THE GADUS MORRHUA. 215 



same number at the throat ; sometimes two at the anus, the 

 tail-fin, and one, two, or three, on the back ; the rays of the 

 fins are mostly covered with the common skin. The differ- 

 ent species are found in the North and Baltic Seas, and 

 some also in the Mediterranean and Western Ocean. They 

 are all sea fish, except the Barbot, and do not often come 

 into rivers. 



The common Cod-fish inhabits the ocean, and is found 

 between the fortieth and sixty-sixth degrees of North lati- 

 tude ; it is also found in higher latitudes, as in Greenland, 

 but then they are not so good nor so numerous. They are 

 taken in vast quantities at Newfoundland, Cape Breton, 

 Nova Scotia, and on the coast of Norway and Iceland ; also 

 on the Dog-a-er Bank, and about the Orcades. But their 

 principal resort for centuries past has been on the banks of 

 Newfoundland, and other sand-banks off* Cape Breton. 

 That extensive flat seems to be the broad top of a subaque- 

 ous mountain every where surrounded with a deeper sea. 

 Hither the Cod annually repair in numbers beyond the 

 power of calculation, to feed upon the worms that swarm 

 upon the sandy bottom. Here they are taken in such quan- 

 tities as to supply all Europe with a considerable quantity of 

 provision. The English have stages erected all along the 

 shore, for salting and drying them ; and the fishermen, who 

 take them with the hook and line, draw them as fast as they 

 can thi-ow out. This immense capture makes no sensible di- 

 minution of their numbers ; for after their food is consumed 

 in these parts, or when the season of propagation approaches, 

 they take their departure for the Polar Seas, where they de- 

 posit their roes in full security, and repair the waste which 

 has been occasioned by death, or the depredations of their 

 enemies. They annually make their appearance on the coast 

 of Iceland, Norway, and Britain, gradually diminishing in 

 their numbers as they proceed to the south, and ceasing 

 altogether before they advance to the Straits of Gibraltar. 

 Before the discovery of Newfoundland, the greatest fisheries 



