THE COD. 179 



feut although the cod undertakes annual excurfions of 

 confidei-able length, it ftill maj be regarded as a local fifh ; 

 for it never ventures into the warmer tracks of the ocean. 

 None are found in the Mediterranean * ; and few in thofe 

 parts of the Atlantic of the fame latitude. They are in 

 greateft perfection, and feem to prefer that fpace lying 

 between the fiftieth and fiftieth degrees ; fuch as are 

 caught beyond it, being always inferior, both in quantity 

 and quality f. Their grand refort for centuries paft, has 

 been on the banks of Newfoundland^ and other fand banks 

 off Cape Breton. That extenfive flat feems to be the 

 broad top of a fubaqueous mountain, every where fur- 

 rounded with a deeper fea. Hither the cod annually re- 

 pair, in numbers beyond the power of calculation, to 

 feed upon the worms that fwarm upon the fandy bottom. 

 Here they are taken in fuch quantities, that they fupply 

 all Europe with a conliderable quantity of provifion. 

 The Rfiglijh have ftages ere£led all along the ihore, for 

 faking and drying them ; and the fiihermen, who take 

 them with the hook and line, draw them as fail as they 

 can throw them out %. 



This iranicnfe capture makes no feniible diminution 

 of their numbers ; for after their food is confumed in 

 thefe parts, or when the feafon of propagation approaches, 

 they take their departure for the polar feas, where they 

 depofit their roes in full fecurity, and repair the wafte 

 which has been occafioned by death, or the depredations of 

 their enemies. They annually make their appearance on 

 the coalls of Iceland, Norway, and Britain, gradually 

 oiminilhing in their numbers, as they proceed to the 

 Z 2 fouth, 



• Rondeletius de pifcibus. f Brltifli Zool. ubi fupra. 



\ Goldfmith's Nat. Hill. vol. vi. page 3Z5. 



