16 THADE OP HAMMERFEST. 



This was quite tlie busy season here, and a 

 good deal of trade appeared to be going on, as 

 the harbour was full of small Russian luggers 

 and other coasting craft. This trade consists 

 chiefly in the exportation of dried fish and 

 walrus-skins to Archangel, and the other ports 

 on the White Sea, getting from thence in 

 return rye-meal, salt-beef, tar, hemp and cord- 

 age ; they also export seal and walrus-oil, fish- 

 oil, and seal-skins to Newcastle and Hamburg, 

 in return for cutlery, hardware, stoneware, 

 dry goods, &c. 



Hammerfest, in addition to the honour of 

 being the most northerly town in the world, 

 may assuredly lay claim to another superlative, 

 viz., that of being the most unsavoury place in 

 the universe : the immense quantity of cod, 

 ling, and scythe or coal-fish, which are caught 

 on the coast of Einmarken, are cured without 

 salt, being merely beheaded and gutted, and 

 laid down on the rocks or hung up on hurdles 

 to dry. There were a great many acres of fish 

 undergoing this process in and around Ham- 

 merfest at the time of our visit, and the whole 

 atmosphere was redolent of semi-putrid fish, in 

 consequence. 



There are also several extensive hoileries of 



