FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 213 



of Norway and Sweden, striking instances of this may be 

 found. How different might have been the fate of these 

 cities if the fishermen had been able to follow the fish in 



herrings were present in the greatest abundance ; and during the 

 60 years from 1748 to 1808, this was again the case. In the intervals, 

 the fishery was a complete blank. ^In 1787 there were in Bohuslan 

 338 salting houses, and 429 oil-refineries, with a total of 1812 boilers, 

 using 40,986 barrels of herrings per day. The number of large seines 

 was 358, and of boats 2100. These figures even increased consider- 

 ably during the following years. In 1831, however, Herr O. Lundbeck, 

 describing the district, says : " He who knew the coast of Bohuslan 

 25 years ago, and now sees it again, will scarcely be able to refrain 

 from tears. Then it presented an imposing appearance. From the 

 sea itself rose massive walls and pillars, supporting immense salting- 

 houses and oil-refineries. Farther inland rich warehouses and busy 

 workshops might be seen, as well as palatial residences of the 

 merchants, and neat cottages of the fishermen and working men. 

 The coast was crowded with a busy throng, and the sea studded with 

 sails. Every night it looked as if there were a grand illumination, 

 many thousand lights shining from the windows and from the 

 numerous lamps along the quays, and being reflected in the waves. 

 Everything was life and bustle, and tons of gold changed hands. 

 Now nothing is seen but ruins, only here and there a dilapidated 

 fisherman's cottage, awakening melancholy thoughts in the heart of 

 the visitor." The most extraordinary reasons were suggested by the 

 fishermen to account for these fluctuations. The old historian, Peter 

 Clausson, in his ' Norriges ocomliggende Oers sandfaerdige Be- 

 scriffuelse,' writing in the i6th century, and referring to the "very 

 extensive herring fisheries in Vidsidan " (or Bohuslan), says that they 

 " have disappeared by magic, bad men having sunk a copper horse in 

 the sea, and thereby driven the herrings away from the coast." 

 Among other curious suggestions, the list of which is similar to that 

 already quoted, was the " wickedness of the people." This idea, 

 which apparently had some foundation in the unfortunate condition of 

 lawlessness and immorality into which the Province had fallen, seems 

 to have impressed itself upon the attention of the Government from 

 time to time ; and in 1590, when the fisheries were beginning to 

 decrease, a law was passed with the provision that, " since there is 

 danger that God may withdraw His blessings on account of the great 



