380 



THE POLAR WORLD. 



yet the most important fishery is carried on on the banks at some distance 

 from the island. 



The Great Bank lies twenty leagues from the nearest point of land from lat- 

 itude 41° to 49°, and extends 300 miles in length and 15 in breadth. To the 

 east of this lies the False Bank ; the next is styled the Green Bank, about 240 

 miles long and 120 broad; then Banquero, about the same size, with several 

 other shoals of less note, all abounding with fish, but chiefly with cod, the 

 great magnet which sets whole fleets in motion. In winter the cod retire to 

 the deeper waters, but they re-appear in March and April, when their pursuers 

 hasten to the spot, not only from the bays and coves of Newfoundland, but 

 from Great Britain, the United States, and France. 



While fishing, each man has a space three feet and a half wide allotted to 

 him on deck, so as not to interfere with his neighbor. The lines are from thirty 

 to forty fathoms long — for the cod generally swims at that depth. The chief 

 baits used are the squid, a species of cuttle-fish, and the capelin, a small salmon 

 abounding on the North American coasts. The herring and the launce, and 

 a shell-fish called clam, which is found in the belly of the cod, are likewise used. 

 In spring particularly the cod rushes so eagerly upon the bait, that in the 

 course of a single day a good fisherman is able to haul up four hundred, one 

 after another. This is no easy task, considering the size of the fish, which on 

 an average weighs fourteen pounds, but has been taken four feet three inches 

 long, and forty-six pounds in weight. When a large fish, too heavy for the 

 line, has been caught, the fisherman calls on his neighbor, who strikes a hook 

 attached to a long pole into the fish, and then safely hauls it on board. 



Mindful of the proverb which recommends us all to strike while the iron is 

 hot, the fishermen continue to catch cod for hours, until so many are heaped on 

 the deck that to make room it becomes necessary to " dress them down." This 

 is done on long planks made to rest with both ends on two casks, and thus 

 forming a narrow table. First, each man cuts out the tongues of the fish he 

 has caught, as his wages are reckoned by their number, and then the whole 

 crew divide themselves into throaters, headers, splitters, salters, and packers. 

 The throater begins the operation of " dressing " by drawing his knife across 

 the throat of the cod to the bone and ripping open the bowels. He then passes 

 it to the header, who with a strong wrencTi pulls off the head and tears out the 

 entrails, which he casts overboard, passing the fish at the same time to the 

 splitter, who with one cut lays it open from head to tail, and almost in the 

 twinkling of an eye with another cut takes out the backbone. After separating 

 the sounds, which are placed with the tongues and packed in barrels as a deli- 

 cacy, the backbone follows the entrails overboard, while the fish at the same 

 moment is passed with the other hand to the Salter. Such is the amazing 

 quickness of the operations of heading and splitting, that a good workman w^ill 

 often decapitate and take out the entrails and backbone of six fish in a minute. 

 Every fisherman is supposed to know something of each of these operations, and 

 no rivals at cricket ever entered with more ardor into their work than do some 

 athletic champions for the palm of " dressing down " after a " day's catch." 



Generally the fog is so dense that one ship does not see the other, although 



