218 
TH E AM ERIC AX-SCAN DIN A VI AN REVIEW 
The “Ottring,” Descendant of the Viking Ship 
sleep and cook. With the establishment of fixed steamer routes, which 
provide the men with cheap and rapid conveyance and save them the 
long, arduous voyages in open boats, the house is no longer required, 
and has fallen into disuse. 
The gear used in old times was a simple hand-line, one for each 
man in the boat, except one or two who were at the oars engaged in 
keeping the boat to the wind. This gear has survived to the present 
time, and is most often used when bait is scarce or when fish is abundant 
in shallow water. More commonly the long-line or the gill-net is 
used. Both of these can be anchored at from 30 to 100 fathoms, out¬ 
side of which depth practically no fishing takes place. The long-line 
carries a leader with hooks at intervals of three feet baited with herring, 
caplin, squid-gore (liver) or mussel. The two latter are the objects 
of lively speculation, and the prices probably vary from day to day 
more than that of any other article in human use. The gill-nets are 
more expensive than the long-line, but require no bait and can often 
catch fish even when its attention is distracted from the baited lines 
by the presence of natural food in the water. The fishing area is neatly 
divided between the men using the long-lines and those using the gill- 
nets ; for a mixture of both is very difficult to disentangle. Each port 
or veer has its apportioned area, and the dividing lines are easily defined 
by bearings taken from the position of the magnificent peaks that 
