Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Travels through Lapland - Chapter V
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
40 TRAVELS
We experienced additional pleafure every time the fifhermen
returned from their labour. Joy feemed to brighten up their
countenances; their approach was announced to us long before
we faw them, by the flocks of fea fwallows (fferna hirundo, Lin.)
which hovered in the air, feeming, by their cries, to welcome their
arrival on the fhore. Thefe birds feed on the {mall fifhes, which
the fifhermen caft out to them, or leave in the boats when they
clear out their nets. There appeared to be an agreement and un-
derftanding betwixt the men and thefe birds, which depend upon
the fifhery for fubfiftence and fupport during this feafon. ‘hey
came duly at the fame hour in the morning, as if to inform the
fifhermen it was time to begin their work ; and the latter needed
no other regulator. The birds fet off with the boats, and ferved
‘the fifhers as guides in the profecution of their calling, by hovering
over thofe parts ef the lake where the fifh were collected in the
largeft fhoals. The fight of thefe birds is particularly keen, fo
that when the fifhermen heard their cries, and faw them plunging
into the water, they knew thofe were the moft proper places to
caft their nets in with a probability of fuccefs; and herein they
were {ure not to be deceived, but, on the contrary, never failed to
take the moft fifth where they were directed by the birds. The
fifhermen had fuch an attachment to thefe fwallows, that they ex-
prefled much uneafinefs whenever we feemed defirous to take
fome of them by way of fpecimens. The birds were become fo
tame and familiar, that they would feize the fmall fith in the
nets, and even in the boats, in the prefence of the fifhermen;
and
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
