CHAPTER VII 

 THE COD-FISHERY (I) 



The Breton " Icelanders "Seeing the fleet off A twelve-hundred 

 mile voyage in a cockle-shell Life on board Iceland in sight 

 Cod-fishing An average catch A big catch in a calm Cleaning 

 and salting Breaks in the monotony Homeward bound. 



ONE may expect to see the cod in almost any part 

 of the ocean ; it is always putting in an appear- 

 ance ; we find it in the trawl, in the shrimp-net, 

 even in the oyster-dredge. Perhaps there is no more 

 popular table fish, for it is wholesome, digestible, satisfy- 

 ing, and usually reasonable in price. So popular is it 

 (even apart from its value as an oil-producer), that few 

 southern countries can keep their markets supplied with- 

 out going further afield than their own waters. Our 

 Scotch and East Coast cod-fisheries are by no means 

 inconsiderable ; yet our annual importation of cod is 

 something enormous. 



The bulk of the world's supply comes from (a) the 

 Iceland Banks, (b) the Newfoundland Banks ; and it is 

 with these grounds that we shall specially concern our- 

 selves in this and the next chapter. 



How is it, we may well ask, that, after so many 

 centuries of fishing, the cod has not become a rarity for 



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