10 



Mindeskrift for J. Steenstrup. XXX. 



the fishermen are not very much dependent on the weather. Of this ice fishery Rink 

 has given the foUowng, instructive description^). When the men consider that the ice 

 will continue fairly safe, they make openings into which they put the intestines of seals 

 or the like, to entice the first sharks to the place ; later, when the fishing has once started, 

 this is no longer required. Three different methods are used. The simplest consists in 

 attracting the sharks to the surface at night by means of a light, then a short, bent iron 

 hook is simply stuck into them and they are drawn up on to the ice; this requires the 

 strength of two men, when the fish are large. It also happens in the shark fishery, that 



Fig. 2. Shark fishing in winter in North Greenland. In the ice are cut openings, through which 

 the long fishing-lines are sunk down to the bottom. To the left is seen a Greenlander, who is 

 watching his line; this is fastened at the upper end of an upright, flexible stick, from the move- 

 ments of which it can be seen, when a flsh is biting. In the foreground a "Tuk' is to be seen, 

 that is an implement for cutting holes in the ice. To the right three Greenlanders are hauhng up 

 a captured shark. Round about are scattered bodies of sharks cut open and divided. In the back- 

 ground ice-bound icebergs are seen. — From a drawing by a Greenlander, reproduced in Rink's work. 



the animal comes up of itself to the surface and then the hook is simply thrust in it 

 preferably in the eyc. . The second method consists in hanging a hook with bait on it 

 by means of an iron chain 4 — 6 feet deep in the water; it is not altogether necessary 

 to be constantly watching over the hooks, as the shark once it has bitten cannot escape 



*) H. Rink: Grønland geographisk og statistisk beskrevet, I, 1867, p. 136. 



