AN ACCOUNT OF THE LOFFODEN ISLANDS OF NORWAY. 563 



" According to one estimate Mr. Drejer finds room in these frame huts 

 for 3,000 fishermen, and our pilot assured us that as many as 0,000 to 

 8,000 live here. During the fishing season each one pays $1.60 rent (for 

 the whole season). Some small pine woods found in sheltered parts of 

 the islands furnish fuel, although by no means enough to satisfy the de- 

 mand ; peat, which is quite plentiful, is therefore used extensively. Long 

 poles resting on high pegs are used for drying the fish, resembling very 

 much those simple contrivances on which the fishermen on the Prussian 

 coast of the Baltic hang their nets. But here we also find frame-works 

 of several stories. 



"Henningsvar is the largest fishing-station, and is by a submarine 

 telegraph connected with the rest of the world. 



" Wherever a suitable place is found on this steep and rugged coast, 

 fishing-stations have been established. In some of the most favorable 

 places a few two-story dwelling houses may be seen with outbuildings 

 and small gardens, a few trees and shrubs giving a more cheerful as- 

 pect to the scene. B ut all around on the rough, uneven ground turf- 

 covered huts are seen, resting partly on the naked rock, partly on props 

 of wood and stone, while some appear like birds'-nests pasted on the 

 rock. Goats, sheep, and occasionally a few cows, nibble the scanty 

 grass growing in small patches here and there among the rocks. Eough 

 steps have been cut in the rock, leading to the landing-place of the 

 boats, and on a promontory or little island a light-house shows the 

 nightly voyager the location of the fishing-station. To these places the 

 fishermen come from the north and from the south in their open boats 

 as early as January. Some, however, have a more convenient arrange- 

 ment : they leave their boats at the fishing-stations and travel by 

 steamer. 



^'Twenty thousand fishermen come to these inexhaustible seas every 

 year; traders come here in their yachts, and everything is life and 

 bustle. But what a life of labor and danger! A strange feeling over- 

 comes the traveler when beholding all this activity and the thousands 

 of human beings drawn hither for the sake of gain, regardless of all its 

 dangers. In the darkness of the long night the fishermen enter their 

 boats, for the brief day-time often shortened by gloomy skies would be 

 by far too short for the work which has to be accomplished. Threaten- 

 ing like dark and shapeless shadows do the rocky coasts rise behind 

 them ; before them extends the vast and gloomy ocean. They dis- 

 regard cold and wind as long as the waves are not too high so as to 

 make fishing impossible. When the weather is unfavorable they stay 

 at home ; and as a general rule they understand the indications of the 

 weather. But who can infallibly predict the weather in those latitudes 

 and in that season of the year? Prudence and caution are not always 

 regarded, and many a storm overtakes the daring fishermen. At the 

 time when I was traveling among these islands by steamer the weather 

 had been exceptionally fine for several days, the thermometer rising to 



