THE SALMON. 163 



Dangerous salmon fishery in Norway. 



the spear, with almost unerring aim, into the 

 fish. This done, by a turn of the hand he 

 raises the salmon to the surface of the water, 

 turns his horse's head to the shore, and runs the 

 salmon on dry land without dismounting. This 

 man says that, by the present mode, he can kill 

 from forty to fifty in a day : ten are, however, 

 no despicable day's work for a man and horse. 

 His father was probably the first man that ever 

 adopted the method of killing salmon on horse- 

 back. (See the annexed engraving.) 



In Norway, in the province of Christiansand, 

 among some craggy and steep mountains, is a 

 very remarkable and extremely dangerous salmon 

 fishery on the river Mendel, near the bridge of 

 Bieland, which is built on beams that project 

 over the river. Not far from this bridge towards 

 the north, close to a farm-house called Foss, the 

 river precipitates itself from an over-hanging 

 crag, and forms a very large cataract. The fish- 

 ermen venture beneath the arch of this fall, float- 

 ing in wicker-baskets fastened to a beam, to pre- 

 vent their being swallowed up in the abyss. If 

 this beam were to break, the fishermen would be 

 lost, and if they full among the rocks, which 

 frequently happens, they are drawn out scarcely 

 alive, below the cataract. But if the beam re- 

 main firm, they tloai upon their flat baskets 

 quite under the arched rock, the hollows of 

 which the salmon inhabit. They drive them out 

 to the number of twenty, or upwards, and whca 



