264- COD. 



shape ; though all are distinguished by having a small 

 beard at the extremity of the lower jaw, and an unfurcated 

 tail. 



These fishes are peculiar to the northern parts of the 

 world, and appear confined nearly between the latitudes of 

 fifty and sixty-six. On the banks of Newfoundland, the 

 coasts of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and New England, 

 they abound in an extraordinary degree : lured thither by 

 the quantities of worms and small fish which the bottom 

 supplies, and the vicinity to the polar seas, whither they 

 resort to spawn. 



The cod-banks of Newfoundland are a sort of subma- 

 rine mountains ; and of more real and beneficial value to 

 Great Britain than the mines of Potosi to Spain. The 

 fishing-season generally commences in February, and ends 

 in May ; the fish being then in the highest perfection, and, 

 from the state of the atmosphere, most capable of being 

 properly cured. The cargoes are chiefly disposed of in the 

 catholic countries of Europe during Lent ; but from the 

 decline of papal influence, or other causes, the trade has 

 somewhat fallen off. Great numbers, however, are used 

 in Great Britain, particularly fresh ; but these are princi- 

 pally caught on our own coasts. Indeed, previously to 

 the discovery of Newfoundland, the seas of Iceland and 

 the Hebrides supplied the principal or only fisheries of 

 cod ; and in that view were the grand resort of ships from 

 all commercial nations. They are found also in abundance 

 on the coasts of Norway, in the Baltic, and in most parts 

 of the British seas; but never farther south than the straits 

 of Gibraltar. They subsist on worms, small fish, testace- 

 ous and crustaceous animals ; and their powers of diges- 

 tion are so strong as to dissolve the greatest part of the 

 shells which they swallow. 



Providence has bountifully ordained that this fish, so be- 

 neficial to mankind, should, by its astonishing fecundity, 

 keep pace with the annual depredations that are made 

 among its race. By the help of a microscope, nine mil- 

 lions three hundred and eighty-four thousand eggs have 



