216 KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



for cattle and sheep. The heads (some as large as small calves' heads) 

 and the backs of the cod {Dorsch) form the chief raw material for the 

 fish giiauo. They are dried in the air on the rocks, then torn up by ma- 

 chines, and finally ground to a product resembling coarse bone meal. 

 Since, however, not inconsiderable quautites of cod are also caught 

 along the Norwegian coast southward from Lofodeu, as far as Aalesund^ 

 the preparation of fish guano has offered the inhabitants a new and use- 

 ful industry ; the demand has increased every year and since the sup- 

 ply has not sufficed even for the German market, a considerable number 

 of larger or smaller factories have sprung up all along the west coast of 

 Norway. Competition soon led to the manufacture of a more finely 

 ground product, and to the utilization of a large portion of the available 

 material for preparation of fish guano. Nevertheless, a good deal of 

 the material was still allowed to go to waste, so that the production of 

 the guano is capable of further development. Eecognizing this fact. 

 Dr. A. Meinert, son and business partner of the original German im- 

 porter, has, in connection with some German merchants, established two 

 new factories in Norway, one in Lofoden, the other in Hammerfest. 

 The former was completed during the past summer (1874). The guano 

 from these establishments is first steamed, then dried and ground to a 

 fine dust, and is consequently very similar in its action to Peruvian 

 guano." 



The report adds that, on account of the difficulty of transporting fish 

 guano to Sweden, factories have been put up in that country also, to 

 supply the home demand. 



The most remarkable enterprise in this direction is one for the manu- 

 ^ facture of guano from whale refuse, on the boundary between Norway 

 and Russia, beyond the North Cape, in the latitude of 70^. It was 

 undertaken in 1870-1873, by Capt. Svend Foyn, who is described as 

 "the greatest whale fisherman of our time." With his fleet of steam 

 and sailing vessels he visits the coast of Greenland in February to 

 catch seal, and thence sails in March to the North Polar sea in pursuit 

 of whales. He captured, in 1869, thirty-two whales and expected to be 

 able, by use of improved vessels and appliances, to take fifty per 

 annum. A whale, according to Captain Foyn, weighs on an average 

 230,000 pounds (115 tons) ; each fish furnishes about 80,000 pounds of 

 fat, several hundred pounds of whalebone, and 100,000 pounds raw 

 stock for fish guano. Fifty whales are expected to produce 2,500 tons of 

 the latter, containing 8 per cent, of nitrogen and 12 per cent, of phos- 

 phoric acid. The enterprise seems to have halted somewhat from the 

 great difficulties to be overcome, but at last accounts still promised 

 success. 



The distance from markets and industrial centers, the wildness of 

 the coast, the inclemencies of the weather, and the length of the arctic 

 winter night, have all combined to make the successful manufacture of 



