110 



ness. The back is of a brown olive colour, 

 with white spots on the sides, and the belly is 

 entirely white. The eyes are large and staring. 

 The head is broad and fleshy, and esteemed a 

 delicious dish. 



The fecundity of all fishes is an object of 

 real astonishment to every observer of nature. 

 In the year 1790, a cod fish was sold in Work- 

 ington market, Cumberland, for one shilling : it 

 weighed fifteen pounds, and measured two feet 

 nine inches in length, and seven inches in 

 breadth ; the roe weighed two pounds ten 

 ounces, one grain of which contained 320 seeds 

 or eggs. The whole therefore might contain, 

 by fair estimation, 3,904,440 eggs. From such 

 a trifle as this we may observe the prodigious 

 value of the fishing trade to a commercial na- 

 tion, and hence draw a useful hint for increasing 

 it; for, supposing that each of the above seeds 

 should arrive at the same proportion and size, 

 their produce would weigh 26,123 tons burden. 

 If each fish were brought to market and sold 

 as the original one, for one shilling, the pro- 

 duce then would be 195,000 pounds; that is to 

 say, the first shilling would produce twenty 

 times 195,000, or 3,900,000 shillings. 



