[13] THE FINMARK CAPELAN-FISHERIES. 179 
and that nature had appointed these gigantic animals to gather the 
scattered schools of herring and capelan from the different parts of 
the ocean and chase them towards certain portions of the coast in 
order that man might get his share of the wealth of the sea. For this 
reason a sort of veneration was, in olden times, shown for whales, which 
were considered the special servants of Providence. Our time is less 
fanciful in its interpretation of natural phenomena, and we hesitate 
somewhat to assign to the whale the part of a disinterested benefactor 
of mankind. It has been shown with a sufficient degree of certainty 
that both the spring herring and the capelan approach the coast at 
certain seasons of the year from a natural instinct, in order to spawn 
in suitable places, and that the whales simply follow the schools of her- 
ring and capelan, because they supply them with food. Although it 
might be supposed that no educated person could any longer entertain 
the antiquated notion above referred to, the opinion seems still to be 
very generally spread among fishermen that the presence of the whale 
during thecapelan-fisheries is of great significance and benefit. Though 
the more enlightened fishermen will grant that, even if the whales staid 
away, the capelan must come near the coast for the purpose of spawn- 
ing, they still think that it is owing to the whales that the capelan 
spawn so near to the coast, and that there are successful fisheries. Ex- 
perience, however, does by no means bear out this opinion. There have 
been years when large whales were seen out at sea and no capelan 
approached the coast, and at other times there have been instances (as 
in the Varanger-fiord) when the capelan came quite near the coast with- 
out a single whale making its appearance outside. 
(2.) Ithas been maintained that during the rich Varanger-fiord capelan- 
fisheries the whales formed a sort of cordon outside the bays and sounds, 
thus forcing the capelan towards the coast against their will, and pre- 
venting them from returning to the deep waters. In all such cases, 
however, it has been ascertained that the capelan spawned in the 
above-mentioned bays and sounds, and also, that, after the spawning- 
process was finished, the capelan went out to sea again, without any 
regard to the whales. It is evident, therefore, that we should consider 
this matter ina somewhat different light, viz, that the schools of capelan 
have chosen their spawning-places from their own instinct and entirely 
independent of the whales, and that the whales have simply followed 
the schools, as is their wont, and that when the capelan schools stopped 
in certain places the whales likewise stopped somewhere in the neigh- | 
borhood, so as to be able to take their meals regularly. In rejecting 
the last-mentioned and entirely natural explanation and showing a pref- 
erence for the old idea, that the whales bring the capelan to the coast 
and distribute them among the different fishing-stations, people only 
furnish another proof of how difficult it is to tear loose from old and 
deeply-rooted prejudices. This idea, as has been said above, is evidently 
based on a complete misunderstanding of the mutual relations between 
