58 VIKINGS OF TO-DAY 



may be made to fish for cod, to pack salmon, to load 

 vessels, or do any work they are told. When seven 

 men fish one trap or seine net, the total catch is 

 divided into fourteen shares seven for the planter 

 and seven for the men. That is one share each ; a 

 few dollars on the hundred quintals being allowed 

 the skipper of the "crew." Or when a man fishes 

 his own net with four men I saw the value divided 

 into twelve shares four for the master, four for the 

 trap, and one each for the men, so that each man 

 gets every twelfth fish. When hand-lining begins, 

 and two men have charge of each boat, every other 

 fish belongs to the men, the owner taking two out 

 of four. A girl's wages are 6 to 7 currency 

 for the season, and her keep. Each planter has his 

 own hut, but his men often live together. The huts 

 are of logs with the chinks filled with moss and 

 covered with sods. Entrance is by a low doorway, 

 and there is a small window placed low down to 

 prevent escape of heat. Warmth and ventilation 

 cannot co-exist in so small a space. A man a little 

 over a fathom long once visited Sir Donald Smith, 

 when an agent on that coast. To accommodate his 

 legs at night a hole had to be cut in the wall, and 

 a box lined with dogskin fixed up outside. I saw 

 one day a fisherman moving house. The house was 

 first wedged up on piles, then a rope was put round 

 it, and, with the help of a few neighbours, it was 

 dragged higher up the hill. Another house I saw 

 had been dragged over the harbour on the ice " to 



