of huts, to serve as a shelter to the poor fishermen, a deed which he himself prized more highly than all his chivalrous brother’s warlike exploits in the East, for “these men,” said he, “will still remember in distant times that a King Eystein once lived in Norway.” The reason why the fish never cease visiting this part of the coast is that the Lofoten Isles inclose, as it were, an inland or mediterranean sea, which only communicates with the ocean by several narrow channels between the islands, and where the fish find the necessary protection against stormy weather. They assemble on three or four banks well known to the fishermen, seldom arriving before the middle of January, and rarely later than towards the end of February. They remain in the sheltered fjord no longer than is necessary for spawning, and in April have all retired to the deeper waters, so that the whole of the fishing season does not last longer than a couple of months. The fish are either caught by hooks and lines, or more frequently in large nets about twenty fathoms long and seven or eight feet broad, buoyed with pieces of light wood, and lested with stones, so as to maintain a vertical position when let down in the water. The fish, swimming with impetuous speed, darts into the meshes, which effectually bar his retreat. The nets are always spread in the evening, and hauled up in the morning; for as long as it is daylight, the fish sees and avoids them, even at a depth of sixty or eighty fathoms. A single haul of the net frequently fills half the boat, and the heavy fish would undoubtedly tear the meshes if they were not immediately struck with iron hooks, and flung into the boat as soon as they are dragged to the surface. Claus Niels Sliningen, a merchant of Borgund, first introduced the use of these nets in the year 1685, an innovation which more than doubled the total produce of the fisheries. But (as with all useful inventions) loud complaints were raised against him in Norway, and as late as 1762 no nets were allowed at Drontheim, “to prevent the ruin of the poor people who had not the capital to provide themselves with them.” [Illustration: 69. THE DOVREFJELD.]