154 THE COD. 



bleak and frozen countries, that are unfit foi' the produc- 

 tion of grain. The ichthyophagi of thefe barren regions, 

 fays he, not only furnilh themfelves with a fubflitute 

 for bread, by drying this fiPn, but fend a vail quan- 

 tity cf their furplvis Itores to add to the fupply o^ other 

 nations *. The numbers and fertiiiry of thefe filh, feem 

 indeed amply to juflify the grateful exultations of this 

 •writer ; for they are fuch as will forever baffle all the 

 efforts of man, and the voi-acity of the inhabitants of the 

 ocean, to exterminate their race ; and will fecure to every 

 age an inexhauftible fupply of whclcfome provifion. 



The cod is a fiib fo well known, that it requires not 

 any particular defcription j the colour, which is common- 

 ly finereous, and fpotted with yellow on the back and 

 fides, varies much according to the age and refidence of 

 the animal. 



7be Hadoch f . 



JL HIS fpecies appears upon the coails of Britain annually, 

 particularly thofe of 7'orkjhtre, about the middle of De= 

 cember, and in fuch vaft fhoals, that they cover a tradi 

 frequently of many miles. They do not venture far 

 from the ftiore j when the iifliermen cad their lines be- 

 yond their limits, which is commonly about three miles 



from 



* Fide Schonf. apud Willough. page l66. 



t Gadus jElglefinus. Lin. Syft, Tertia aftllorum fpeclesy 



