COMMON COD Oil KEELING. 107 



eligible spots are selected on or near the American 

 continent, the chief being on the shores of New- 

 foundland, where the great bank four or five 

 hundred miles long is the grand scene of the cod 

 fishery, in which 15,000 British seamen are 

 employed from the beginning of February to the 

 end of April. As soon as the cod are landed the 

 heads are cut off, and the bodies are opened, 

 emptied, and salted ; they are then stowed in the 

 hold of the vessel, with a layer of salt to each 

 layer of fish, and when they have remained there 

 three or four days to drain, they are put in a 

 fresh place and again salted. Cod are taken by 

 the Norwegians in strong nets, of which they have 

 occasionally 400 fathoms out at a time, which 

 being laid in the afternoon and taken up the 

 following morning, frequently bring their owners 

 three or four hundred fine fish. In Lapland and 

 other high latitudes the cold saves the trouble of 

 salting ; the cod arc hung up in open buildings, 

 and remain frozen and sweet till the succeeding 

 spring, when they are cleansed and dried. All 

 the domestic animals feed on these fish ; horses 

 in particular being very fond of them. 



Cod-liver oil has of late vcars become a vcrv 



