COD-FISH. 505 



Before the discovery of Newfoundland, the greater fisheries of 

 cod were on the seas of Iceland and our own Western Isles, which 

 were the grand resort of the ships of all the commercial nations, 

 but it seems that the greatest plenty was met with near Iceland. 



Newfoundland, a name in the infancy of discovery common to 

 all North America, was discovered in the year 1496, by the cele- 

 brated Venetians, Sebastian Cobat and his three sons : who, at their 

 own charges, under a grant of Henry the Seventh, giving them 

 possession, as vassals of his, of all the lands they might discover, 

 coasted from lat. 57. 30, to the Capes of Florida. 



The isle of Newfoundland is of a triangular form, and lies between 

 lat. 46. 40, and 51. 30: visited occasionally, but not inhabited, 

 by savages from the continent. The boasted mine of this island, 

 viz. its sand bank, is represented as a vast submarine mountain, 

 of above 500 miles long, and 300 broad, and seamen know when 

 they approach it, by the great swell of the sea, and the thick mists 

 that impend over it. The water on the bank is from twenty-two 

 to fifty fathoms ; on the outside from sixty to eighty; and on the 

 smaller banks much the same. The number of ships that resort 

 to these fertile banks is now unspeakable : our own country still 

 enjoj s the greatest share, and they ought to be esteemed one of our 

 chief treasures, bringing wealth to individuals, and strength to 

 the state. All this immense fishery is carried on by th< hook and 

 line only : the principal baits are herring, the small fish called a 

 capelin, the shell-fish called clams, and pieces of sea. fowl; and 

 with these are caught fish sufficient to fiud employ for fifteen thou- 

 sand British seamen, and to aliord subsistence to a much more 

 numerous body of people at home, who are engaged in the various 

 manufactures which so vast a fishery demands. The fish, when 

 taken, are properly cleaned, salt* d, and dried, and in this state 

 sent into various parts of the European continent. 



The cod grows to a very large size. Mr. Pennant commemo- 

 rates a specimen taken on the British coasts which weighed seventy- 

 eight pounds, and measured five feet eignt inches in length, and 

 five feet in girth round the shoulders ; but thegeueral size, at least 

 in the British seas, is far less, and the weight from about fourteen 

 to forty pounds ; and such as are of middling size are moat estctmed 

 for the table. 



The cod is of a moderately long shape 5 with the abdomen verjr 



