FISHERMEN'S OWN BOOK. 249 



the sunshine and giving it back to the enraptured eye with that prodigaUty 

 and brilliancy of coloring which only nature can afford, the lower part mixed 

 with the coast bottom of Greenland or Labrador to the extent of thousands 

 of cart-loads, came floating down majestically through Davis' Strait, and 

 meeting the warm air and warm water of the Gulf Stream, melted and de- 

 posited their contribution, until at last those immense shoals were formed 

 where the cod and haddock swarm. And it is said that these sand banks 

 have huge depressions, like vast valleys, which serve as aquaria, and that 

 when a fishing vessel is lucky enough to anchor over one of them, it can fill 

 its hold and deck with as many as it can carry. For generations the inhab- 

 itants of Newfoundland, and the venturesome folk who live all along the 

 New England coast, get their daily bread, or lay up a competency from this 

 never-failing source of wealth. What a vast number of people on the globe 

 get their living out of and subsist principally on the invaluable cod, and 

 what vast quantities have been landed by the fishing fleet of Gloucester, 

 since her fishermen first engaged in the business. 



'&>"•& ^ 



The Iceland Cod Fishery. — It is not generally known that next to 

 Newfoundland, Iceland is the rendezvous for the vessels engaged in cod 

 fishing. Large numbers of French smacks choose the latter ground. Dur- 

 ing the season of 188 1, owing to the large quantity of dried fish remaining 

 unsold from the take of the previous season, there was a marked reduction 

 in the number of fishing craft, but 193 having started for Iceland. The 

 Norwegians engaged in the trade are improving their fishing apparatus 

 every year, and they are extending their markets also. They have estab- 

 lished herring fisheries all along the Icelandic coast, and not long since a 

 large company was formed for the prosecution of this industry on a large 

 scale ; but the results this season, we are told, have been discouraging for 

 almost everybody engaged in it. Time and money have been lost for want 

 of accurate information as to the weather, and, with a view to remedying 

 defeat, telegraphic communication between the coast of Scotland and Reik- 

 iawick, the capital of Iceland, is now spoken of. 



A Mermaid Captured. — A fisherman, a resident of As- 

 pinwall, is reported to have recently captured a mermaid. 

 There is silky blonde hair on the head ; the features of the 

 face are perfectly even to the teeth, the arms are the same as human beings', 

 with claws resembling an eagle's talons in place of finger nails. From the 

 waist up the resemblance to a human being is unmistakable, and from the 

 waist down the body is exactly the same as an ordinary mullet, with scales, 

 fins and tails perfect. 



