IMPORTATIONS OF COD. 65 



deux tranchans, nomme couteau a eteter ; quand la morue 

 est decollee, 1'eteteur enleve toutes les entrailles, et ayant 

 fini son operation il pousse le corps & 1'habilleur, qui le 

 saisit de la main gauche et qui tient de la main droite le 

 couteau & lidbilhr, dont les fonctions consistent a 1'ouvrir 

 depuis la gorge jusqu'a 1'anus." 



All the fish, however, are not salted ; stock-fish are 

 simply dried in the sun, and a considerable quantity are 

 brought to Europe alive in welled vessels. 



Stock-fish, a name also given to ling and haddock when 

 similarly cured, are so called, either because they are 

 stretched across transverse sticks in the drying, or because 

 they are as hard as a stick, and require to be bastinadoed 

 before they are dressed.* 



The supplies of cod poured into our British markets 

 we have no means of estimating ; but some years ago a 

 calculation was made of the quantity sold in Billingsgate 

 in the course of a year, which may afford the imaginative 

 reader a starting-point for any computations he may feel 

 inclined to indulge in. Of live cod, it was reckoned that 

 400,000,- weighing 4,000,000 Ibs., were annually disposed 

 of; of dried salt cod, 1,600,000, weighing 8,000,000 Ibs. ; 

 and of barrelled cod, 15,000 barrels, each containing 40 

 fish, and weighing in the whole 4,200,000 Ibs. We may 

 assume that these figures have of late been largely ex- 

 ceeded ; and if the reader remembers that extensive sup- 

 plies are sent direct to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Hull, and 

 Liverpool, he will find occasion to marvel at the immense 

 extent and productiveness of the cod-fishery. 



The wealth of Newfoundland lies in the surrounding 



* Badham, "Ancient and Modern Fish-Tattle," p. 343. 



