X.] A SCHOOL OF PERIPATETIC FISHES. 163 



calm. Impatient at the unexpected delay, and tempted by 

 the beauty of the evening, — which was indeed most lovely, 

 the moon hanging on one side right opposite to the sun on 

 the other, as in the picture of Joshua's miracle. — Sigurdr, 

 in an evil hour, proposed that we should take a row in the 

 dingy, until the midnight breeze should spring up, and 

 bring the schooner along with it. Away we went, and so 

 occupied did we become with admiring the rocky precipices 

 beneath which we were gliding, that it was not until the 

 white sails of the motionless schooner had dwindled to a 

 speck, that we became aware of the distance we had come. 

 Our attention had been further diverted by the spectacle 

 of a tribe of fishes, whose habit it appeared to be — instead 

 of swimming like Christian fishes in a horizontal position 

 beneath the water — to walk upon their hind-legs along its 

 surface. Perceiving a little boat floating on the loch not 

 far from the spot where we had. observed this phenomenon, 

 we pulled towards' it, and ascertained that the Lapp officer 

 in charge was actually intent on stalking the peripatetic 

 school — to use a technical expression — whose evolutions had 

 so much astonished us. The great object of the sportsman 

 is to judge by their last appearance what part of the water 

 the fish are likely to select for the scene of their next pro- 

 menade. Directly he has determined this in his own mind, 

 he rows noiselessly to the spot, and, as soon as they show 

 themselves, hooks them with a landing-net into his boat. 



By this time it had become a doubtful point whether it 

 would not be as little trouble to row on to Alten as to 

 return to the schooner, so we determined to go on. Unfor- 

 tunately we turned down a wrong fiord, and after a long 

 pull, about two o'clock in the morning had the satisfaction 

 of finding ourselves in a cul-de-sac. To add to our discom- 

 fort, clouds of mosquitoes with the bodies of behemoths 

 and the stings of dragons, had collected from all quarters of 

 the heavens to make a prey of us. In vain we struggled — 

 strove to knock them down with the oars, — plunged our 

 heads under the water, — smacked our faces with frantic 



