114 BIRDS OF RUSSIAN LAPLAND 



Captain Coffin was one of the Americans who saw the smoke of the 

 Vega and wondered what vessel it could be. 



Vardo was reached on May 9th, two hours after the Russian mail- 

 boat had left for Kola, and we were thus stranded in this delightful 

 spot for a week. As neither of us spoke Russian, a young man was 

 engaged here through our English Consul to act as interpreter and 

 servant, but he turned out a complete failure in everything except 

 his ability to speak Russian. We spent the greater part of the first 

 days in trying to charter a small steamer or sailing boat in which to 

 complete our voyage ; but no owner would even name a price, for the 

 fishing was good, and the harvest of the sea could not be neglected. 

 Fish were there in enormous quantities, as every boat came in laden 

 to the gunwale, but the cod looked poor and thin, scarcely worth the 

 catching. Something had gone wrong in the Arctic Ocean this year, 

 and what that something was it would be very interesting to know. 

 At the Lofoden fishing earlier in the season, the cod were in the same 

 poor starved state, and their livers were so destitute of oil that they 

 sank if thrown into the sea. Seals had been driven south on to the 

 Norwegian coast in greater numbers than had ever been known before. 

 The fishermen we talked to explained the poor condition of the cod 

 by the fact that the seals prevented the fish coming up on to their 

 usual feeding-ground. The men stated that the seals could not dive 

 below 200 fathoms, therefore the fish were obliged to keep below that 

 depth where food was scarce ; and the long lines, carrjdng many 

 hundreds of hooks, were set this year in 200 fathoms water, or 

 deeper. Another explanation given us was that an unusual cold 

 current of water had been coming from the north this spring and 

 the cod would not come up into it, but lay in masses on the edge of 

 the deep water. This may be " fisherman's natural history," all I can 

 vouch for is, that the cod were the poorest I ever saw, and their livers 

 contained so little oil its cost had risen in May to from 420 to 450 

 kroners per barrel, the usual price being about 50 kroners. The seals 

 were far commoner than I had known them here before ; and white 



