﻿192 PICTORIAL MISCELLANY. 



cataracts. Vast forests of pine and fir trees are found, and great 

 quantities of timber are annually exported to different parts of Europe, 

 The sea-coast is exceedingly irregular, and resembles somewhat the 

 coast of the Atlantic Ocean bordering upon the State of Maine, be- 

 ing filled with innumerable islands, bays, inlets and promontories. 



More than one hundred and fifty thousand persons are supported 

 by the herring-fishery on the coast. This fish is too well known to 

 need describing, but I have a few words to say about catching them. 

 It is supposed that they breed mostly in the Arctic seas. About the 

 beginning of June, a shoal of herring, not less in extent than the six 

 New England States, comes from the north on the surface of the 

 sea. Their approach is indicated by various signs in the air and 

 water. This great shoal soon becomes separated into schools, as the 

 fishermen call them, and countless myriads of them fill the bays and 

 inlets upon the coast. 



There are various modes of catching them. Vast nets, having 

 meshes an inch square, are thrown from the fishing boats in the 

 night, which have lights to attract the herring. A company of three 

 men will often take twenty barrels of fish in a single night. The curing 

 of herring forms the chief labor of the persons engaged in the busi- 

 ness. The fish are carefully cleaned, washed, and pickled, and, if 

 intended for use as white herrings, they are placed in casks of brine, 

 If for red herrings, they are taken from the salting tubs, and hung in 

 large houses, built for the purpose, in numbers of fifteen or twenty 

 thousand. They are then packed in barrels, or boxes, and are ready 

 for exportation. 



But perhaps the greatest curiosity in this region is an immense 

 whirlpool, called the Maelstrom, which is in the channel which sep- 

 arates the island of Ver from the main land. Here, when the tide 

 is rising or falling, the waters of the ocean are whirled round and 

 round with great rapidity, and with such violence that, when the 

 stream is most boisterous, and its fury is heightened by a storm, it is 

 dangerous for vessels to approach within six miles of it. Many ves- 

 sels have been swallowed up, and the crews lost at this place. The 

 roaring of the water is heard at a distance of many miles ; and if a 

 ship once comes within the attraction, she is irretrievably lost. At 

 first the vessel begins to go round very slowly, and in a large circle, 



