NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY 



155 



out of a particular veneration for them, the inhabitants of that 



country never take them, unlefs it be by accident ; and then the 



faw is held for a fetiflb, or facred relick, by the idolaters. 



SECT. VII. 



The Tart, or Pinke, is a fmall kind of Salmon, and differs T «t 

 but very little from the common kind, except it be in fize • for 

 it is not as big as the Salmon when full grown. It is therefore 

 confidered as a particular kind ; though by fome writers it is 

 thought to be no other than a young Salmon. 



Torfk, the Cod-fifh, Morhua, five Afellus Major. This well-Torsk 

 known Fifli, with the Herrings, affords the beft part of their 

 livelihood to the inhabitants of this kingdom. They are chiefly 

 caught along the Weftern coaft. They ftay here all the year and 



aV c G Xirl n &*? ?™ it }* iea : but as we have more than one fort 

 ot Cod-hlh, and the feafons and manner of catching them are dif 

 ferent, according to their fpecies, &c. I fhall dwell a little upon 

 the fubje«a, and gwe a more full and exa6t defcription, as I have 

 done with regard to the Herrings. 



The large Cod is called here Skrey, and alfo the Spring Cod. 

 Thefe, m moft years, come in great abundance to the fliore in 

 Winter, prefently after the firft Herrings, and are then fat and 

 large. They come into pick up the young fry of the Herrings, 

 or the Spawn, juft difcharged on the iholes *, and at that time 

 they do »tcare to bite at the hook, but are caught in great Wa^** 

 numbers in thofe nets which they call fetnings-garnf Thefe are in£them ' 

 made of packthread and work'd pretty large; each mefh is four 

 inches fquare, and there are about 15 of thefe mefhes in breadth • 

 fo that the net may be near a fathom wide, and full twenty 

 fathoms in length. Of thefe kind of nets they ufe in bad weather 

 about eighteen, but in fine weather twenty-four, to one We 

 boat with fix men : fo that when the whole number is fix'd thev 

 extend to a length of 480 fathoms in about fifty r fe'ventv 

 fathoms water. They have buoys fixed to the nets, to mew 

 where they are placed. About this coaft we do not dually extend 

 them to fuch a length, but are fatisfied with fixty or a hundred 

 iatnoms. Thefe nets m twenty-four hours will fill a eoo d We 

 boat with Fifli. They go out in the afternoon, a nd S fet thf 

 nets, and early the next morning they take them in again : and 

 they frequently find three, four, or five hundred large Cod in 



them to the coaft, and to promote^heir fiZ y lereforf «5w ^' mea " s of drivi "S 

 God for fuch ftorms as at other times they be/to be dieted from ' ** P " Y " 



each 



