COD-BANKS OF NEWFOUNDLAM). 13:^ 



are closely packed in them, and in their advance 

 they sometimes drive all other fish before them. 

 The shoal of which we have just spoken had thus 

 driven before it flounders, skates, and other large 

 fish, which perished on the shore among the first 

 ranks of the herrings. The mere i)ressure of the mass 

 forces those in tlie front ranks to advance, whatever 

 obstacle presents itself. Tliis fact is utilised in tlie 

 fishery. Very long nets, to one side of whicli are 

 fixed plummets of lead, and to the other buoys, are 

 let down vertically into the sea. The meshes are large 

 enough to admit the head of the fish, but not to let 

 the entire body pass through. If the herring were 

 to try to withdraw, the openings of his gills would 

 catch in the net and make escape impossible. The 

 net is generally let down at night, because the her- 

 rings are then more abundant. 



The cod, that other nomad of the sea, is found in 

 armies at the meeting of the cold and warm waters 

 upon the Bank of Newfoundland. An immense 

 quantity of small worms are found in that locality, of 

 which the cod makes his favourite food. Year by 

 year these barbarian hordes renew their invasion — 

 every year they are anested in their course by the 

 Gulf Stream ; and after being decimated by the fishers, 

 their great enemies, the bioken remainder of the 

 band retire into the polar seas to recruit their 



