l8o THE COI>. 



fouth, and cealing altogether before they advance to th© 

 Itraits of Gibraltar *. 



Before the difcovery of Nevofoundlaiid, the greateft 

 fifheries of the cod were on the coads of Iceland^ and the 

 weftern illes of Scot!a?id, where the EngliJJj r^forted in 

 quefl of them, as early as the beginning of the fifteenth 

 century. Our right of fiibing in thefe parts, however, 

 was not acknowledged by the government of Denmark f , 

 till the reign of 'Jafnes I. vt'hofc marriage with a princefs 

 of that country, fecured to his fubjecls that indulgence 

 of which they availed themfelves fo co'.ipletely, thac 

 they had then a hundred and iifty Ihips employed in the 

 Iceland filliery. 



Even on the banks of Ne'iv/oundla?id, the French^ Spa- 

 7iiardsy and Portuguefe, had originally a far larger por- 

 iion of the iilliing, than the Britijlj : In 1570, the for- 

 mer nations had upv^ards of three hundred veffels em- 

 ployed in that trade, when thofe of the EngliJJ? did not 

 exceed fifty %. Matters, however, have *fince been re- 

 verfed J and the Engli/Jj fhipping on that coaft has in>- 

 menfely increafed ; it is now fuperior to that of any other 

 nation, and the trade is deemed a valuable accellion to 

 the wealth of individuals, as well as to the na<val power 

 of the empire §. 



This immenfe fiQiery is conducted in a tra6l of the fea, 

 agitated by a perpetual fwell, and involved in continual 

 darknefs, by means of a thick fog, that conflantly hangs 



over 



* Brltiili Zool. t Rymer's feed. xvi. 475. 



I Haclduyt's coll. voy. iii. 13a. 



§ 15000 Br jtlih IVamcn arc at prcfent employed in this iifliery. BiUiffi- 

 ^Zoology. 



