562 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



on its western end, its broad and massive fagade looking north extends 

 before us. As our steamer advances, the other wing, looking east, be- 

 comes visible, its gray rocky walls richly ornamented with silver-white 

 snow. The roof is likewise surmounted by fantastic battlements, and it 

 is supported by massive pillars with strange pointed excrescences. And 

 as the steamer proceeds farther the view changes again ; the vast rocky 

 front seems torn asunder ; nothing remains but the grand ruins of for- 

 mer splendor, and even these gradually dissolve into loosely-joined sum- 

 mits and peaks. But before the enchantment disappears entirely we 

 see another and strangely^-shaped rock standing by itself at the foot of 

 the castle. There it stands like the demon of the castle ; raising her 

 face, with the regular Scandinavian features, toward heaven, she lifts 

 her right arm, draped by her flowing dress as high as the shoulder. But 

 as we pass on even this turns out to be nothing but a steep rock ; like a 

 dream the whole fantastic creation disappears, and nothing but the hard 

 and cold reality remains. 



" From Lodingen, on the Tjald Sound, which separates Hindo from 

 the mainland, a string of fishing-stations extends along the west fiord 

 on the southeastern coast of the islands to their southwest end at Varo. 

 The center of the great Lofifoden fisheries, mentioned even in foreign 

 papers, lies along the Raft Sound, beginning at the island of East Vaag ; 

 the first great fishing-station is Svolviir, and the most important of all 

 is Henningsvar. Between East and West Vaag, where the Grimso- 

 stream begins as a broad bay, a group of small rocky islands extends 

 before the steep coast of the southeastern point of East Vaag. Narrow 

 sounds and deep bays afford shelter to the ships, and a fine large light 

 house shows at night-time the way to the safe harbor. ISTo trees and no 

 shrubs are found on these islands ; only grass encircles the lower rocks 

 and mountains. Along the coast there are numerous warehouses ; far- 

 ther back there are a number of two-story houses, and a simple but rather 

 large church painted red ; all these are frame buildings, and are erected 

 in places specially selected for the purpose. Some distance from these 

 buildings the large guano-factory is seen, built of wood, and having two 

 tall chimneys painted a grayish-white, with black felt roofs. Close to 

 it there is an enormous pile of fish heads, broad and high, resembling 

 somewhat a stack of grain. Since the guano-factories pay from 43 to 

 53 cents for a hundred fish-heads they are no longer thrown into the sea, 

 but are carefully gathered. It is estimated that every year about 

 20,000,000 fish are caught near the Loffoden Islands. 



" Besides the above-mentioned buildings quite a number of little frame 

 houses are scattered all over the islands. With their small windows, 

 and their roofs of turf with low wooden chimneys, or still more fre- 

 quently stove-pipes taking the place of chimneys, they can at a dis- 

 tance scarcely be distinguished from the ground. By exposure to wind 

 and rain the woodwork assumes the gray color of the rocks, and the 

 roofs begin to resemble patches of greensward. 



