28 7 



I am informed on reliable authority that as many as a 

 thousand ling have been taken in one day ; reckoning a 

 ling at an average of 24 Ibs. this represents nearly io| 

 tons of ling, besides cod and other kinds of fish, of 

 which they catch a fair proportion. These quantities are 

 perhaps not equalled by any fishermen in the North Sea, 

 and can only be approached in their quantity by the 

 Norwegian fishermen at the great periodical fisheries of 

 Lofoden, Finmarken, and Romsdal. 



The bait used by the Swedish fishermen is in the first 

 instance the mussel. With these they bait their haddock 

 line, which they work on banks adjacent to their great 

 fishing grounds, where the haddock is found in large 

 quantities ; after a day's catch of haddock they sail away 

 into deeper waters, and then in its turn the shiny haddock 

 is cut up to make bait for the ling and cod, so carrying out 

 the law of the survival of the fittest. 



A specialty of the Swedish fishing lines is the float 

 used on the snood. This is made of cedar bark cut to 

 shape, about three inches long by one inch in diameter, 

 and boiled in beeswax in order to render it impervious 

 to water ; it is so attached with respect to the hook as to 

 keep the latter about two feet from the ground. Like the 

 swinging signboard of a country inn, it makes a display 

 which the hungry traveller cannot well resist, and as a 

 consequence it is readily snapped at. It also serves the 

 purpose of keeping the bait off the dirty ground and 

 above the reach of the star-fish and creeping insects 

 which infest large portions of the bottom of the sea. 



The position held by Norwegian fisheries is by far the 

 most important both as regards the number of persons 

 employed and the quantities landed. But inasmuch as 

 their great fisheries are localised and carried on within 



