Ch. IX. SOUTH A M E R IC A. 409 



As to the fpecies diftinguiflied by their fize, the 

 ftandard cod is that which is two feet in length 

 with the head off. The fecond is fmaller, called the 

 middling : the third is the leaft. The dealers in this 

 commodity however fubdivide it into feven or eight 

 kinds : one of thefe is a fifli in the opening of which, 

 or in fevering the head, Ibme fault has been com- 

 mitted. 



Another kind of fifhery but followed more by 

 the French than any other nation, is that of the 

 Mud-fifh : and they cure it in the following man- 

 ner. This filh is caught on the great bank of New- 

 foundland ; and others as far as fandy ifland fouth 

 of L'ifle royale : and as foon as it is caught it is open- 

 ed, falted and laid in little piles in the hold of the 

 fhip, till it has fulEciently purged then they fliift 

 its place, and having falted it a fecond time, flow 

 it for the voyage. The fhips intending for this 

 filhery repair to the bank in the beginning of Fe- 

 bruary : as that caught in fummer, that is, after June 

 or July, or any of the banks, is inferior to that 

 caught at the end of winter, thefe Ihips finifh their 

 fifhery and return to Europe with fuch difpatch, 

 that fometimes they are known to make two voy- 

 ages in a year. For 'tis the fouth part of the bank 

 that this fifh chiefly haunts : and thefe likewife are 

 accounted better than thofe taken on the north. 



The cod appears to be one of the moft prolifick 

 kind of fifh. Of this there needs no other proof 

 than the great number of fhips which annually load 

 with it only from this ifland : and it is only knowa 

 in thefe feas for though the Britilh channel and the 

 German ocean are not without this fifli, their num- 

 bers are fo inconfiderable comparatively to thofe of 

 Newfoundland, that they may rather be looked 

 upon as flragglers. Some perfons of long experi- 

 ence in this fifhery, informed us that the cod fpawns 

 ^wice a year and befides the infinite number of 



