FJSHES. 



6l 



among sailors, includes the coast of New England, Cape Breton, 

 Nova Scotia, and, above all, the island of Newfoundland, on the south 

 coast of which is the famous sand-bank called the G>'eat Bank, having 

 a length of nearly 200 leagues, with a breadth of sixty-two, over 

 which flows from ten to fifteen fathoms of water. Here the cod-fish 

 swarm, for here they meet shoals of herrings and other animals, on 

 which they feed. Such is, according to Lace'pede, the geographical 

 distribution of the cod-fish. 



Fig. 391. — The Cod-fish (Morrhua vulgaris). 



The English, French, Dutch, and Americans devote themselves 

 to the cod-fishery on the bank of Newfoundland with inconceivable 

 ardour. This island was discovered and visited by the Norwegians 

 in the tenth and eleventh centuries, long before the discovery of 

 America; but it was only in 1497, after the discoveries of Columbus, 

 that the navigator, John Cabot, having visited these regions, gave it 

 the name by which it has since been known, and called attention to 

 swarms of cod-fish which inhabited the surrounding sea. Immediately 

 after, the English and some other nations hastened to reap these 



