132 SCIENCE IN SHORT CHAPTERS. 



annually visited by large numbers of French fishermen 

 from Dunkerque, Boulogne, and other ports. 



Whenever the packet halted over these banks during our 

 coasting trip we demonstrated their fertility by casting a line 

 or two over the bulwark. No bait was required, merely a 

 double hook with a flat shank attached to a heavy leaden 

 plummet. The line was sunk till the lead touched the 

 bottom, a few jerks were given, and then a tug was felt: the 

 line was hauled in with a cod-fish or hallibut hooked, not 

 inside the mouth, but externally by the gill-plates, the back, 

 the tail, or otherwise. The mere jerking of a hook near the 

 bottom was sufficient to bring it in contact with some of the 

 population. There is a very prolific bank lying between 

 the North Cape and Nordkyn, where the Porsanger and Laxe 

 fjords unite their openings. Here we were able, with only 

 three lines, to cover the fore-deck of the packet with strug- 

 gling victims in the course of short halts of fifteen to thirty 

 minutes. Not having any sounding apparatus by which 

 to fairly test the nature of the sea-bottom in these places, 

 I cannot offer any direct proof that it was composed of till. 

 By dropping the lead I could feel it sufficiently to be cer- 

 tain that it was not rock in any case, but a soft deposit, 

 and the marks upon the bottom of the lead, so far as they 

 went, afforded evidence in favor of its clayey character. A 

 further investigation of this would be very interesting. 



But the most striking I may say astounding evidence 

 of the fertility of these banks, one which appeals most 

 powerfully to the senses, is the marvelous colony of sea- 

 birds at Sverholtklubben, the headland between the two 

 last-named fjords. I dare not estimate the numbers that 

 rose from the rocks and darkened the sky when we blew 

 the. steam- whistle in passing. I doubt whether there is any 

 other spot in the world where an equal amount of animal 

 life is permanently concentrated. All these feed on fish, 

 and an examination of the map will show why in accord- 

 ance with the above speculations they should have chosen 

 Sverholtklubben as the best fishing-ground on the arctic 

 face of Europe. 



I am fully conscious of the main difficulty that stands in 

 the way of my explanation of the formation of the till, viz., 



