Class IV. COMMON COD FISH. 233 



cause of the particular attachment the fish have 

 to these spots, is their vicinity to the polar seas, 

 where they return to spawn ; there they depose 

 their roes in full security, but want of food 

 forces them, as soon as the first more southern 

 seas are open, to repair thither for subsistence. 



Few are taken north of Iceland, but on the 

 south and west coast they abound : they are 

 again found to swarm on the coasts of Norway, 

 in the Baltic, off the Orkney and the Western 

 Isles ; after which their numbers decrease, in 

 proportion as they advance towards the south, 

 when they seem quite to cease before they reach 

 the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar. 



Before the discovery of Newfoundland, the 

 greater fisheries of cod were on the seas of Ice-> 

 land, and off our Western Isles, which were the 

 grand resort of ships of all the commercial 

 nations; but it seems that the greatest plenty 

 was met with near Iceland. The English re- 

 sorted thither before the year 1415 ; for we find 

 that Henry V. was disposed to give the king of 

 Denmark satisfaction for certain irregularities 

 committed on those seas by his subjects. In 

 the reign of Edward IV. the English were 

 excluded from the fishery by treaty; and for- 

 bidden to resort there under pain of forfeiture of 

 life and goods. Notwithstanding this, our mo- 



