The universal geography : earth and its inhabitants

150 SCANDINAVIA.rodskjaer, each of the countries supplied through the Bergen traders having itsown favourite preparation.Before 1857 the privileged alone had the right to share in the business. Thesea was fictitiously divided amongst the off-shore proprietors, who grouped fishingcolonies at intervals in the islands and on the headlands, and exacted a rent orduty from them. But now the sea is free except on Sundays, all fishing beingprohibited from five o'clock on Saturday evening to the same hour next day.Though less reliable, the herring scarcely yield in importance to the codfisheries. In good seasons the take in Norway amounts to about 1,500,000barrels, or 450,000,000 fish, of which about one-third are shipped to Russia.For this market they are packed in fir casks, imparting to them a resinous flavourhighly esteemed by the Russians. For other places the barrels are made of beech.On the Norwegian seaboard there are two seasons : the first in summer and autumn,when the shoals approach the shore in search of shrimps, molluscs, and annelida,or ground worms, forming their food ; the second in winter, from the end ofJanuary to March, in the spawning time, when the herring travels in vast swarms.The latter has always been shifting, the nets sometimes coming up empty, at othersbreaking with the weight of the haul. The crews are generally joint ownersof the smacks, dividing the profits, the largest share of which goes to the notcbas,or headmen. Temporary villages are established on the neighbouring beaches,with postal and telegrapTi stations and landing-places for the steamers.In Sweden, although the herring fishery is the most important in theindustrial economy, it does not yield sufficient for the local consumption, andherrings are consequently imported from Norway. The average yearly take onthe Swedish Baltic coast is estimated at 150,000 tons.*Besides the cod and herring, there are other fisheries contributing to thesupport of the people and its export trade. In Norway from 6,000,000 to8,000,000 mackerel are annually taken, valued at about £40,000 ; and the salmon,frequenting nearly all the rivers, are taken in large numbers below the falls, whichthey endeavour to surmount. The quality of the salmon in some of the rivers ofthe west coast is as highly prized as that of Scotland, and considerable quantitiesare shipped for the English and German markets. Some of the streams in thenorth of Norway are even leased to rich Englishmen, who pass the season in thesedistricts. Till recently the Norwegian fishers hunted a species of shark (Squalwperegrvnm), the largest animal frequenting these waters, measuring from 40 to45 feet, and whose liver yields about 154 gallons of oil. But, like the whale, thisspecies has almost entirely disappeared from the Norwegian coasts, where thehakjerring {Scymnus borvalk) and one other species of shark alone are now hunted,chiefly in the Finmark waters. The Tonsberg fishers, however, visit the northernseas in search of the seal and the huge rorqual, which is killed at a distance bymeans of harpoons shot from guns and furnished with explosive balls. Efforts are* Moan annual yield of Norwegian fisheries, 1869— 78 :— Cod, 49,219,000 fish; herrings, 686,000barrels at 32 gallons; mackerel, 6,288,000 fish; salmon, 855,400 lbs.; lobsters, 1,073,000. Total valueat place of capture, £1,150,000. Valuo of produce of fisheries (including oil, Sm.) exported, £2,300,000.