hummocks would be simply destruction, the water
alongside being rarely less than two or three hundred fathoms in
depth. Fortunately the sea is mostly quite smooth within the shelter
of the archipelago, otherwise steam-vessels would rarely enter it.
The compass is brought but little into use. The pilots distinguish
rocks and promontories by their peculiar physiognomy, and they steer
from point to point with remarkable accuracy, arriving and departing
from given stations with the variation of but a few minutes from the
time laid down upon their schedules. Each steamer running upon the
coast carries two pilots, independent of the other officers of the
ship, one of whom is always at the wheel when the vessel is under
way. They are chosen for their responsible character and their
knowledge of the route, and they very justly command high wages. We
stopped briefly at Henningsvaer, the centre of the Lofoden cod-fishery
establishments. It is a small town situated at the base of the
Vaagekelle Mountain, an elevation between three and four thousand
feet high. The place smells rank to heaven of dried fish and
cod-liver oil, the combined stench of which articles, with that of
decaying refuse lying everywhere, was truly overpowering. The hardy
fishermen work nearly all winter at their rough occupation, braving
the tempestuous Northern ocean in frail undecked boats, which to an
inexperienced eye seem utterly unfit for such exposed service. The
harvest-time to the cod-fishers here is from January to the middle
of April. Casualties are of course frequent, but we were told that
they are not remarkably so. Winter fishing on the banks of
Newfoundland is believed to be the annual cause of more fatalities
than are experienced among the Lofoden fishermen. Sometimes this
region is visited by terrible hurricanes, as was the case in 1848, on
which occasion five hundred fishermen were swept into eternity in one
hour. Their boats are built of Norway spruce or pine, and are very
light, scarcely more seaworthy than a Swampscott dory. Each has a
single, portable mast which carries one square sail. The crew of a
boat generally consists of six men. These live when on shore in
little log-huts, each containing a score or more of bunks ranged
along the sides one above another. The men come hither, as has been
intimated, from all parts of the North, and return home at the close
of the fishing season.

It should be made clear to the reader's mind that thes