276 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES 



ermen came sailing in from the mouth of the sound, all loaded full to 

 the gunwale. The fishing on the previous night had been quite unusu- 

 ally abundant, and so there was here an unexpectedly convenient oppor- 

 tunity for studying the Spitzbergen codfish and the conditions attending 

 the catching of it in these waters. In order to form a more accurate 

 estimate of the vast amount of fish caught here at this time we give the 

 following reliable figures : On three boats, each haiing a crew of two 

 men, were caught from 10 o'clock in the evening until 4.30 o'clock in the 

 morning, eleven hundred and fifty -three codfish. After having dressed 

 these fish and rested a short time, the same six men went out again at 

 8 o'clock the same morning and came back at 1.30 o'clock with eleven 

 hundred codfish. Each man had thus in the course of twelve hours 

 hauled up three hundred and seventy-five fish, which makes one fish 

 every other minute. 



At four o'clock we had taken in water and ballast, wherefore we 

 weighed anchor and stood to the north again. According to our plan a 

 few physical and biological observations were to be made on the banks 

 directly north of the Norse Islands. But as it kept freshening with a 

 breeze from the southwest as we came further out, and as the fog was 

 very dense, we changed our jAsm and directed our course, instead, south- 

 ward into the " Smeerenberg." The fog, which out at sea stood like a 

 dense, dark wall, had as yet but partially gotten in here, and so we got 

 during our passage through this channel, celebrated from former expe- 

 ditions for its beautiful mountains and glaciers, a most excellent oppor- 

 tunity of getting acquainted with the mighty and grand natural features 

 of Spitzbergen. Views, each more picturesque and surprising than the 

 preceding one, opened before our eyes as we advanced. Every vaUey 

 and ravine is here filled with a mighty glacier, which with abrupt walls 

 shoots out into the sea; and above the glaciers tower, further into the 

 interior, beautiful mountains abounding in the boldest peaks and preci- 

 pices. The straggling masses of fog drifting over the land from the sea, 

 between which the evening sun shed its clear rays of light, spread over 

 all a peculiar mystic halo which added, in a marked degree, to the bril- 

 liancy and grandeur of this scene. In the innermost part of the bay 

 unfolded itself before our eyes in the clear light of the evening sun a 

 glorious panorama of mountain peaks, which, with the most fantastic, 

 jagged forms, rose from a valley completely filled for many miles with 

 snow, and from this extended a mighty glacier — the largest one we hith- 

 erto had seen — out into the sea. From the greenish blue, shimmering, 

 abrupt end of the glacier came one iceberg after the other, floating with 

 the current out of the fjord. One of these, of mighty dimensions, 

 crowned with glittering peaks, passed close by our ship and was imme- 

 diately sketched. That our sketch-books did not rest during the remain- 

 der of our passage through this interesting channel, is a matter of course. 

 Every one of us that knew how to use a pencil, with some sort of practice, 

 certainly has some view or other in Ms sketch-book from that glorious 



