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438 ACCOUNT OF DANISH LAPLAND BY LEEMS.
the fandy bottoms of the fea near the fhore, with all the fith they collected round them,
to the no {mall injury of the fifhermen. Thofe called Sild Ledder are lefs than the
others. Thefe as well as the former are feen at the fame time in almoft incalculable
numbers, accompanied not only by great quantities of fifh, but even vaft crowds ot
cormorants, and other birds of the fea, filling all places round with their harfh and dif-
agreeable noifes and clamors. When they firft come, they remain quiet, a little time,
in the bottom of the fea, which they chance to find, in order to fpawn; of which, the
ereater cod-fifh, as well as other fifh being remarkably greedy, {wim in crowds to it,
and though the faid Sild Ledder, departs again when it has fpawned, yet the other
fith ftay, kept by the fondnels of the fpawn. Never is the alertnefs of the fifherman
called more into action, for fo great is the fupply by this event, that fifhing boats, provid-
ed fifhermen are not wanting on the prefs of the occafion, can load and unload even feven
times the fith that istaken in a fhort time. ‘There is no better or more defirable bait
for catching fifh, than what is prepared from the Sid Lodder ; yet the fame is fo in-
jurious to the rein-deer and f{wine, that even the lea{t portion occafions the falling off of
the hair, and fometimes even death itfelf.
On the coafts of Finmark, under the fea weed, is found a certain fmall and rather long
fifh, not unlike the conger eel, which the inhabitants of the place, Norwegians, call
Tane-/prael, but the Laplanders Stag-go/h, fignifying in Lapland a ftaff or ftick.
Befides the above-mentioned fifh, there is to be found in Finmark, as elfewhere, near
the Norwegian fhore, the fturgeon ; the ray, in Norwegian Skade ; the Redji/t, that is red
fith, in Norwegian Uer 3 Lyr, the lefler cod-fith, in Norwegian Hy/e, in Lapland Djuk/a ;
the lefler, or white cod-fifh Bro/mer, and innumerable others. But it is to be obferved,
that the mackrel, congers, or eels, &c., filhes very well known and very numerous
along the Norwegian fhores, yet are not to be found in the feas of Finmark ; crabs of
the rough and teitaceous kind, in Lapland Swobdo, and fhell-fith are alfo here; lobfters
are found, but no oytters.
* The Lapland women on the coaft employ themfelves, together with their hufbands,
willingly and faithfully in the fifheries, differing from the peafant women of Norway, to
whom thefe occupations feem too burthenfome and tirefome. The mountain Laplanders
coming to the coats, together with their families and herds of rein-deer at a certain
period of the year, now and then ufully employ themfelves in fifhing.
Andas the above-mentioned kinds of various fifh are found in the feas of Finmark,
of which each fpecies has been deftined to its own proper ufe by the all-wife Creator,
giving fome to man for his nourifhment, others for their oil; and to ferve the pur-
pofes of commerce, and the carrying on of trade; fome alfo are turned to bait with
which fifh is caught; fo alfoin the fame ocean, are to be met various monfters, pro-
digious in their form and fize, wonderful to view, and fo furnifhed, that they feem to
give more ample materials for writing, than benefit to mankind. Among thofe mon-
{ters of the deep, which are feen now and then inthis part of the Northern Ocean, one
in particular, an immenfe fith, called the Kraken, by the inhabitants of Nordland and
Finmark, holds the firft rank by right, whofe form and magnitude of body is fo un-
ufual that the fea does not produce a fimiliar prodigy. ‘The faid fifh is very feldom
feen above water, as delighting in the depths, where quiet and almoft immoveable it
is faid to hide itfelf, environed with an incalculable number of every kind of fifh.
When the fifherman, fearching the fea in order to find a fifhy bottom, arrives by
accident at the place where this monfter is fkulking in the bottom below, he thinks
from the great number of fifh he has met there, that he has found a place, that is the
moft fit for fifhing ; but when the monfter that lies hid, touched with the plummet
43 that
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