THEIR PROFITS. 51 



one each. Thus, if the gross proceeds of a 

 voyage in skins, blubber, and ivory be esti 

 mated at 2000 dollars, and the number of 

 hands amounts to ten, which is the usual 

 number for a vessel with two boats, the shares 

 will be worth 47-J dollars, or about IOL each : 

 Wl. is a much more important sum of money 

 in Norway than it is in Britain; and so 

 (putting aside the exciting nature of the occu 

 pation), it is not surprising that the best 

 seamen and boldest spirits of the north of 

 Norway should be generally found in the 

 Spitzbergen sealers. These are the true des 

 cendants and successors of the gallant Vikings 

 and Berserkars, who of old ravaged and con 

 quered the coasts of Europe from Jutland 

 to Otranto. This pursuit to these men has 

 all the excitement of a lottery, because, 

 in the case of a very successful season, 

 they may make a good deal more than the 

 above-stated amounts, and I dare say a good 

 deal of the spirit of the gambler enters into 

 their calculations. They are always over head 

 and ears in debt to the merchants before they 

 start, and so I believe it is usual for the 

 owners to compound with the crew for the 

 third of the cargo belonging to them, by giving 



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