[3] THE ICELAND COD FISHERIES. 373 



w here they leave their traces in the shape of broken barrels, boards, &c., 

 scattered along the coast. The results do not, as a general rule, bear 

 any due proportion to the risk in fishing at this season of the year close 

 to a coast like that of Southern Iceland, without a single j^lace of refuge 

 during a storm. The fishing expeditions from Denmark and the Faroe 

 Islands generally do not reach Iceland till some time during the second 

 half of March. 



It had been my intention to begin the fisheries in Faxa Bay, from 

 which place favorable reports had been received ; but a severe storm 

 from the northeast drove us out to sea and around the Blind Bird Rocks, 

 and when the storm had abated it took us some time to reach land again, 

 which was not till the 21st, when in the morning we had Kopparnaes to 

 1 he southwest and Koger in the southeast. Here we reefed the sails with 

 the exception of the mizzeu, which is always set during the fisheries as 

 if lor sailing before the wind. While the vessel glides over the fishing- 

 place it is necessary that some of the jibs should also be set, so that the 

 lines which run out to leeward may trail out behind the vessel in an oblique 

 direction. It should also be remarked that care must be taken that the 

 vessel does not lie to leeward, whereby the lines, of which half a score 

 haug out along the side of the gangway, easily become entangled. 



The sounding-line showed a depth of 70 fathoms. Although it could 

 hardly be expected to find fish at this time and at such a depth, we 

 nevertheless made an attempt to fish, but Avithout success, although in 

 every other respect the conditions of time were as favorable as possi- 

 ble, viz., shortly before sunrise and near the change of the tide. Sailing 

 towards the shore we tried different depths, as it was important for us 

 to know in what direction fish might be looked for, but only at a depth 

 of 40 fathoms did we find any codfish, i^rincipally large fish belonging 

 to schools, with a shining white belly, and many of them having fully 

 developed roe. As soon as a wind from the shore drove us to places 

 where the water was 50 to 60 fathoms deep, we only met with halibut, 

 wolf-fish, and occasionally some sharks. The first-mentioned kinds were 

 so plentiful that in the course of a few hours we had from 20 to 30 on the 

 deck of our vessel ; of codfish we only caught from 100 to 150 during 

 the first days, which, according to Iceland ideas, is considered a very 

 poor result. Toward the end of the month we had a storm from the north 

 with the temperature a little below freezing, and such a snow-storm 

 that we were compelled to seek shelter in the Talkna fiord, which for- 

 tunately was not far off and which was all the more welcome as we re- 

 membered that the Bella and the Lovenorn had been lost in 1882 in this 

 very neighborhood, probably because owing to the density of the snow- 

 storm they could not find the proper place for approaching the shore. 



The habit, which is unfortunately but too common among the fisher- 

 men, of seeking a port during a storm, should as a rule be discouraged as 

 legards fishing- vessels. With the winds which generally prevail on the 

 west coast of Iceland, viz., northeast and southwest, it will be possible 



