LOFODEN  NORWEGIAN  COD-LIVER  OIL. 
153 
mark  the  Gadus  morrhua  and  the  Gadus  virens  arrive  in  about 
equal  quantities,  and  of  course  are  caught  in  the  same  nets.  The 
Gadus  Carbonarius,  or  coal-fish,  also  associate  with  the  cod  in 
great  numbers,  and  are  captured  with  them,  as  well  as  Gadus 
molva  and  Gadus  ceglefinus.  In  pursuit  of  these,  and  taken 
with  them,  are  Scymnus  borealis,  Squalus  acanthias,  Squalus 
spinax,  and  Selachus  maximus.  These,  with  many  other  varie- 
ties frequenting  the  Norwegian  coasts,  have  all  of  them  livers 
yielding  oil. 
Now,  remembering  that  some  of  the  fishermen  are  agricultural 
laborers,  and  that  all  belong  to  the  lower  and  least  educated 
classes  ;  also,  that  the  livers  are  treated  by  them  at  their  own 
huts  without  any  kind  of  supervision  ;  and  that  they  are  not 
only  indifferent  to  but  probably  ignorant  of  the  medicinal  supe- 
riority of  cod-liver  over  other  livers  ;  also  that  higher  prices  are 
realized  at  Bergen  for  one  kind  of  oil  than  for  another, — these 
things  together  may,  without  making  any  uncharitable  imputa- 
tions, possibly  tempt  these  men  to  sell  as  true  Lofoden  oil  the 
compound  products  of  their  several  local  fisheries.  There  is 
reason  to  believe  that  this  is  actually  done  ;  that  the  dealers  in 
Bergen,  who  are  as  a  class  without  pretension  to  scientific  skill, 
buy  without  precaution  and  sell  without  scruple  as  Lofoden  oil 
much  that  has  never  been  at  Lofoden,  and  has  not  been  carefully 
made  exclusively  from  cod-liver.  Of  the  oils  taken  to  market 
at  Bergen,  those  prepared  by  the  peasants  are  open  to  less  ob- 
jection than  those  prepared  by  the  fishermen  ;  for  the  laborers 
fish  only  during  the  season  at  Lofoden,  where  they  can  take  cod- 
livers  alone,  and  during  the  remainder  of  the  year  follow  other 
kinds  of  labor  along  the  long  narrow  fjords,  which  are  entered 
by  few  fish. 
These  northern  islands  claim  to  be  the  only  place  in  the  world 
where  the  cod-fish,  the  true  Gadus  morrhua,  is  found  in  im- 
mense shoals,  absolutely  alone.  Whether  this  be  so  or  not  is  a 
question  that,  with  our  present  limited  knowledge  of  fisheries 
throughout  the  world,  and  especially  of  those  at  Newfoundland, 
may  be  left  till  more  information  has  been  accumulated  ;  at 
present  it  is  enough  to  know  that  Lofoden  does  possess  this  very 
remarkable  advantage,  and  that  the  produce  of  its  fisheries  is  a 
true  cod-liver  oil  beyond  doubt  or  suspicion. 
