FROM DROXTHEDI TO THE NORTH CAPE. 



produce of the fisheries. But (as with all useful inventions) loud complaints 

 were raised against him in Xorway, and as late as 1762 no nets were allowed 

 it Drontheim, " to prevent the ruin of the poor jDcople v,'ho had not the capital 

 to provide themselves with them," 



The life of a fisherman is everywhere full of privations and dangers, but no- 

 where more so than at the Lofoten Islands. Here, after toiling on the storniy 

 sea for many hours, he has nothing but the miserable shelter of a damp, filthy, 

 jver-crowded hut, which affords him neither the rest nor the warmth needed 

 ifter his fati2:uin<T' day's work. Even the iron-framed sons of the Xorth are 

 frequently unable to resist such continuous hardships, and bring home with 

 ■• them the seeds of contagion and death. Malignant fevers have frequently dec- 

 limated the population of Norway, and their origin may generally be traced to 



'<■ V X 



THE DOVREFJELD. 



I 



the fishing-grounds. "The Arab and the Persian," says Leopold von Buch. 

 " build caravanseras for the wayfarers through the desert ; the inhabitants of 

 the Alps have founded ' hospices ' on the summits of the mountain passes ; and 

 the Norwegian has erected houses of refuge on Dovrefjeld, but none for the 

 fishermen of Lofoten. Near Rodoe there is a large hospital for the sick of 

 Nordland ; Avould it not be as well to build houses in Lofoten, so as not to 

 crowd the hospitals and churchyards?' This was written at the beginning of 

 the present century, but the poor fishermen are still as neglected as ever, for a 

 more recent traveller, Marmici-, beheld with pity the wretched huts in which 

 they spend three winter months far from their families. 



In the channel between HvalO and the mainland lies, in 69^ 45' N. lat., the 



