FOOD PRODUCTS OF THE SEA— FISHES. 269 



foundland, is prosecuted from June till October, and 

 affords occupation to the mass of the population, who 

 carry on this fishery around the shores of the island and 

 on the coast of Labrador, from whence one-third of the 

 annual catch is now, during a prosperous season, taken. 

 The fishery on the banks is almost exclusively confined 

 to the French and Americans. It is remarkable that the 

 cod fishery shows very little progress, and the fluctua- 

 tions are considerable. In 1820 there were exported 

 901,159 cwt. ; in 1850, 1,089,182 cwt. ; in 1866, 716,690 

 cwt. ; in 1874, 1,240,320 cwt. ; in 1878, 694,339 cwt. ; 

 in 1879, 994,334 cwt.; and in 1880, 1,419,503 cwt. 

 Thus, while the population has more than doubled, there 

 has been scarcely any increase in their chief means of 

 support, which, it will be observed, is precarious. Cod 

 to the value of £59,000 are caught by the French in 

 Newfoundland. 



The largest export of the cured fish is made to Spain, 

 Portugal, Italy, and Greece, which, together, take about 

 half the catch, and Brazil one-fourth : the rest goes to 

 the West Indies, the British North American provinces, 

 and the United Kingdom. The local consumption of 

 fish in the island of Newfoundland is estimated at 1^ to 

 2 cwt. per head of the population per annum. 



Of cods' tongues and sounds salted, about 3,000 barrels 

 are sent away annually from each of the provinces of 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, besides large quanti- 

 ties from Newfoundland. 



At Archangel, if the fishing is good, every fishing boat 

 can gather, in the season, about 3,500 lbs. of cod fish 

 tongues. They are salted separately, 15 lbs. of salt being 

 used to 100 lbs. of tongues. These tongues sell at about 

 l^d. a pound. 



The coasts of Norway are another great haunt of the 

 edible fish of the cod family, as well as of herrings. The 

 yield of cod in Norway in 1877 was the most abundant 

 of which we have any record, the catch having been 

 76,000,000 fish, of the estimated value of £1,220,000. 

 The total value of the Norwegian fisheries averaged in 



