CHAPTER XX 

 COD 



THE Cod family of the Deep-Sea People is, with 

 scarcely a doubt, the most valuable to mankind 

 of any. Whether we consider its readiness to 

 be caught, in spite of the deep and stormy seas which 

 it inhabits, the vast range of its habitat, which is 

 almost co-extensive with the shores tenanted by the 

 white race, the ease with which it may be cured for 

 keeping, and the esteem in which it is held by the 

 dwellers in all Roman Catholic countries, or study 

 the romantic character of the fishery, we must find 

 the natural history of the Cod of absorbing interest. 

 And that in spite of the fact that the Cod itself is by 

 no means a romantic fish. He is not beautiful by 

 any means, his flesh, though white and flaky, and 

 under proper treatment sufficiently firm, has not the 

 flavour possessed by many other of our edible fishes. 

 His habits are regular, he is most accommodating in 

 the matter of food, and as to what he will take as bait 

 on a hook — I have caught Cod in New Zealand for 

 experiment with a lump of coal tied to a piece of spun 

 yarn. On all of which accounts the Gadidae family 

 have claims upon our notice, which are not surpassed 

 by those of any other inhabitants of the deep and 

 wide sea. Dr. Hartwig ranks the Cod next in impor- 

 tance to the herring in its importance to man, but 

 one may be permitted to disagree with him, without 

 questioning his great authority and wide research. 



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