CHAPTER XI 



THE COD AND COD-FISHERY 

 BY W. T. GRENFELL 



LABRADOR is as yet a land of specialized industries. The 

 endless problem of food and clothing has made the native 

 Eskimo a hunter of seals ; the native Indian has preferred 

 the deer; the incoming whites, while importing their 

 flour and woven cloths, have found their good genius in the 

 cod. Nearly three hundred years ago it was known that 

 this fish was plentiful on the southern coast of the penin- 

 sula, and ever since the cod-fishery has been more or less 

 vigorously pursued on the Labrador. In former times the 

 herring, and always the salmon, has furnished minor parts 

 in the harvest from the coastal waters, but it is remarkable 

 that, in Newfoundland and Labrador, "fish" is a synonym 

 merely for. cod; a local law has stated that salmon is not 

 fish. Other members of the Gadidse family, as the hake, 

 tusk, haddock, whiting, coalfish, pollack, ling, and whiting- 

 pout, are absent or present in negligible quantities. A 

 flounder is the only noteworthy representative of the flat- 

 fish family. The halibut is found only in deep water, far 

 from shore. 



For many reasons the humble cod has a just claim to 

 preeminence among the food-fishes. As food for man, cod 



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