240 MODE OF TAKING CODFISH. 



number of Iceland boats employed in the cod fisheries aver- 

 age nearly five thousand, and the number of persons em- 

 ployed exceeds ten thousand. 



The modern cod-smack usuall}^ carries from nine to eleven 

 men and boys, including the captain. The line is chiefly 

 used for the purpose of taking cod or haddock. Each man 

 has a line of three hundred feet in length, and attached to 

 each of these lines are one hundred '' snoods/' with hooks 

 already baited with mussels, pieces of herring, or whiting. 

 Each line is laid " clear " in a shallow basket or " skull f that 

 is, it is so arranged as to run freely as the boat shoots ahead. 

 The three hundred feet line, with one hundred hooks, is 

 called in Scotland a " taes.'' If there are eight men in a boat» 

 the length of the line will be two thousand four hundred 

 feet, with eight hundred hooks (the lines being tied to each 

 other before setting). On arriving at the fishing-ground, 

 the fishermen heave overboard a cork buoy with a flag-staff 

 affixed to it, about six feet in height. The buoy is kept 

 fixed by a line reaching to the bottom of the water, and 

 having a stone or small anchor fastened to the lower end. 

 To this line, called the " pow-end," is also fastened the fish- 

 ing-line, which is then " paid " out as fast as the boat sails. 

 Should the wind be unfavorable, the oars are used. When 

 the line is all out the end is dropped, and the boat returns 

 to the buoy. The pow-end is hauled up, with the anchor 

 and fishing-line attached to it. The fishermen then haul in 

 the line with whatever fish may be on it. Eight hundred 

 fish might be taken by eight men in a few hours by this 

 operation. Many a time the fish are eaten off the line by 

 -the dog-fish and other enemies, so that a few fragments and 

 a skeleton or two remain to show that fish have been caught. 

 The fishermen of '* deck-welled cod-bangers " use both hand- 

 lines and long lines. The cod-bangers' tackling is, of course, 

 stronger than that used in open boats. The long lines are- 

 called "grut lines" or great lines. Every deck-welled cod- 



