344 



NATURAL HISTORY 



upon for centuries. No one knows when they were first discovered ; but 

 there is much reason to believe that the hardy Basque fishermen visited 

 them regularly long before the discovery of Columbus, and that from them 

 or the sailors of Bristol he may have got his idea of an India to the west. 



The cod is a bottom-feeding fish, with an almost insatiable appetite. 

 Anything not too large is swallowed by it, sometimes when without the 

 slightest nutritious qualities. Other fish, perhaps, form the bulk of the 

 food ; but worms and molluscs are eaten in large quantities, and before the 

 days of dredging the naturalist had to depend upon the stomachs of cod 

 and other similar fishes for his shells from deep water. No wonder was 

 it that the enthusiastic conchologist, poking over the piles of fish ' gurry,' 

 was thought to be crazy, and no wonder that one was stoned as a lunatic 

 by the boys of that quaint old town, Marblehead ! 



Cod-fishing is a profitable, and at the same time a dangerous business. 

 The fishing-smacks are small, 'and the men in setting the trawls have to 



Fig. 321. — Cod (Gadus morrhua). 



venture out in open boats, and then if the fog sets in, they have nothing to 

 guide them back to the vessel. They may drift about for days, and per- 

 haps never get back to the schooner. Gloucester, Mass., is the great 

 fishing-centre, and in some years the casualties from that city exceed one 

 hundred : not a year passes in which few lives are lost. 



The fishing is done in the ordinary way with hook and line, as well as 

 by trawls. For bait, other fish or squid, or even clams, are used, squid 

 ranking among the best. Some of the fish are sent to the market fresh ; 

 but the great majority are salted and dried in different ways, and the place 

 where the cod are drying in the sun does not have an appetizing smell. 



A near relative of the cod is the haddock, which has much the same 

 habits, and is caught in the same way. Its flesh, except for chowders, is 

 not so good as that of the cod, and it commands a lower price. The differ- 

 ences between the two may be seen from our figures, and in buying the 

 dried fish one may be sure of what he. is getting by noticing the shape of 



