THE NORWEGIAN WHALE-FISHERY. 399 



" sulphur bottom," as the whalers call it, is some- 

 times hunted. This is truly the "king of fishes," or of 

 ocean-mammals, his average length being one hundred 

 feet. He is not so easy or tranquil in his movements 

 as the Greenland whale, and when wounded, breaks into 

 such a tempest of rage that approach to him becomes ex- 

 ceedingly dangerous. His flight, after being struck by 

 the harpoon, is very rapid, and so long sustained that to 

 tire him out is very difficult, and generally impossible. 



The whale-fishery at Yadso, a sea-port of Arctic Nor- 

 way, presents some features of special interest. 



Yadso is one of the numerous islands which stud the 

 broad bosom of the Yaranger Fjord, the easternmost of the 

 great inlets on the coast of northern Europe which the 

 influence of the Gulf Stream keeps free of ice throughout 

 the year. It forms a great salt-water channel, which a 

 succession of promontories and the Island of Yadso lock 

 in like a mountain-lake. The island is green with fir- 

 woods, and though within the Arctic Circle, has little of 

 the true arctic character. 



Its principal or only town, Yadso, is a scattered multi- 

 tude of houses, between and beyond which extend acres 

 upon acres of low wooden scaffolding, the object of which 

 is not very clear to the observer at the first glance. But 

 examining it more closely, he sees that it consists of a re- 

 petition of wooden framework, upon which, at a height of 

 about six feet from the ground, are laid horizontal wooden 

 bars or poles, and to these wooden bars are suspended 

 pairs of split cod-fish for the purpose of drying. Their 

 number is legion, and if he be wise he will make no 

 attempt to count them. Under and around the frames 



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