not in immediate use, with some dried fish, a tub of lard, and a few odd utensils of a household over which, plainly, no woman had for some time presided.

Beyond the inner door, which was hung on leather hinges and not quite plumb as to the hanging, was the livingroom. It was, possibly, fifteen feet on a side, and in each corner a bunk about five feet square and meant to accommodate four-for Lapps are neither tall nor bulky was raised clear of the floor by wooden props, with bedding made up of the skins of goat and reindeer, and of such of their own garments, goat and reindeer skin also, as they cared not to wear at the moment. Within that room dwelt our sixteen Lapps.

On one side of the room the wall space between the bunks was taken up by the door, but on each of the other three sides was a small window, to let in by way of the unwashed glass a shade of the light of heaven onto a narrow board that answered for a table, and so placed, with reference to the bunks, that the newly awakened had only to slide out feet first or roll broad on to find them

selves at once in a position to eat, with the bench-board affixed to the edge of the bunks forming the table-seats, which, polished by the friction of the tough deerskin tunics and trousers, shone most smoothly, except where they were marked by the work of bait-cutting, for which, and doubtless other service, there hung from each man's belt a knife in a deerhorn sheath.

In what was left of the room, a central space about five feet square, was the fireplace, elevated to a height of two feet on a bed of board, but with earth covering the wood. Five kettles, crusted to an ungauged depth of blackness, soot-hardened beyond reclamation, reposed on what must be called the hearth, and dangling down to them from the sooty rafters was a chain for cooking purposes. Encircling the walls of the room, above the bunks and little windows, was a line of shelving, on which reposed the rare household ware and the still more precious fishing-gear not yet baptizedhooks, hand-gaffs, thole-pins, corks, and so on.

All the beams in the place were

swathed in soot; and in this room, where sixteen men cooked, ate, slept, and talked long days away, one can imagine that there were times when the atmosphere suffered a change and took on dark hues; and as the floor was of earth and the ́rain came through the roof by way of an opening that was a chimney when it was not shut up tight, one may be able to imagine that there were also times when it was heavy going underfoot.

Outside in the free air, set up on the highest of all the rocky peaks of the island, was the lookout's tower-a square of small loosely piled stones, through the crevices of which the winds of the north might whistle and the arctic rains enter

if so it pleased them; and whoever was standing watch for the time took station therein and looked out onto the fiord for the schools of blackfish by which these people lived through the summer, and, while living, saved enough-sometimesto manage to exist through the long winter. All hands were more or less on watch when they were not sleeping. To look far out and scan the wind-whipped waters of the fiord seemed to be as natural an action as to tuck one's arms into one's bosom, hunch the shoulders, and draw a deep breath-but they slept a great deal, we judged, and the man watching up in the tower should of course be able to see the fish first.

It was after twelve o'clock on this July night that the lookout in the eyrie reported a school of sei coming across the fiord. We looked for ourselves, and we too saw the circling sea-gulls, and beneath them the elsewhere smooth surface of the fiord ruffled black like a tide-rip. The lookout's call of "Fish-O!" or some word that meant the same thing, assembled the loiterers on the rock and awoke the sleepers in the shack. There was no dressing. Some had to put on their caps and others their belts with the dangling knife, but that done, all was ready.

Four or five rushed up to get the brown-tanned net, which had been hanging up to dry, with a board roof for protection against the elements. Two of the men, spinning about like great tops or the dervishes in dime museums, but more slowly moving, wound the net around their shoulders; then, with two other men to take up the sag in the bight of it, and all making what speed they could, they stumbled down the rough declivities to the boats.

The boats, undecked, about thirty feet long, seven feet beam, and loose rock in the bottom for ballast, were clinkerbuilt, and after the models that have been handed down from Viking daysupcurved stem and stern-carved, decorated, and gilded. They were gaudily painted-green, blue, red, yellow, and the rest of the prismatic belt. One could easily believe that they would scud pretty well, but hardly that they would be the best boats in the world to drive by the wind in a gale; and looking at the frail build of them and then at the jagged coast-line all about, one would also prefer not to be running to harbor in them on a black winter's night.

Four boats, four men in each, go out together for the incoming school. All hands are rowing, each with as much as he can handle in one long clumsy oar. To the man who has no other occupation than to curl up in the bow and watch them, it seems that they are doing a lot of talking for people with business ahead. As we near the school, which is coming on leisurely, with the gulls still circling and screaming above, and every now and then diving, arising, and making off triumphant, the captain of the ex

pedition - rare - looking enough for a Lapp, because of a flowing beard with a curl to it-he is probably half Finn-begins to talk more than all the others together. But his speech is to some purpose-it seems to be orders that he is spitting out, for the men change the course slightly and row more earnestly and with less to say for themselves.

