50 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



whole number of fish caught, while the largest portion goes to the head 

 of the association, who defrays all the expenses. 



Formerly, the inhabitants of Archangel andKholmogori likewise fished 

 on the Mourmau coast ; but at present the fisheries are almost exclusively 

 carried on by the fishermen of the district of Keme and Gn6ga. Those fish- 

 ermen who have the means to build small houses, depots, and sheds on 

 the coast, as well as large and small boats, and to provide fishing-imple- 

 ments and the necessary provisions, become independent master-fisher- 

 men, and form associations, of which they become the leaders, and which 

 are usually composed of four fishermen. The laborers hire themselves 

 out, and receive in return part of the fish which have been caught. 



The head of the association engages his laborers in the autumn or the 

 beginning of the winter; gives them money to buy provisions for them- 

 selves and their families ; and defrays all their expenses. Every head 

 of an association has an anchoring-place in some bay on the Monrmau 

 coast. Thither he sends his laborers. These set out on their long and 

 difficult journey about the middle of March. According to an ancient 

 custom, the master (head of association) gives them a feast on the eve 

 of their departure, and presents each with a piece of cloth sufficient for 

 a pair of gloves. The pilot of the boat, and those laborers who have to 

 draw the net, receive two pairs of gloves. 



They reach the village of Kandalachka with tolerable ease, for the 

 roads lead through well-known villages, where they are well received 

 and conveyed on sleighs. But from Kandalachka to Kola and the vil- 

 lage of Eazuavoloki, a distance of nine hundred "versts," (about five 

 hundred and eighteen miles,) they are obliged to perform the journey on 

 foot, dragging their clothes and provisions after them on little sleds. 

 From Raznavoloki to the fishing-places, they travel in sleighs drawn 

 by reindeer, at the expense of the master ; and from Kola on boats, 

 with wooden runners. They hoist the large sail, and the wind drives 

 them rapidly to the open sea. Having arrived at the place of their 

 destination, they immediately set to work. They have to remove the 

 masses of snow under which the huts and sheds are almost buried, to 

 repair the boats, to get the fishing-implements iuto working-order; and, 

 after all this has been done, they go to sea. 



The money-value of the fishing is divided in the following manner : The 

 master first takes two-thirds, and the laborers divide the other third, so 

 that every laborer receives one-twelfth. If every one of them receives 

 100 " roubles" ($70 gold) as his share, the total sum realized by the fishing 

 has been 1,200 " roubles," ($840 gold.) The pilot, who has to lead tlie ex- 

 pedition, must keep order among the laborers, and watch over the inter- 

 ests of the master, for which he receives a certain pro rata of the eight- 

 twelfths which come to the master, and, moreover, a certain fee, which is 

 fixed beforehand, and which varies from 10 to 50 4i roubles," ($7 to $35.) 

 In this manner, the master's portion amounts to 20 forty-eighths, while 

 the combined portions of the four laborers amount to 19 forty-eighths, of 



