THE COD FISHERIES. 315 



the herrings on our own coasts,, since it gives employ- 

 ment to more men and a greater amount of capital. It 

 has been estimated that 20,000 sailors are annually- 

 employed in this fishery, which is carried on, not in 

 decked boats, but square- sailed vessels. An official 

 report of the French . minister stated that, in Jl 792, 

 no less than 210 vessels, amounting to 191;, 153 tons 

 burthen, sailed from the ports of France with the sole 

 purpose of prosecuting the cod fishery ; and it has been 

 supposed that more than 6000 vessels of all nations are 

 so employed, partly on the coasts of Norway and Sweden, 

 but chiefly on those of Newfoundland and the adjacent 

 parts. Thirty-six millions of fish are supposed to be 

 thus captured, salted, and dried, which are carried to all 

 regions of the world. We have eaten them, under the 

 name of stock-fish, in all parts of the Mediterranean, 

 brought by our English vessels ; arid they are to be had 

 in all parts of the Brazilian empire — being carried on the 

 backs of mules from the sea coast into those provinces of 

 the interior where fresh fish cannot easily be procured. 

 The annual destruction of such innumerable hosts of cod 

 might be supposed, by some, to threaten the total ex- 

 termination of the species, but a bountiful Providence 

 — which has signally appointed this to be one of the 

 most useful fishes to man — has given to it the most 

 extraordinary powers of reproduction. We have stated 

 that the annual captures may amount to 36,000,000 : 

 now, it is on record that 9^000,000 of eggs have been 

 found in the roe of one female; so that, if only one half 

 of these were hatched and grew to maturity, nine female 

 cods would supply the destruction occasioned by the 

 captures of all the fisheries in one year. So far, there- 

 fore, from their extermination being probable, the only 

 wonder is that they have not so increased, in a series of 

 ages, as to fill the ocean, like the sand upon the shore. 

 We can only suppose that they are kept within due 

 limits, not by man, but by the millions on millions of 

 fry which are fed upon by innumerable other fishes and 

 other marine animals : sea birds prey upon them when 



