62 



OLAFSEN AND POVELSENS 



even in the smoothest fields. Hence, there must be little nooks 

 or subterraneous hollows, into which it retreats, and which it is 

 impossible to discover. In winter, it commonly resides below 

 ground, making choice of a soil that does not freeze, and it often 

 becomes the prey of wild cats. In spite of all our endeavours, 

 we could not succeed in procuring one of these birds : it is of 

 a grey colour, its feathers are very soft, and its limbs supple. 



FISH. 



The fish caught in this district, being the same as we have - 

 already mentioned in the southern quarter, we can dispense with 

 the particulars respecting them. We shall, however, add the 

 following curious account of the manner of 



FISHING FOR SALMON. 



The Norder-aa is the only river at which a number of hands 

 are employed in catching this fish, the produce of which is di- 

 vided between the fishermen and the poor people who come 

 to assist them. They first select a part of the river, where the 

 bottom is level, and the current not too strong, and a day being 

 fixed on for the commencement of the operations, several hun- 

 dred persons repair to the spot. At the part where the water 

 is most shallow, they form a dyke of stones, leaving, however, 

 an aperture, that the current may not be interrupted. This 

 dyke is made in two arms, that go off from the shore in a dia- 

 gonal line, and terminate in an acute angle, at which is the aper- 

 ture. When this dyke is made, they extend several nets across 

 the river, and two men on horseback hold the ends of the net on 

 each side of the river followed by others, who are likewise on 

 horseback ; they then make their horses swim, which so alarms 

 the salmon, that they can neither jump over the net, nor escape 

 by sinking beneath it. One bank of the river is covered with 

 people, who throw stones into the water to increase the fright 

 of the fish, so that nothing remains for them, but to make to- 

 wards the angles, or be taken in the nets. The fish are divided 

 between the owners of the nets and of the land ; while those 

 who assist, receive a portion from each. In the Gliufuraa, they 

 cannot take salmon by the net, on account of the rapidity of the 

 current, and the large stones that obstruct the bed of the river, 

 when they fall in winter from the mountains. The inhabitants, 

 therefore, use long poles, at the end of which is an iron pike ; 

 and with these they strike the salmon and draw it out of the 

 water. To attract the fish to a certain spot, they begin to scare 

 it at a distance, when it makes off ; and if it can hide its head be- 

 tween two stones, it remains motionless, and conceives itself 

 in safety. 