The net is in the captain's boat. He waves his arm toward one boat, and a man in that boat stops rowing and heaves the end of a line, which the captain makes fast to one corner of the net and drops overboard. A boat to the other side of them heaves the end of a line, and it likewise is given a corner, as also a moment later is the third boat. They row farther out then, drawing the net after them, and soon it is spread below the surface, with each boat making the corner of a square that is possibly a hundred feet on a side. The net itself seems to be seventy feet by sixty.

The fish come on, with everybody keeping quiet as they approach. To the captain's orders the boats again change direction, holding the corner lines taut always. All are rowing hard, and particularly the crew of the boat to windward, Lapps seem not to be of a race of gifted oarsmen, and there is an endless amount of deep digging and any amount of splashing. When the fish are almost in the right place the mouths of our fishermen begin to clench and their breath to come hard, for now they must not let the boats drift away.

These seem to be creatures not easily startled. Some fish would be off and into the wide Atlantic by now, but not these gentlemen. They come slowly but certainly. In the boats they are trying to keep quiet while the fish are getting within limits, and beyond the grinding of the oar - shafts between the tholepins and the splashing of the blades in the water, they are doing pretty well. At least they have stopped talking.

The sei push over the dead-line, and the men standing by the corner-lines begin to get nervous. But not yet. The captain warns them with uplifted arm, and low words that must be fine oaths in Lapp language,-which is not quite Norwegian, nor yet Swedish nor Finnish, but seemingly flavored with all three.

When the net is lifted and the fsh safe aboard two of the boats-and it does not take long to gaff them in-the little fleet row back rather leisurely to the island, where the net is at once taken ashore and carried up on the rocks to be dried out again.

The catch, which must weigh nearly a ton, is put into one boat, and, we are told, will at once be taken to Hammerfest to market. "At once"-the Lapp idea of it. They do not leave immediately. They are not drivers, these Lapps, and there are some little preliminaries. First, all hands must repair to the shack and have a bite of something to eat after that spurt. After toil, food and rest. So, with a notion of coffee ahead, the five black kettles are raised up and put into action, the long hard loaves of bread are cut and the butter made ready, with the cheese, goat's and reindeer's milk, and sugar for some, and even canned milk for others. Two or three produce a little cognac. Each man is his own caterer and cook, and they are all busy. The drops of sweat are still on their brows while they eat, and the lustre of conflict yet in their eyes. What internal turmoil would be raised in these if they really did drive for a few hours after the manner of some fishermen there is no telling! Probably they would go on strike.

The four who are to take this trip of fish to Hammerfest are ready at last. It was five in the morning when we left, and sailing across the lightly cupping

belzit, toned zkkei tanned walls of the Finn a ZTE WAT mer in the mine the Rowan maiers were dazzl the kizb-piled lumber worth-bound tramp threw cat ion of something not on the Bille ding: and the tourist steamer wi glittering dags-be was twighted dreams. Aboard our boat there wa great pressure of business on the way. One man steered while the others dre ed fish. It seemed a shame to the heads and intestines into that ekan. green water, but there was no other plane to cast them. And so they worked until nine o'clock, when we were inside the quay and heading for the one particular corner that is given over to the Lapps in Hammerfest harbor.

The master of a pole-masted, greenpainted Russian, a schooner with a green hull and blue galley, with the hand of a gilded figurehead pointing her course and windows looking out astern, made an offer for the fish, and soon our fellows were hoisting them over the side, where, after being weighed in an antiquated balance with a twenty-kilogram rock on the pan, they were salted on deck, and then passed on to be kenched below.

We left them there, but that afternoon we met them again. They had been devoting some of the proceeds to seeing the town. You can walk the length of Hammerfest in five minutes and the breadth of it in twenty seconds-it is a shelf of a town at the foot of a hill, which strangers climb to view the midnight sun, but it is doubtful if these Lapps believed the alleged Paris to be a circumstance to it. They were coming down the main street now, four abreast, all drunk and proud of it, and leading by a piece of marline a woful-looking dog that was keeping as far in their wake as he could and not get choked to death. Every friend they met was shown four fine flasks of cognac, and if he liked he could step behind the nearest house and have a nip for old acquaintance' sake. For themselves, they cared not for