THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 525 
A cart-load of the plants, eight in number, weighed 1,048 pounds. 
When the core was removed, the leaves and resin weighed 628 pounds. 
This core is very good fuel when mixed with other wood. The specific 
gravity of the gas is 888. The products of the distillation are gas, 
tar, and coke. The tar obtained was about one quart for every 10 lb., 
and this, when re-distilled, gave 8 per cent, fluid ozs. of naphtha, and 
20 pt?r cent, of a sweet, spirituous, non-inflammable liquor. The coke 
remaining was about one-quarter of the original weight, and with other 
fuel burns well. The coke of the leaf has a bright shining appearance, 
and when ground with oil, is a very good substitute for lamp-black in 
paint. The gas has a smell somewhat similar to coal gas, not nearly so 
offensive, but sufficiently strong to make any escape immediately per- 
ceptible. Its illuminating power appears to be very superior to coal gas, 
and its light very wdiite. 
Captain Wray is of opinion that when the production of the gas 
from the resin of the Xanthorrhcea is conducted with suitable apparatus, 
the cost per annum will be materially reduced, so far, indeed, that the 
resin may become a large and profitable export from the colony, to 
places which are not lightedat all, or lighted with oil. The supply is almost 
unlimited, and even were it not so, it would be advantageous to gel rid 
of the plant from all the land fit for cultivation. Should it be found, 
however, that the plant was likely to get scarce, the resin might be ob- 
tained by tapping. 
THE SHARK FISHERIES OF NORWAY. 
BY MR. CONSUL-GENERAL CROWE. 
There are four species of the shark tribe which inhabit the northern 
latitudes, viz., the Scymnus borealis, or Squalus glaciales, Selachc maximus } 
Squalus acanthias, and Squalus spinax niger. 
The Greenland shark, {Scymnus borealis), frequents in numbers the 
banks which are traced in a line nearly along the whole of the western 
coast, at distances varying from fifty to one hundred miles from the 
main ; in greater abundance, however, on that portion which line the 
coast of Nordland and Finmark, as far as the North Cape, and between 
the latter and Cherry or Bear Island. They are to be met with, how- 
ever, all over the North Sea and Arctic Ocean, as well as in most of the 
large fiords on the west coast, at depths varying from 100 to 200 fathoms. 
The Norwegian name for this shark is haakiaerring. 
This fishery, which affords such lucrative employment to the inha- 
bitants of the northern districts, has not attracted the attention in the 
