THE COD. 



The largest example <>ti record measured al-.\. -.-\en f.--t in l.-tiirih. :in<l \\.-iirhed more than 

 three hundred INHIII.!- 



Tli.- Il:ilil>ui i- finind in :ill n.nili.Tn seas, x.mli. t<> I Y:m. .- and San Fiam-i-.-.,. It reaches 

 :i weight of -loo |N>tind.H. Ih. Ston-r records an example, mi the authority .if Mr. Newcomb, a 

 not.-d fishmonger 'f Iloston Market, as weighing 42*> i-onmls, after tin- head ami 1 towels were 

 removed. Tin- Halibut li-hitur M|" < iraml ami (M-<.IXI-'S I tanks is an imiM)rtant imlu-ti v . 



As an edible it ranks high. Givat numbers are taken in Massachusetts Bay. Dr. Storer 

 adds, in relation to ueL'ht : "The largest specimen nf which 1 ha\c an\ certain knowledge, 

 wa- taken al New I x :_ . n.-ai Port land. M.iin--. in 1- '7. ;n ! \\.-i-li--l upw urd- ..f r,oo p, mii'l-." 



At Nantucket there w-n- once employed eighty vessels, of from 00 to 80 tons burthen 

 each. in this li-hei\. Ancient names of tlii> Mi an- /-'Ay, and Ihllmt. 



A species culled (ini-nland Halilmt is fouml in tlic northern seas. 



THE COD. 



TIIK well known COD-FISH is a native <>f many seas, and in some localities is found in 



This most iiM-ful tih is raptured in va>t iiiiiiilM'rs at certain seasons of the year, and is 

 always taken with the hook and line. The lines are of two descriptions, namely, the long 

 lines to which a great number of short lines are attached, and the simple hand-lines which are 

 held by the lUln-mien. The long lines sometimes run to an extraordinary length, and shorter 

 lines, technically called snoods, are affixed to the long line at definite distances. Whatever 

 may be the length of the snoods, they are fastened at intervals of double their length, so as to 

 guard against the entanglement of the hooks. For example, if the snoods are six feet long, 

 they are plac.-d twelve feet apart on the line ; if four feet long, eight feet apart, and so on. 



To the end of each snood is attached a baited hook, and as the sharp teeth of the fish 

 miiiht sever a single line, the portion of the snood which i-* near the hook is composed of a 

 number of separate threads fastened loosely together, so as to permit the teeth to pass 1,,-t ween 

 the strands. At each end of the long line is fastened a float or buoy, and when the hooks 

 have been Iwited with sand lauuce, limjiets, whelks, and similar substances, the line is ready 

 for action. 



The boat, in which the line is ready coiled, makes for the fishing-place, lowers a grapnel 

 or -mall anchor, to which is attached the buoy at one end of the line, and the vessel then sails 

 off, paying out the line as it proceeds, and always "shooting"' the line across the tide, so as to 

 prevent the hooks from being washed against each other, or twisted round the line, which is 

 n-iially -hot in the interval U-tweeii the ebb and flow of the tide, and hauled in at the end of 

 about six hour-. 



As soon as the long line lias been fairly shot, and l>oth end- firmly affixed to the grapnels, 

 ill-- ti-h'Tinen improve the next six hours by angling with short lines, one of which is held in 

 each hand. They thus capture not only Cod-fish, but haddock, whiting, hake, pollack, ami 

 various kinds of Hat li-he-. ( >n favorable occasions, the quantity of fish raptured by a single 

 boat is very great, one man having taken more than four hundred Cod alone in ten hours. 



The Cod is a most uncertain fish in its habits, sometimes haunting the same locality fora 

 number of successive years, and then suddenly leaving it and repairing to some si>t where not 

 a fish might be found on the preceding year. New fishing-grounds are frequently discovered, 

 and it sometimes happens that the ti-henuen are fortunate enough to alight on a spot hitherto 

 untouched, where, to use the graphic description of a sailor, the Cod are "as big as donkeys, 

 ind :us common as Macklx-rrie-." 



Rockall, for instance, i- one .f the discoveries of this nature. It is a sandbank in the North 

 Atlantic. al>ont 136 miles from St. Kilda. and only di-tini. r ui-hable \>\ a small rock like a rude 

 haystack. The Cod are there so plentiful and so large that -ach fi-hing-boat sold her five days' 

 catch for |700; ami after due preparation, the ti-h were dis|msed of at nearly double that prir--. 



A irreat part of the estimation in which thi- ti-h i- held depends upon the perfect manm-r 

 in which it takes salt, and the length of time during which it can be preserved in an eatable 



