No. 4 (I921) PRELIMINARY 5 



to the choice of hydrographic instruments. The enquiry occupied a 

 little over six weeks. I landed at Esbjerg in Denmark on 5th August 

 1920. There, by the courtesy of Herr Fensmark and others, I was 

 ai3le to learn full details of the Ottesen method of brine-freezing; 

 to see what is probably the latest and most up-to-date fish cannery 

 in Scandinavia, and to renew my acquaintance with the merits of 

 the Danish seine, first seen in 1909 during experiments in its use 

 from the Irish fisheries steamer " Helga." Of these and of the 

 wonderful homogeneous fleet of nearly 400 motor-cutters that are 

 the prifle of this port, I sliall have much to say in the proper 

 place. 



Thence I passed to Copenhagen where Commander Drechsel 

 most kindly put me in communication with the Director of 

 Fisheries, with Prof.Knudsen and Prof. Johannes Schmidt. 1 had 

 the privilege of seeing some of Prof. Schmidt's wonderful plankton 

 hauls from the breeding places of the European eel situated in 

 the Western Atlantic, which he was fortunate enough to discover 

 last year, and thereby to crown with success the labours of long 

 years of research. After Copenhagen, I visited Christiania where 

 I learned of the success attending the stocking operations con- 

 ducted in Norway by Dr. K. Dahl for the improvement of the 

 fish population in the inland waters of that country. As we are 

 doing in Madras, so in Norway I find that the object now in 

 view is not solely to improve these waters from the sporting 

 standpoint by improving the breeds and stocks of trout, but 

 also to ensure that the food supply of the general population be 

 increased even if the fish that be employed are valueless for the 

 angler's purpose. The ethnological collections both there and in 

 Copenhagen also afforded valuable information for my researches 

 on the evolution of the various types of fishing boats and their 

 bearing upon race origins in the East. 



The remainder of my stay in Norway was divided between 

 Bergen, Stavanger and Trondhjem, and this period was the most 

 valuable, as it brought me into touch with the personnel of the 

 Fisheries Administration, afforded insight into the current tech- 

 nique of canning and brine- freezing (other than the Ottesen system) 

 and gave opportunities to study the invaluable share in fishery 

 progress occupied by societies and other public bodies of a volun- 

 tary nature, but to which Government help in varying extent is 

 usually afforded. 



