230 COD-FISHING. 



The largest cod-fisliery in the world is that prosecuted on 

 the great bank off Newfoundland, where, in 1874, the 

 Canadian fishermen alone took 34,000 tons of them. Their 

 livers are boiled down in order to obtain the famous cod- 

 liver oil. At Port Logan, in AVigtownshire, there is a salt- 

 water basin scooped out of the solid rock, and having at 

 high-water a connection, by means of a narrow fissure, with 

 the outside ocean, in which cod are confined. A fisherman 

 has charge of this preserve, who supplies them regularly 

 with food, which consists of boiled whelks, limpets, and 

 other shell-fish. " And no sooner," says Yarrell, " does the 

 keeper or his son appear with the well-known basket of 

 prepared food, than a hundred mouths are simultaneously 

 opened to gi'eet his arrival." So tame are they that they 

 do not hesitate to approach the side and take food from the 

 hand. The cod is also one of the most prolific of fish, 

 the female at the breeding season having been knoAvn to 

 contain 8,000,000 eggs. These are called roe, and great 

 quantities of them are eaten by other fishes. They are 

 also used on the French coast as bait in the sardine fishery, 

 and large quantities are prepared in France for human 

 food. Were it not for such wholesale destruction of their 

 eggs, there would be some danger of the sea becoming a 

 living mass of cod. 



The Devil-fish owes its name to its hideous aspect, which 

 somewhat resembles a huge tadpole — all head and tail; 

 lience it is also known as the fishing-frog. It sometimes 

 attains a length of five feet, and is a sluggish fish, spending 

 most of its time resting on the muddy bottom of the sea, 



