The same prohibition, under similar penalties, that exists against curing fish taken in the small fishery, extends to this. We have given the first place to the Dutch in this account, in consequence of their having been the first to see the importance of the fishery, but they take the lead no longer; the English and Scotch have successfully rivalled them in curing, and for the quantity taken during the season the Norwegians surpass all others. The Norwegian is a wholesale fishery, every description of ship and boat being in demand. They have curing stations on shore, to which the boats bring the fish as fast as they are caught; and there are large vessels with barrels and salt lying out amongst the fishers, buying from those who do not wish to lose time by going ashore. Every description of net, as well as every sort of vessel, is in requisition; some fishing at anchor, some sailing, and others hauling their seines on shore, but the grand method is as follows:-- An immense range of nets with very small meshes so small as to prevent the herrings from fastening in them, is extended round a shoal of fish, and gradually moved towards some creek or narrow inlet of the sea. The nets are drawn close and made fast across the entrance, and the enormous body of herrings thus crowded up into a narrow space is taken out and cured at leisure. This mode of fishing is called a “lock.” The following passage from a letter written by a gentleman who witnessed the fishery near Hitteroe, to Mr Mitchell of Leith, will give our readers some idea of its extent:-- “On the other side of the Sound we saw what is termed a _lock_, that is, several nets joined together, forming a bar before a small bay, into which the herrings were crowded. In this place there were several thousand barrels of herrings, so compactly confined together that an oar could stand up in the mass. There were in the neighbourhood of Hitteroe altogether about four or five thousand nets, and about two thousand boats and vessels; and there were caught, according to the opinion of several intelligent persons, this day (24th January 1833), not less than ten thousand barrels.” The entire quantity taken on the coast of Norway during the fall of 1832 and the spring of 1833 was estimated at 680,000 barrels, which was considered to be a fair average take.