102 HAKE. 



Whether we are to ascribe it to the superior quality of the 

 fish, or to a difference of taste in the people, there are even 

 now places where the Hake is regarded as among the most 

 valued of fishes, and where in consequence it bears a high price; 

 for whilst with us the Hake of perhaps a dozen pounds in 

 weight, will be sold for sixpence or less, we have heard of 

 half as many shillings as paid for it in Portugal. It seems also 

 to be held in estimation at the Cape of Good Hope, where, 

 according to Dr. Pappe, this fish was not known before the 

 occurrence of an earthquake in December, 1809; and where at 

 first it was so scarce as to be sold at the price of four shillings 

 and sixpence. Since that time it has increased in that neigh- 

 bourhood yearly, and at this time is caught in such abundance 

 as to afibrd a considerable quantity for exportation. In this 

 case, however, a question arises with regard to the identity of 

 the species with our own; but it is to be remarked that 

 Lacepede informs us he had discovered among the manuscripts 

 of the well-known naturalist Commerson, the mention of a fish 

 which bore all the characters of our Hake, and which he had 

 met with in the waters of the Southern Ocean. I have been 

 informed also that it has been found on the coast of California. 



Hakes when salted and dried, without the head and a portion 

 of the back-bone, are among the stores laid up by fishermen 

 for the sustenance of their families when prevented from fol- 

 lowing their usual employment in stormy weather: or when in 

 the early months of spring the larger number of our fishes have 

 gone into deep water beyond the reach of their lines. 



The length of a Hake may come near to four feet, and a 

 large one has been known to weigh twenty-two pounds. Body 

 and head moderately lengthened, thick; head wide between the 

 eyes, moderately compressed at the sides; snout projecting, 

 broad, bony; under jaw longest. Gape wide; teeth strong and 

 prominent, arranged like a horse-shoe in front of the palate. 

 Eyes moderate; nostrils nearer the eye than the snout. The 

 posterior plate of the gill-cover oval, behind the root of the 

 pectoral fin; the divisions of the gill-covers well marked. The 

 lateral line runs high at first, and in a young example passes 

 on to the caudal fin obliquely downward. Scales on the cheeks 

 and body, larger than in most of this family, and firmly fixed. 

 The first dorsal fin begins a little behind the root of the 



