66 
A VOYAGE TO SPITZBERGEN. 
board ; when, as if to perplex us by its inconstancy, 
it falls a calm; a calm clay at sea is at such a 
juncture a greater affliction to men who are impatient 
to proceed than can well be imagined ; we resort to 
all kinds of occupations to beguile the time, fishing 
lines are produced from the ship’s stores, and we 
try for cod-fish, but our success is trifling ; presently 
an old sailor produces a crafty-looking combination 
of hooks bound together with, some shining white 
metal; this he rigs up after a fashion adopted by 
the Norwegian fishermen, and he lets it down a 
considerable depth into the sea—with a sudden jerk 
lie swings his hand which grasps the line into the air, 
and then lets the weight subside again; this action 
is repeated for some time, when he is at length 
rewarded by the capture of a fine fish—not fairly 
hooked of course—but the barbed hooks, coming in 
sudden contact with a passing fish, probably attracted 
by the shining metal, sink deeply into the cpiivering 
side of the incautious codling, and he is hauled on board. 
We have many times seen the savage islanders of the 
Southern Ocean succeed in this very way; but for 
ourselves, we never could adopt so un-English and so 
unsportsmanlike a method. 
At the break of day inspecting our collection of 
telescopes and eye-glasses to test their various merits. 
