THE COB. 
*79 
But although the cod undertakes annual excuriions of 
confiderable length, it ftill may be regarded as alocalfifh ; 
for it never ventures into the warmer tracks of the ocean. 
None are found in che Mediterranean * ; and few in thofe 
parts of the Atlantic of the fame latitude. They are in 
greateft perfe&ion, and feem to prefer that fpace lying 
between the fiftieth and fixtieth degrees ; fuch as are 
caught beyond it, being always inferior, both in quantity 
and quality f. Their grand refort for centuries paft, has 
been on the banks of Newfoundland, and other fand banks 
off Cape Breton. That extenfive fiat feems to be the 
broad top of a fubaqueous mountain, every where fur- 
rounded with a deeper fea. Hither the cod annually re- 
pair, in numbers beyond the power of calculation, to 
feed upon the worms that fwarm upon the fandy bottom. 
Here they are taken in fuch quantities, that they fupply 
all Europe with a confiderable quantity of provifion. 
The Engli/b have Pages erected all along the fliore, for 
falting and drying them ; and the fiiliermen, who take 
them with the hook and line, draw them as fait as they 
Ca n throw them out J. 
This immenfe capture makes no fenfible diminution 
°f their numbers } for after their food is confirmed in 
thefe parts, or when the feafon of propagation approaches, 
tney take their departure for the polar feas, where they 
hepofit their roes in full fecurity, and repair the walk- 
Xv hich has been occafioned by death, or the depredations of 
their enemies. They annually make their appearance on 
the coafts of Iceland, Norway, and Britain, gradually 
hhninilhing in their numbers, as they proceed to the 
Z a foutb, 
Rondeletlus de pifcibus. f Brltilh Zool. ubi fupra. 
Roldfmitb’t Nat. Hift, vol. yi. page 325 , 
