106 DIFFEKENT MODES OF FISHING THE HERRING. 



a scene witnessed in the beginning of the year on the 

 coast of Norway : — 



" Being desirous of seeing the bustle and details of the 

 herring-fishery on the coast of Norway, I proceeded in a 

 boat, on Tuesday the 24fch January, to the coast near 

 Hitteroe. The morning was beautiful beyond descrip- 

 tion ; there was not a cloud, scarcely one degree of cold, 

 and not a breath of wind, although the sea rose in lofty 

 undulations. The first appearance in proceeding out of 

 the bay was innumerable masses, like floating houses, 

 which turned out to be boats filled with empty barrels 

 piled high on deck. The nearer I came to the Sound, 

 the more numerous were the fishing vessels ; and the 

 Sound, or Narrows, which is about two miles in length 

 and some hundred fathoms in breadth, was almost covered 

 with a great variety of vessels, — namely, of that descrip- 

 tion which were full of empty casks, large pilot boats 

 from the east coast of Norway, and sloops and other 

 decked vessels. On arriving in the Sound, I observed, 

 along the coast of Hitteroe, a lengthened range of boats 

 and nets projecting from the shore. Having sailed out 

 to the Qualsbjerg or Hualsbierg (the whale's rock), which 

 lies at the outer end of the Sound, I was surprised and 

 delighted at the sublime sight. Boats and nets appeared 

 in hundreds upon the beautifully transparent ocean ; the 

 busy voices of the men mingled with the shrill pipe of 

 the sea-gull, countless myriads of which were waging war 

 against the herrings along with the fisherman and the 

 whale. The birds, in rapid evolutions, were whirling in 

 the air, or dipping in the wave, their snow-white watery 

 plumage sparkling like diamonds in the sunshine ; and in 

 the distance, at various intervals, watery columns ap- 

 peared as if rising from the ocean, caused by the blowing 



