THE HERRING FISHERIES. 15 



jacket-net more universally adopted at the herring fishing, 

 as it saves time by telling whether herring are about, and 

 at what depth, and a thermometer is also attached to show 

 the temperature of the water. 



Fishermen would be better prepared for any emergency 

 if they would only provide themselves with a portable life- 

 jacket, which could be inflated before taking the harbour 

 in a storm. 



Although the Norwegian schooners run to Iceland for 

 herrings, their own fisheries, exclusive of Sweden and 

 Denmark, are of considerable importance and value. The 

 jagts or yawls fish in the numerous fjords, which in some 

 cases extend inland for a hundred miles, with frowning 

 mountains overhanging their sides, or sweeping cataracts 

 disgorging themselves into the basin below, and sea-gulls 

 helping themselves to the finny wealth from these waters. 

 The depth close inshore of some fjords is one hundred 

 fathoms, and even deeper in some cases. 



The creeks of the west coast are subject to sudden 

 squalls, which, through the intervening mountainous back- 

 ground, sweep down unperceived. The herring shoals 

 sweep into and from these fjords proceeding towards 

 Stavangar and the Naze. From Bodo and along the chain 

 of islands known as Loffoden Islands the fishery is prose- 

 cuted, and as a feeding ground these fjords resemble our 

 own west coast of Scotland. 



Along the Swedish coast there are also rocky islands of 

 varying length and breadth, with a fisherman's house upon 

 one or other of them, and a creek or fissure serving the 

 purpose of a harbour. The fishery is pursued at various 

 seasons of the year from the Cattegat grounds into the 

 northern Atlantic ; but there are very important stations 

 and fishing districts along the south coast, and the sprat 



