i 5 6 NATURAL H IS TOR Y of N R WA T. 



each net, When thefe Fifh have been on the (hallows a few- 

 weeks, and have devoured a good deal of the Herrings fpawn, 

 and difcharged their own, they become more greedy, and begin 

 to bite at the hook : this is baited with Herring or Cod's belly. 



This kind of fifhing lafts till about Eafter, and then they leave 

 the coaft, and are quite lank and emaciated. Juft before Eafter 

 thefe are fucceeded by another kind, called Klubbe-Cod, or Kabi- 

 liau, which is much larger than the Spring Cod, and is re- 

 markable for a great head, and a very lhort tail. Thefe are 

 firm, and then in feafon. They are caught with a hook and line. 

 Towards Michaelmas there comes a third and fmaller fort, called 

 the Red Cod, from the colour of its skin. It is alfo called the 

 Tarre Cod, becaufe they are found among the weeds, which are 

 called in our language Tarre. About December a fourth fort 

 comes upon the coafl, which we call Soelhoved-Torsk. This is of 

 a yellowifh grey, pretty large and firm, but it has a fmaller head 

 than the laft mentioned. Thefe, as well as the former, are 

 caught, as we exprefs it, partly with a fmall line, and partly 

 with a ftrong one ; which words I fhall here explain for the be- 

 nefit of thofe who are unacquainted with the feveral methods of 

 fifhing. A fifhing-line, or, as they call it here, a Linie-va, is a 

 rope feven or eight hundred fathoms long, to which are fattened 

 about 200 hooks, with a piece of Herring on each for a bait. 

 This long line, with the hooks, is let down one hundred, and" 

 often 2 or 300 fathoms deep, and extended on the bottom of 

 the fea. From this to the furface of the water is carried an- 

 other line, and to this buoys are fix'd, to mark the place. When 

 the Linie-va is drawn up, there is fometimes a Fifh on every 

 hook, Cod, Ling, Turbot, or others. The fmall line is, on the 

 contrary, very fine, and hung out of a boat, in about feven or 

 eight fathom water. As they are continually rowing about, there 

 is a man conftantly watching them, to pull up each line, as foon 

 as the Fifh is perceived to bite. By either of thefe ways a boat 

 is often fill' d with Fifh two or three times in twenty-four hours. 

 In the manor of Nordland, above Tronheim, the fisheries are by 

 much the mofl confiderable, though the Sundmoer and Nord- 

 moer fisheries have, for a few years of late, been as good. For- 

 merly they ufed to catch Cod only with thefe two forts of lines j 

 but, as I have already obferved, the Spring Cod do not care to 

 bite at the bait at firft, becaufe they are plump and fat, and are 

 fatisfied with the fpawn of the Herrings, which they are ex- 

 tremely fond of. Upon this account they have, within thefe 

 twenty or thirty years, begun to fifh for Cod 5 as they do for 



Herrings, 



