140 Dr Hibbert on the Discovery of the Shetland Cod-hank. 
which can only be rectified by extensive soundings. The sur- 
face of the bank is described as in some places rocky, and in 
others sandy, and as covered by buckies, mussels and razor- 
fish 
After recounting what is known of the bank, it may be pro- 
per to mention the speculations which have been made regard- 
ing its extent. That it is continuous with a cod-bank near the 
Faroe Islands, is contended for, not only from the general di- 
rection of the Shetland Bank, which bears towards that very 
northerly and remote group of islands, but also from a simila- 
rity of character in the fish caught at each place. The cod of 
both Shetland and Faroe have been described to me by a 
gentleman familiar with the fish, as grey backed, spotted with 
black, and tinged with a ring, which is of a brownish colour, 
inclining to grey. This continuation, then, the existence of which 
is very problematical, may perhaps take place, rather by a series 
of distinct banks in a given direction, than by one that is unin- 
terrupted. 
In connection with the history of the bank, it may not be un- 
interesting previously to enquire if it was really known to those 
nations who cannot be accused of a supineness in the prosecu- 
tion of their fisheries, and my inquiries will be principally di- 
rected to the Dutch, who for nearly three centuries have been 
the principal fishers frequenting the coast of Shetland. 
In order to understand the history of the Shetland fishery, 
we must distinguish between those nations who prosecuted it 
through the medium of the inhabitants of Shetland, and those 
who, avoiding such an intercourse, obtained the lucrative ob- 
ject of their visits by an equipment which rendered them in- 
dependent of the people whose coasts they visited. The merchants 
who prosecuted the Shetland fishery, through the medium of the 
natives of the place, were from Hamburgh, Lubeck, Bremen, 
and Denmark. They occupied booths or shops in the country, 
and trafficked with the Shetlanders chiefly for ling. This fish 
is caught in deep water, at a distance of thirty miles from# 
land t. For this purpose light six-oared boats are at present 
* A beautiful species of infundibuliform sponge obtained from the bank, and 
kindly forwarded to me by Mr Henderson of Papa Stour, is attached to a large 
fragment of quartz, which is probably the rock of which the bank is composed. 
'j* Along with ling is taken the torsk-fish or tusk. 
