a good many salmon also are caught 

 near the mouths of the rivers. 



Of the cod, the Gadus morrhua is caught most frequently. It spawns 

 in February and in March, and is caught with baited hooks. For 

 bait, the fishermen mostly use Mallotus arcticus*, or Ammodytes Ian- 

 cea, or, in case of necessity, Arenicola piscatorum, a sort of thick worm 

 dug out from the sand of the beach. The Mallotus arcticus and the 

 Ammodytes lancea resemble the Osmerus eperlanus, and are, like it, easily 

 distinguished by a peculiar odor resembling that of the cucumber. 

 Among the varieties of the cod, there are the Gadus ceglefinus, and the 

 Gadus virens, the latter called " sa'ida" by the Russians. 



The Hippoglossus maximus, Cuv., which the Russians call " paltouss," 

 usually weighs 2 " pouds," (72 pounds ;) but near the North Cape some 

 are caught weighing 15 "ponds," (540 pounds.) The small kinds of 

 plaice (Pleuronectes platessa, L.) and the Pleuronectes limanda have but 

 little value as articles of commerce, as likewise the Brosmius vulgaris, a 

 sort of cod; the Sebastes norvegicus, Cuv., called by the Russians " mors- 

 ko'i okoune;" and the Anarrhichas lupus, L. 



The two kinds of sharks (Scymnus borealis and Selaclw maxima) are 

 caught only for the sake of their liver, which is used in the manufacture 

 of cod-liver oil. 



Fishing-implements. — The " palangre" consists of a chief line as 

 thick as a man's finger, and from 33 to 42 " sagenes" (231 to 294 feet) 

 long, to which small lines of the thickness of a quill are attached at the 

 distance of If "arskeens" (4 feet 1 inch) from each other. These lines 

 have baited hooks. A succession of lines tied one to the other forms 

 what is called in Russian a " yarous," extending from 6 to 10 kilometers 

 in the sea. This "yarous," or train, is kept by three anchors a little 

 above the bottom of the sea. Every anchor is attached by a cord to a 



*A fish similar to the capelin of the North Atlantic coast. 



