FROM DRONTHEIM TO THE NORTH CAPE. 



129 



Hammerfest, the capital of Finmark, situated on the west side of the island 

 of Hvalo, in 70° 39' 15", is the most northern town in the world. Half a centu- 

 ry since, it had but 44 inhabitants ; at joresent its population amounts to 1200. 

 As at Tromso, very many of the houses, forming one long street winding round 

 the shore, have grass sown on their roofs, which gives the latter the appearance 

 of little plots of meadows. With us the exj^ression, " he sleeps with grass above 

 his head," is equivalent to saying "he is in his grave;" but here i^ may only 

 mean that he sleeps beneath the verdant roof of his daily home. Many large 

 warehouses are built on piles projecting into the water, with landing-quays be- 

 fore them ; and numerous ranges of open sheds are filled with reindeer skins, 

 wolf and bear skins, walrus tusks, reindeer horns, train-oil, and dried fish, ready 

 for exportation. The chief home traffic of Hammerfest consists in barter with 

 the Laps, who exchange their reindeer skins for brandy, tobacco, hardware, and 

 cloth. Some enterprising merchants annually fit out vessels for walrus and 

 seal hunting at Spitzbergen and Bear Island, but the principal trade is with 

 Archangel, and is carried on entirely in " lodjes," or White Sea ships, with three 

 single upright masts, each hoisting a huge try-sail. These vessels supply Ham- 

 merfest with Russian rye, meal, candles, etc., and receive stock-fish and train-oil 

 in exchange. Sometimes, also, an English ship arrives with a supply of coals. 



The fishing-grounds off the coast of Finmark, whose produce forms the sta- 

 ple article of the merchants of Hammerfest, are scarcely inferior in importance to 

 those of Lofoten, the number of cod taken here in 1866 amounting to 15,000,000. 

 A great part of the fish is purchased by the Russians as it comes out of the 

 water. Of the prepared cod, Spain takes the largest quantity, as in 1865 up- 

 wards of 44,000,000 lbs. of clip-fish (nearly the whole yield for the year) A^as 

 consigned to that country. Of the dried variet}^, 10,000,000 lbs. were exported 

 to the Mediterranean, and upwards of 4,000,000 lbs. more to Italy. Sweden 

 and Holland come next in order, the supply in each case being over 5,000,000 

 lbs. Great Britain takes scarcely any stock-fish, but 1,500,000 lbs. of clip-fish, 

 and the large export to the West Indies is almost entirely composed of the lat- 

 ter article. 



The winter, though long and dark, has no terrors for the jolly Hammerfest- 

 ers, for all the traders and shopkeepers form a united aristocracy, and rarely a 

 night passes without a feast, a dance, and a drinking-bout. The day when the 

 sun re-appears is one of general rejoicing ; the first who sees the great luminary 

 proclaims it with a loud voice, and every body rushes into the street to exchange 

 congratulations with his neighbors. The island of Hvalo has a most dreary, ster- 

 ile aspect, and considerable masses of snow fill the ravines even in summer. 

 The birch, however, is still found growing 620 feet above the sea, but the fir 

 has disappeared. 



It may well be supposed that no stranger has ever sojourned in this mterest- 

 ing place, the farthest outpost of civilization towards the Pole, without visiting, 

 or at least attempting to visit, the far-famed North Cape, situated about sixty 

 miles from Hammerfest, on the island of Magero, where, a few Norwegians live 

 in earthen huts, and still manage to rear a few heads of cattle. The voyage to 

 this magnificent headland, which fronts the sea with a steep rock-wall nearly a 



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