GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE GADIDJE. 541 



land, although it extends farther north and south. According to a more 

 recent determination, 4 genera with only 9 or 10 species, and two rare 

 genera and species are found : Gadiis, with G or 7 species, morrhua-cal- 

 larias, ccglejinus^virens, luscus, merJangus, nanus; Molva vulgaris ; Mo- 

 tella tricirrata ; Couchia argentata ; Brosmms vulgaris rarely occurs, and 

 Merlucius communis still more so, which leads to the conclusion that 

 the temperature of the water is very low. 



Newfoundland. — The banks around Newfoundland are not, as is often 

 supposed, sand masses accumulated there by the St. Lawrence Eiv^er 

 and the Gulf Stream, but a rocky submarine plateau, whose eastern and 

 southern borders steeply descend to a great depth. Farthest to the 

 eastward lies the Outer or false Bank 47° north 45° west, upon which 

 the sea has a depth of GOO feet to 900 feet ; the Great Bank extends over 

 fully nine degrees of latitude from north to south 5 from west to east it 

 covers in some places five degrees. The depth of the water varies from 

 50 to 360 feet ; from the coast to the western border it is from 120 to 360 

 feet. The bottom around the southern part of the island consists of an 

 uninterrupted series of shallows as far as Cape Breton and Sable Island. 

 To the west there are several smaller banks, for instance, Porgoise 

 Bank, Banquereau and Mizen Bank. The current of the sea strikes with 

 great impetuosity against the borders of the bank and is thrown back 

 from them with equal violence, while upon the bank itself the water is 

 as smooth as in a harbor, if not agitated by heavy storms from a distance. 



Eemarkable results were obtained by the soundings and thermomet- 

 rical observations of Commander Chimno of the English ship Ganuet. 

 He found a depth of 9,000 feet at the west end of the Great Bank. The 

 sediment had a temperature of 13.3° C.,about 55.9° F., but the sea-water 

 was only 4.6° C. = 40.3O F. at a depth of 6,000 feet, and even only 4.1° 

 C. ^ 39.40 F. at 3,000 feet ; the surface temperature was 15.5° C. = 59.9° 

 F. In 430 20' north latitude and 60° west longitude from Greenwich, 

 thirty miles to the south of the Sand Island, the depth was 15,600 feet. 

 In 44° 3' north latitude and 48° 7' west longitude from Greenwich the 

 sea was 9,900 feet deep. 



Temperature at the sea's suiface, 16.1° C. = 60.9° F. 

 at a depth of 300 feet, 0° = 42.8° F. 

 at a depth of 6,000 feet, 4.1° = 39.2° F. 



The depth around the bank is from 10,000 to 15,000 feet. Upon the 

 bank the water is not warmer than the surrounding is at a depth of 

 300 feet to 6,000 feet, namely, 4 to 6° C. '= 39.2 to 42.8° F. 



The " fishing-grounds," " cod-meadows," have an extent of about 200 

 geographical miles in length and 67 miles in breadth, and the yield of 

 the cod fishery has not decreased since nearly 400 years. The codfish 

 represents, then, the principal item of the national wealth around New- 

 foundland, upon the Bank, on the Bay of St. Lawrence, and the coast of 

 Labrador, and the capture of this fish furnishes not only employment 

 for entire fleets of the North Americans, but English, French, and Dutch- 



