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 Gadide 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 
preéminence among the food-fishes. As food for man, cod 
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