THE FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 213 



suddenly to tlie second, which is at a depth of about 

 40 or 50 fathoms; again, the third bank drops sud- 

 denly, and without any slope whatever, to a depth of 

 about 120 fathoms. South of these natural ledges, 

 there is no bottom at 300 fathoms. The cod resort 

 to these natural terraces to spawn, and because there 

 they are protected from the winds and waves. When 

 caught, the cod are salted or dried, and then become 

 the stock-fish of commerce. They are then conveyed 

 in jagts, or smacks, small vessels with one large sail, 

 to Throndjem, Christiansand, Bergen, and Stavanger, 

 to be ready for exportation. The fishery produces 

 from sixteen to eighteen millions of cod every season, 

 besides 20,000 barrels of cod-liver oil, and 6000 bar- 

 rels of cods' roe. 



Cod-liver oil is very cheap in Norway, as well as 

 pure and good, for its yield is so great that it is not 

 worth while to adulterate it ; the best oil is brown in 

 colour. The people on the whole of the north-west 

 coast of Norway depend on the cod -fishery for their 

 livelihood. The trade is one of barter ; the merchant 

 receives his stipulated amount of fish from the fisher- 

 men, and pays in kind. The latter are often deeply 

 in debt to the former; that is, they receive their 

 payments in goods in advance, and are then unable 

 to pay in fish. This is a pernicious system ; it pre- 

 vents thrifty habits, with attendant evils, among the 

 fishermen. 



The famous Mahlstrom is in the neighbourhood of 

 the Loffoden Islands. This celebrated whirlpool or 

 current has been greatly exaggerated ; the stories of 

 ships and whales having been sucked in by it are 

 simply fabulous. It is situated between Moskeno, an 



