Nordland. 239 



was repealed by the same Parliament which passed the 

 measure, showing that in Norway, as in other countries, 

 it is possible that the welfare of an industry may be sub- 

 servient to the requirements of party politics. 



At eleven o'clock on a Thursday night I bade adieu 

 to a party of English and Norwegian friends, and left 

 Bergen by the Nordstjernen, en route for Trondhjem. 



I had early in the day engaged a double cabin for 

 myself and an old friend, who should join the boat at 

 Moldoen upon the morrow, but I was consigned to a berth 

 in a cabin for four persons, for no particular reason that 

 I could discover ; but the ways of Damphshib people are 

 peculiar, and I have long since ceased to reason with 

 sea-people of any nationality. 



At ten o'clock on Friday morning we lay off Moldoen, 

 and I observed a large boat making from the shore, and 

 in it stood, in the midst of a pile of gun- and rod-cases, 

 a tall individual in an enormous straw hat, holding in one 

 hand a pair of long boots, and in the other a setter by 

 his cord. 



My friend, " the old hand," as I usually call him, 

 stepped noiselessly on board in his Loerdal shoes, and 

 greeted me with the remark, " Well, I didn't know you 

 were going to take me to the North Pole to fish ! " 



The arrangement for our meeting had been made some 

 months previously when fishing together in England, and 



