150 SCANDINAVIA. 



rodskjaer, each of the countries supplied through the Bergen traders having its 

 own favourite preparation. 



Before 1857 the privileged alone had the right to share in the husiness. The 

 sea was fictitiously divided amongst the off-shore proprietors, who grouped fishing 

 colonies at intervals in the islands and on the headlands, and exacted a rent or 

 duty from them. But now the sea is free except on Sundays, all fishing being 

 prohibited from five o'clock on Saturday evening to the same hour next day. 



Though less reliable, the herring scarcely yield in importance to the cod 

 fisheries. In good seasons the take in Norway amounts to about 1,500,000 

 barrels, or 450,000,000 fish, of which about one-third are shipped to Russia. 

 For this market they are packed in fir casks, imparting to them a resinous flavour 

 highly esteemed by the Russians. For other places the barrels are made of beech. 

 On the JS^orwegian seaboard there are two seasons : the first in summer and autumn, 

 when the shoals approach the shore in search of shrimps, molluscs, and annelid a, 

 or ground worms, forming their food ; the second in winter, from the end of 

 January to March, in the spawning time, when the herring travels in vast swarms. 

 The latter has always been shifting, the nets sometimes coming up empty, at others 

 breaking with the weight of the haul. The crews are generally joint owners 

 of the smacks, dividing the profits, the largest share of which goes to the notebas, 

 or headmen. Temporary villages are established on the neighbouring beaches, 

 with postal and telegraph stations and landing-places for the steamers. 



In Sweden, although the herring fishery is the most important in the 

 industrial economy, it does not yield suflacient for the local consumption, and 

 herrings are consequently imported from Norway. The average yearly take on 

 the Swedish Baltic coast is estimated at 150,000 tons.* 



Besides the cod and herring, there are other fisheries contributing to the 

 support of the people and its export trade. In Norway from 6,000,000 to 

 8,000,000 mackerel are annually taken, valued at about £40,000 ; and the salmon, 

 frequenting nearly all the rivers, are taken in large numbers below the falls, which 

 they endeavour to surmount. The quality of the salmon in some of the rivers of 

 the west coast is as highly prized as that of Scotland, and considerable quantities 

 are shipped for the English and German markets. Some of the streams in the 

 north of Norway are even leased to rich Englishmen, who pass the season in these 

 districts. Till recently the Norwegian fishers hunted a species of shark (Squalus 

 pffrgriiiHs), the largest animal frequenting these waters, measuring from 40 to 

 45 feet, and whose liver yields about 151 gallons of oil. But, like the whale, this 

 species has almost entirely disappeared from the Norwegian coasts, where the 

 hâkjerring {Sci/mnus horealis) and one other species of shark alone are now hunted, 

 chiefljr in the Finmark waters. The Tonsberg fishers, however, visit the northern 

 seas in search of the seal and the huge rorqual, which is killed at a distance by 

 means of harpoons shot from guns and furnished with explosive balls. Efforts are 



* Mean annual yield of Norwegian fisheries, 1869— 78 :— Cod, 49,219,000 fish; herrings, 686,000 

 barrels at 32 gallons; mackerel, 6,288,000 fish; salmon, 850,400 lbs.; lobsters, 1,073,01)0. Total vahie 

 at place of capture, £1,150,000. Value of produce of fisheries (including oil, &c.) exported, £2,300,000. 



