[^] THE ICELANDIC HALIBUT FISHERY. 295 



rigffed smacks, fishiug for cod at Iceland. The captains and crews of 

 these vessels, althouoh they had been familiar Nvith the Iceland fish- 

 <'nes tor many years, were very mnch astonished at the lar^e catches 

 oi halibut that were made by the Americans. They predicted our n.en 

 would set no fish because they believed the hooks used by our fisher- 

 men are too small. The An.ericans were also told, very emphaticallv, 

 that they could not possibly use trawl-lines on the Icelandie ILshiiK- 

 grounds, because the tide would be sure to sink their buoys. But men 

 who ha<l fished on all the orounds from George's Bank to Gr(>enland 

 and m the "deep water," in winter, were not to be easily discouraged' 

 an( thcTcsult proved that, though they had never previouslv been to 

 Jceland, they had a better conception of what it was possible to do than 

 the oreign fishermen had, notwithstandiag the latter were lamiliar with 

 the locality.* 



After having had good fishing for several days, it became necessary 

 tor he Concord to land salt, spare gear, &c. A duty of 10 crowns was 

 paid on the salt, though in this as in other cases the salt was ao-ain 

 taken on board and used on fish. 



Captain Dago states that the Icelanders wished very much to ])ur- 

 diase the Inilibut heads, which, strangely enough, are thrown awav bv 

 American fishermen as of no value, while they are prized more highly 

 lu Ice and than any other portion of the fish; indeed, being the only 

 part that is considered specially desirable for food. Had it been per- 

 nnssible to sell the fish, the Icelanders niight have procured large num- 

 l)ers of heads for almost nothing. 



Captain Dago describes the bottom on the fishing bank as "catchy " 

 and mentions having taken, besides the varieties of invertebrates alreadV 

 mentioned, two or three other kinds, among which were sea lemon.; 

 IJe also mentions, as also do the other captains, that large numl)ers of 

 small and medium-sized lialibut were caught, ui.on whicirwere marked 

 the initials of French fishermen, who, seldom making any use of these 

 fish, are accustomed to thus mutilate many which they catch. If they 

 had the good sense to mark on a fish the date of its capture and its 

 approximate weight, much interesting data could be obtained relative 

 to the yearly growth of the halibut. 



The French salt their catch of cod, which are taken on hand-lines. 

 The English also fish with hnnd-lines (" at a drift ") for cod, which they 

 sa t uii il a fare-enough fish to fill the available space-is obtained', 

 alter which the catch is put in the well to be taken alive to England 



sttT iVr'\'^'^'' "'"'^^ ^'''''"^^ ^^'"S- landed at the Faroe or the 

 She land Iskuids. Halibut are also saved alive in the well, but instead 

 of allowing them to settle down on the bottom of the vessel, the Eng- 



cZtZ7l!^^^ ' large Looks are required to catch Lalibnt, for tbey use for the 

 ^l^i:!::^''^""' '•-" l^ooks-^ore than double the «i.e of the hoolc. eu. 



