286 



the population, and by such means become their own 

 purveyors. 



Denmark finds a supply of fish along the shores of Jut- 

 land, in the Kattegat and the Belts ; their line-fishing is 

 confined to these waters, and is prosecuted with vessels 

 of small tonnage and by open boats. They make no 

 attempts to supply other nations, and on the other hand 

 they do not need to purchase to any great extent from 

 abroad. 



Sweden sends a large fleet of fishing vessels to the line- 

 fishing in the North Sea. Their vessels are not attractive 

 in appearance ; having a keel short in proportion to the 

 length over all, they present a rather unsightly picture, but 

 are constructed with a view of riding at anchor in the 

 open sea. They are probably the best model for such a 

 purpose. 



They are usually manned with twelve hands. The vessels 

 are mostly laid up during the winter months from Novem- 

 ber to March, and for the rest of the year they are occupied 

 principally in long-line fishing between the latitudes of 57 

 and 63 N. They carry on their operations along the edge 

 of the great bank which runs along the deep-water channel 

 fronting the Norwegian coast, and is commonly known as 

 the Reef ; but several of them have of late years moved 

 westwardly to within fifty miles of the north of Scotland. 



Their practice is to place their lines on sloping ground, 

 from a less to a greater depth of the sea, sometimes to as 

 much as 200 fathoms, a depth so considerable that almost 

 all other fishermen shrink from the severe labour entailed 

 in hauling them in again. The hardy Swede, however, 

 appears to take it all as a matter of course, and is 

 frequently rewarded for his toil by immense catches of 

 ling and other kinds of fish. 



