70 THE REV. R. F. WHEELER, M.A. 
literally handed over the most valuable part of the New- 
foundland fisheries to the French, granting to them the exclusive 
right of occupying large tracts on the coast, for the purpose 
of cleaning, packing, &c., with rights of a judicial and imperial 
nature. This treaty was repudiated by the Nova Scotians as 
soon as it became known; and as their acceptance was necessary 
to its validity, it was legally null and void; but the French 
having actually got possession of the land had no mind to 
abandon their position easily, and so, as I am informed, the 
place is still kept. 
The cod is always caught by lines and hooks, except to a 
limited extent, I believe, in Norway, where nets are partially 
used. It is very voracious, and will take almost any bait. Mr. 
Couch, the well-known naturalist, has taken thirty-five crabs 
(none less than the size of a half-crown piece) out of the stomach 
of one cod. Itis calculated that the cod and ling actually caught 
and cured on the Scotch coast in 1861, would, if left in the sea, 
have destroyed more herring than 48,000 fishermen. As only 
42,751 fishermen were engaged, the magnitude of this destruc- 
tive agency will readily be perceived. One man has been known 
to catch 400 to 500 fish on the Banks of Newfoundland in the 
course of ten or eleven hours; and eight men to take 1,600, on 
the Dogger Bank, in the course of a single day. Man’s destruc- 
tiveness added to that of the natural enemies of any fish must 
soon thin the stock, however prolific the fish may be. 
The returns for the cod and ling fishery of Scotland and the 
Isle-of-Man give a total of 2,574,948 fish caught in 1861, and 
26,961 cwts. were exported. There were 111 vessels engaged 
in the fishery there, employing 1,134 men. 
It is estimated that about half a million fresh cod are annually 
sold in Billinsgate. Ido not think that it is too high an aver- 
age to estimate their value at from 3s. to 4s. each; and that will 
give, say, £175,000 as the annual value of this one fish in one 
market. I find that the average imports into Ireland, chiefly 
from Shetland, of dried cod and ling, are stated to amount to 
about 1,200 tons a year, which, at the low wholesale price of 
£23 a ton, would give £27,600 for the Irish import trade alone. 
